Brownie Cake with Cream, Truffles, and Caramelized Nuts

Directions

Prepare the Brownies

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius (345 degrees Fahrenheit) and grease a 24-centimeter (nine- and- a- half-inch) round baking pan.

2. In a medium bowl, melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave or in a double boiler.

3. Add sugar, salt, and instant coffee and beat well. Add the eggs one after the other, beating between each one.

4. Add tapioca starch, ground almonds, and baking powder and mix just until smooth.

5. Pour the batter into the baking pan and smooth out the top.

6. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the brownies set on the sides and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out with a slightly soft batter. The brownies will firm up when cool.

Prepare the Truffles

1. Chop the chocolate and put in a bowl.

2. Add whipping cream and salt and melt together in a microwave or in a double boiler until everything is melted and the mixture is smooth.

3. Pour the mixture into a four- to five-centimeter (one- and- a- half- to two-inch) half-sphere mold and fill to the top. Freeze the truffles in the pan for two hours, or until they are completely frozen.

4. Remove the truffles from the baking pan and place them freely on top of the brownies with space between them.

Prepare the Whipped Cream

1. In a mixer bowl, whip together whipping cream, confectioners' sugar, instant pudding, and vanilla extract until you get a very firm whipped cream.

2. Transfer the cream into a piping bag with a serrated tip and pipe mounds at the intervals between the truffles.

Prepare the Caramelized Nuts

1. Place sugar and salt in a small frying pan and heat until the sugar melts. When amber caramel is formed, add the whole nuts, lower to a medium flame, and cook the nuts in the caramel for two to three minutes until they are all thinly coated.

2. Cool the caramelized nuts on parchment paper until they are completely cooled.

3. Place caramelized nuts between the mounds of whipped cream and truffles.