Gigi Burton’s Triple Chocolate Truffle Cake

1. Preheat oven to 325° F. Arrange rack in the center of the oven. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 by 2-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

2. Melt butter and semi-sweet chocolate chips over a double boiler until smooth; cool slightly. Meanwhile, with a hand mixer or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, whip eggs and salt on medium speed until doubled in volume, about 5 minutes.

3. Gently fold, in thirds, whipped eggs into melted chocolate. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and place pan in a water bath. Bake until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and is set in the center, about 40 minutes. Remove pan from the water bath to a cooling rack and cool cake completely in the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. To remove the cake, dip the bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan in warm water and run a thin metal spatula around the inside of the pan. Invert onto a plate to unmold, and remove the parchment paper.

4. To prepare the ganache, bring heavy cream to a simmer and pour over milk chocolate chips. Stir gently until smooth; cool slightly. Pour ganache over the top of the cake and spread with an offset spatula to evenly cover. (There will be some ganache leftover.) Chill cake until ganache sets, about 30 minutes. To garnish, grate white chocolate bar on top of cake.

(Recipe courtesy of Gigi Burton, winning entry in Ghirardelli’s Search for America’s Most Intense Chocolate Recipe.)