Chocolate Layered Fruit Crostata


…Instead here the topping is a colorful wreath of fresh berries.

INGREDIENTS (the four layers: crust, cream, sponge and ganache)

Crust:
100 gr. butter
100 gr. powdered brown sugar
pinch of salt
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
1 medium egg
170 gr. all purpose flour
4 gr. baking powder
30 gr. unsweetened cocoa powder

Pastry Cream: (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups)
I cheated and used this ready made pastry cream I found in the supermarket to simplify which was just as good as homemade. It really saved a lot of time! You can also find my pastry cream recipe in my Mimosa Cake post.


Chocolate Sponge Layer

75 gr. room temp butter
30 gr. honey
65 gr. sugar (powdered light brown best)
2 eggs
35 gr. all purpose flour
35 gr. cornstarch
15 gr. unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
vanilla flavoring

Chocolate Ganache
60 gr. dark chocolate melted together in a double boiler with 40 gr. of fresh whipping cream

Decoration
1/2 cup of each fresh blueberries and red currants
unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting if desired

PROCEDURE for crust (pasta frolla)
1. Beat butter, sugar, salt and lemon zest until fluffy.
2. Quickly mix in the eggs until well incorporated.
3. Stir in the flour, cornstarch, cocoa and baking powder which have been sifted together.
4. When dough comes together form a flat disk, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 2 hrs.

SPONGE LAYER
1. Beat the soft butter until fluffy incorporating the honey and sugar.
2. Mix in the remaining dry ingredients which have been sifted together.

ASSEMBLY
1. Remove the chilled crust dough from the fridge and roll out a round crust to fit your pan (22-24 cm) with a removable rim which has been
lined with greased parchment paper. Crust should be fitted exactly to the inside rim.
2. Cover the bottom of the crust lined pan with the pastry cream.

3. Place the sponge batter into a large pastry bag, cut off the tip and with a circular motion cover the cream layer.



4. Bake cake at 175deg C (370deg F) for about 35-40 minutes.
5. When done remove the cake from the oven and cool it completely.
6. Remove the rim and carefully cover the cake with the chocolate ganache.
7. Chill the cake completely in the fridge before decorating it.
8. Dust with unsweetened cocoa powder if desired before decorating with the berries.