Simple dessert dark chocolate terrine recipe which calls for no butter. Instead, mascarpone cheese infuses extra rich taste in flavor. It’s not required to beat egg whites. For me, it’s the best and easy decadent chocolate terrine ever.
Apparently making dessert terrine is still on trend around food bloggers / food instagrammers in Japan. There are cheesecake terrine, matcha terrine and chocolate terrine out there on the web. It was appealing enough for me to try another dessert terrine recipe. (I posted Easy cheesecake terrine before.)
Basic ingredients of chocolate terrine are chocolate, butter, egg, sugar and flour. Mostly it’s made of loads of chocolate and butter. It sounds really make sense as a chocolate cake recipe. But I felt that lots of fat in butter might cause an upset stomach. So I decided to make chocolate terrine without butter. I started looking for a substitute for the first step. Then I reached this Japanese page saying mascarpone cheese works great with sponge cake as a substitute for butter. It convinced me that I can use mascarpone cheese for cake. Then I also found the chocolate cake recipe using mascarpone cheese, which is where I was most inspired to the recipe on this post. Just in case, butter contains 96 g of total fat per 112 g, whereas mascarpone cheese contains 52 g for the same grams, according to Nutritonix. I don’t pursuit healthiness in chocolate cake, though it’s just as good as butter used one but lower in calories. Besides, this chocolate mascarpone terrine is rich, creamy and incredibly delicious.
About recipe
I think it’s a sort of no-fail recipe. Because it’s very simple to make: melt chocolate, add cheese, eggs, sugar and flour, then bake. You don’t need to make meringue, just well blend the ingredients one by one over a water bath. It will take only 10 – 15 minutes before ready to bake. If I had to say tips, make sure not to go the hot water in the bowl with the mixture. Also, don’t replace the powdered sugar with the other type of sugar. Powdered sugar gives a delicate texture to the chocolate terrine.
Topping option
I recommend to serve the chocolate terrine with toppings. For example, fresh berries, berry sauce, whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. It’s really delicious as it is though, you might want to change the taste as you eat. In the photograph, I ate with homemade rhubarb sauce, which was really good!
You can enjoy both chilled and warmed chocolate terrine. There are completely different texture. If you like fondant au chocolat with gooey inside, I recommend you to reheat it a little in the microwave.
Enjoy a moment of indulgence with the dark chocolate terrine!
Disclaimer: the center of this cake is undercooked. Consuming raw or undercooked eggs have a risk of salmonella infection and it may increase your risk of foodborne illness. Raw or undercooked eggs is not advisable for young children, older adults, expectant mothers, and people with weakened immune systems.
Dark Chocolate Terrine
Ingredients
- 200 g (7 oz) baking / cooking semisweet chocolate cacao 60 -70%
- 250 g (8.8 oz) mascarpone cheese
- 4 egg
- 85 g (3 oz) (cup 2/3) powdered sugar
- 4 tbsp (30 g) plain white flour sub. gluten-free plain flour
- 1 tsp dark rum / whisky
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160 C / 325 F / gas mark 3. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. I used a 8 x 4 inches (20 x 10 cm) loaf pan. Wrap the bottom of the pan with aluminum foil so water won't go in from a water bath if needed.
- Pour a few inches of water in a large sauce / frying pan and bring to boil for the water bath to melt the chocolate.
- Reduce the heat to simmer and set a heatproof bowl in the pan.
- Place the chocolate in the bowl and occasionally stir with a heatproof hand whisk until completely melted.
- Turn off the heat and add the mascarpone cheese and whisk until well blended.
- Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition.
- Add the sugar and whisk until the mixture became shinny. Then add the shifted flour and whisk until well blended.
- Boil plenty of water for the water bath for baking.
- Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and place in a baking tray. Fill the tray with a few inches of hot water for the water bath. Then bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and water bath. Then let it cool down to room temperature.
- Remove from the loaf pan and slice with a warmed knife, before serving.
Notes
- It can be kept in the fridge for 3 - 4 days.
- Disclaimer: the center of this cake is undercooked. Consuming raw or undercooked eggs have a risk of salmonella infection and it may increase your risk of foodborne illness. Raw or undercooked eggs is not advisable for young children, older adults, expectant mothers, and people with weakened immune systems.
10 comments
This is FANTASTIC and delicious. Made it a few days ahead of time then heated it up to serve gooey and delicious with ice cream.
I’m glad to hear that! Thank you!!
Recipe fails to say when the rum should be added. I suggest after whisking in the eggs and before whisking in the sugar and flour.
Regarding the water bath, It is far easier [and safer] to place the baking tray prefilled with water in the oven to preheat for an hour and then simply drop the pan with the batter into it.
Hi thank you for sharing the recipe.
May i know how to reduce the crease/lines on the side of the baked terrine? Is it because the batter is too watery?
Hi, thank you for making this cake! I think that a lot of moisture causes crease on the side of the cake. To reduce the crease, I would bake it without a water bath at higher temperature.
Hi! I had a question about the water bath. I’m so dumb for asking this but do you make a water bath and put in the oven? I’m so confused right here: “Fill the tray with a few inches of hot water for the water bath. Then bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and water bath.” 💦😂
Also, I’m Japanese and living in Japan I don’t have a huge oven for now. Only a toaster oven. Do you think it’s okay to bake with a toaster oven?
Thank you for visiting my site! And also, I’m sorry that the instructions make you confuse, because of my poor English. I mean that I set an oven tray in the oven, then put the cake pan on it, and pour hot water directly in the oven tray. I hope that makes sense. About the toaster oven, I wouldn’t recommend trying this. Because I guess that the temperature of a toaster oven is too high to bake this cake.
Oh! I understand! It wasn’t the English! I’m new to baking and that’s the reason haha thank you so much! I will try this out with a regular oven once I get one 🙂
Thank you for your kind words! I hope you will enjoy baking once you get a oven😊
French term Bain Marie..the water bath.. Having a pan of water to set the terrine in to bake