Red Violet - With Chocolate Orange Cake

Recipe: Melissa Forti, Food-Styling: Mattia Risalti, Styling: Milia Seypel Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald

December: Next Stop X-Mas

For this, in many ways very special time, we have developed fine pairings with the magnificent Melissa Forti. Melissa calls herself a cake designer. After long stays in London and Los Angeles, she lives in the small town of Sarana in Liguria. She became known in Germany through her appearance on Tim Mälzer's TV show "Kitchen Impossible". Mälzer challenged Raue with the re-baking of Melissa's tiramisu. Tim Raue passed the test, but the jury chose Melissa's version. No wonder, because how could it be said more aptly than Tim Mälzer in his foreword to her first book "You can't bake more Italy into a piece of cake". Dolci, Tartes und zauberhafte Kuchen backen" is published by Prestel Verlag. At the moment Melissa can be seen on TV again, and as a juror in the italian TV show " Maîtres". TV show " Maîtres Chocolatier".

"I enjoyed creating recipes to match non-alcoholic cocktails, which are one of the coolest things of the moment! A great photographer then photographed them and this is the result! First recipe: chocolate and orange cake. All in a mini version! Sweets and cocktails that are non-alcoholic or not, are in my opinion a PERFECT marriage! " Instagram / Melissa Forti

Mattia Risaliti, is not only a talented designer but also a very creative chef & food stylist. He met Melissa a few years ago at Mälzer's Bullerei. This happy coincidence made our great collaboration possible. Together we developed exciting non-alcoholic drinks for Melissa's recipes and then staged them, in collaboration with set designer Milia Seypell. You can see the spread in the current Feinschmecker special edition no. 13. I will post the individual recipes here bit by bit, as we want to keep things exciting in the run-up to Christmas. If you don't want to miss anything, you can simply subscribe to the newsletter. I will summarise all the recipes here. Thank you Melissa, Mattia, Milia and thank you Antje from the Feinschmecker photo editorial team!

The pairing:

In the moist cake, the sweet and fruity orange marmalade combines with tart chocolate. Due to the small size of the cake, there is also a maximum of delicious garnache around it. The drink brings earthy notes into play alongside spicy herbal flavours. Earthy sweet from the beetroot juice and spicy hot from the aniseed and herbs in the alcohol-free pastis. Orgeat or almond syrup rounds off the drink, maintaining a fine connection to the sweet dish. Last but not least, the name-giving violet syrup, provides a subtle floral finish.

Chocolate Orange Cake

LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY moderately difficult PREPARATION TIME 35 minutes plus 15 minutes baking time INGREDIENTS for 12 mini-cakes

DOUGH

25 g dark chocolate (70%), 210 g melted butter, 240 g icing sugar,

30 g bitter cocoa,

120 g almond flour,

80 g flour (type 00),

240 g beaten egg white

(corresponds to about 5 eggs size M; room temperature),

30 g orange marmalade 

12-cavity silicone mould for oval cakes

CUVERTURE

250g dark chocolate, 30g butter,

50g cream

DECORATION

gold leaf,

candied orange peel

1.For the pastry, preheat the oven to 170°C top/bottom heat. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie, add the melted butter and stir.

2.Sieve the icing sugar, cocoa and both flours and set aside.

3. In a food processor, first mix the icing sugar, flour and cocoa with the whisk on a low speed and then slowly add the beaten egg whites. A paste should form.

4.Add the chocolate-butter mixture and mix gently. Do not over-stir.

5. add the orange marmalade and mix. Pour the batter into the oval moulds and bake in a hot oven at 150/170 degrees for about 15 minutes. Leave to cool.

6.For the chocolate coating, break the chocolate into large pieces, place in a pan and melt in a bain-marie. Then add the butter and finally stir in the cream.

7. When the cakes are cold, place them on a rack and pour the chocolate coating over them so that they are completely covered. Repeat if necessary to get a more even surface. Decorate with gold leaf and candied orange peel.

Red Violet

LEVEL OF SEASON easy PREPARATION TIME 5 minutes

INGREDIENTS for 1 person

2 cl non-alcoholic pastis,

0.5 cl beetroot juice,

0.5 cl "Orgeat" (almond syrup), 0.5 cl violet syrup,

a few dashes of "Fairy Foam"

(non-alcoholic foam for cocktails) or 1 egg white,

3 cl water

1 cl Verjus

Lime zest as garnish

Shake all ingredients without ice. Than add ice to the shaker and shake again. Strain and garnish with lime zest.

Styling & Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald