Cadbury Crème Egg-opolis.

My mom made it out of the ICU! She is a hell of a fighter.

Many Cadbury crème eggs were harmed in the making of this cake.

I was so happy that I threw together this thing, which I think is a perfect cake for the upcoming spring equinox. This is truly a Cadbury creme egg in cake form! The filling, from the brilliant Sticky Pinny, tastes just like the filling in a creme egg – it’s uncanny. (I used this same filling to make Cadbury creme egg cupcakes.) I also chopped several Cadbury milk chocolate bars and sprinkled the pieces over each layer of filling to add texture and a chocolate zing. The cake, a dense, dark, rich, incredibly moist chocolate cake from this post, is a perfect accompaniment to the sweet, gooey icing. I iced the outside of the cake in a ganache made from Cadbury milk chocolate bars. Honestly, I thought this cake was going to be mind-blowingly excessive, but it turned out to be quite wonderful. I think this might be one of my favourite cakes ever, which surprises the socks off of me.

I decorated the cake with creme eggs, making sure to encourage the filling to ooze onto the cake, but I felt that the cake looked a little boring.

See? Boring.

I decided to cut out a large wedge to show off the pretty yellow and white filling to its best advantage, and I added more creme eggs with their filling oozing down the cut sides of the cake. I’m very, very pleased with the results, though I’m also quite curious about how you go about decorating this cake! As for the wedge I cut out, well… I made sure there were no witnesses.

See? Not boring! The ganache layer is incredibly thick and delicious! Note the yellow and white filling and the moist, fudgy texture of the cake.

Cadbury Crème Egg Cake

Ingredients:

For the ganache:
18 oz. Cadbury milk chocolate, chopped
4 TBS butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 1/3 cups heavy cream

For the cake:
1¾ cups plus 2 TBS all-purpose flour
1½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting pans (unless spraying pans with nonstick spray such as Baker’s Joy)
1¼ cups boiling water + ¼ cup espresso or strong coffee; OR 1 TBS instant espresso or coffee powder + 1½ cups boiling water
¾ cup sour cream
1 TBS vanilla extract
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups plus 2 TBS sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1¼ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt

For the creme egg fondant filling:
4 1/2 TBS butter, softened
3/4 cup golden syrup (if you can’t find golden syrup, light corn syrup is an excellent substitute)
3 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
yellow food colouring (preferably in gel form)

For the cream cheese icing:
1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
8 1/2 cups powdered sugar

For garnish:
1 package Cadbury crème egg minis
6 – 12 regular Cadbury crème eggs
2 – 4 Cadbury milk chocolate bars, chopped, for sprinkling onto the icing layers

Method:

For the ganache:
Place chocolate and butter in medium heatproof bowl. Heat cream until boiling and pour cream over chocolate and butter. Let stand 2 minutes, then whisk until smooth and incorporated. Mixture may appear grainy; keep whisking and it will smooth out. Cover and set aside to thicken to icing consistency, which takes several hours at room temperature.

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Spray 3 8″ round cake pans* with Baker’s Joy or similar and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper; spray the parchment paper. Alternatively, butter the insides of the pans and dust with cocoa powder, shaking out the excess, and line the pans with parchment paper. Note: I highly recommend lining the pans with parchment paper, as the cakes tend very much to resist coming out of the cake pans.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir with a fork or whisk to blend and set aside.

Combine 1 1/4 cups water and 1/4 cup espresso. The mixture should measure 1 1/2 cups. Heat mixture to boiling in microwave. In a medium bowl, combine the cocoa powder and espresso mixture (or combine the cocoa powder, 1 1/2 cups boiling water, and 1 TBS instant espresso powder). Whisk until smooth; set aside to cool slightly. When cooled down a bit, whisk in the sour cream and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Gradually blend in the sugar and whip on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 – 3 minutes more. Blend in the eggs one at a time, scraping bowl after each addition.

With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients and the sour cream mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating each addition just until incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.* Bake the cake layers for about 30 – 32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, rotating the pans during halfway through to ensure even baking. Transfer the baked cake layers to a wire rack and let cool in the pans at least 10 minutes before inverting onto the rack to cool completely. While the cakes are cooling, make the fondant filling and cream cheese icing.

For the creme egg fondant filling:
Beat the butter, syrup, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment. (Doing this by hand would be exceedingly difficult and would take much, much longer than using an electric mixer.) Gradually add the powdered sugar (you will probably need to switch to the dough hook attachment at this point, for the mixture will be incredibly thick and heavy*), followed by the yellow food colouring to tint the mixture to the desired shade of yellow. Beat until smooth. Cover and set aside.

For the cream cheese icing:
Beat the cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy and completely blended. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until smooth and thick. Use immediately, or else cover and store in the refrigerator.

Assembly:
Place one cake layer onto a serving platter or cake circle. Spread half the cream cheese icing onto the cake layer and swirl approximately half of the fondant onto and into the cream cheese icing. Evenly sprinkle 1 – 2 chopped Cadbury milk chocolate bars onto the icing. Top with a second cake layer and repeat the icing procedure; sprinkle with an additional 1 – 2 chopped chocolate bars. Top with the third cake layer and ice cake with thickened ganache. Decorate as desired with Cadbury crème eggs, cracking them open and drizzling their filling down the sides of the cake. If you wish, cut a large wedge out of the cake and drizzle more crème egg filling down the cut sides of the cake. Make that cake look like it fought like hell against an invasion of Cadbury crème eggs! The point is to be silly and have fun with this rather over-the-top cake.

*I own only 2 8″ pans, so I divided the batter evenly between the two pans and the mixing bowl, baked the two layers, and cleaned one of the cake pans to use again for baking the third layer.

Sources: Fondant and cream cheese icing barely adapted from Sticky Pinny; cake from Annie’s Eats; ganache slightly adapted from Annie’s Eats

A better view of the graham cracker crust that encircles the cheesecake. Ganache rosettes, hear me roar!

When I came across this recipe for Bailey’s Irish Cream cheesecake, I was stoked. I love Bailey’s Irish Cream! Lately, I’ve been on a Bailey’s kick, what with these Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes and now with this cheesecake. Hell, it is St. Patrick’s Day in less than a week, so I’m allowed to go charmingly insane with my Bailey’s obsession! (Seriously, I love Bailey’s. I even flavour my coffee with Bailey’s coffee creamer, which is not alcoholic but which tastes virtually identical to the real McCoy.) If the Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes aren’t your thing for celebrating all things Irish, mayhap this cheesecake will fit the bill!

A slice of gustatory delight.

I made a few alterations to the recipe, and I disregarded completely its advice to beat each ingredient for five straight minutes after adding it to the batter. This is terrible advice that would yield a cheesecake with too much air in the batter, which would preclude the formation of that creamy, dreamy texture cheesecake ought to have. I used instead the mixing method from this New York Style Cheesecake. I also ignored the recipe’s directions for the crust and cobbled together my own crust, which reaches up the sides in order to enclose the inch-thick layer of chocolate ganache (gleaned from this absolutely amazing recipe) that lies beneath the cheesecake layer. I finished the cheesecake with the Bailey’s-spiked chocolate ganache from the Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes, because chocolate and Bailey’s are a match made in heaven.

The layers: graham cracker crust, inch-thick layer of ganache, the cheesecake (with its beautiful brown top!), and more ganache on the top and around the bottom. Winning!

This turned out to be one of the best cheesecakes I have ever had in my life. The texture is creamy and soft, the flavours spot-on and in perfect balance. Perhaps the best part of all for me was finally, after making dozens of cheesecakes, achieving a beautiful brown crust on the top of my cheesecake. W00t!

The cheesecake has a brown top! My first brown top on a cheesecake!

If you enjoyed reading this, click here to subscribe to my blog. That way, you’ll never miss a post!

Bailey’s Irish Cream Cheesecake

Ingredients:

For the ganache icing:
8 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 TBS butter
2 tsp – 2 TBS Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur

For the crust:
14 oz. graham crackers
1 TBS sugar
1 – 2 sticks butter, melted (start with 1 stick butter and add more butter, 1 TBS at a time, as needed to reach desired consistency) + 2 TBS butter, melted, for brushing sides and bottom of springform pan

For the ganache filling (underneath the cheesecake layer):
1 cup + 1 TBS heavy whipping cream
16 ounces bittersweet, semisweet, or milk chocolate, or some combination thereof
2 TBS Bailey’s Irish Cream, Kahlúa, or other liqueur that pairs well with coffee (optional)

For the cheesecake:
4 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, at room temperature
2 2/3 cups sugar
1/3 cup cream, at room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1/2 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur
4 eggs + 2 egg yolks, at room temperature*

Method:

For the ganache icing:
Place chocolate and butter in a medium heat-proof bowl. Bring heavy cream to boil and pour immediately over chocolate and butter; let stand 2 – 3 minutes. Whisk until smooth and totally blended. Whisk in Bailey’s, if using, starting with a small amount and adding more to taste. Set aside to cool to room temperature and thicken to icing, or piping, consistency.

For the crust:
Brush sides and bottom of a 10″ springform pan (pan must have sides that are at least 2.5″ high) with melted butter. Line pan with a parchment paper circle and brush circle with butter. (Using a parchment paper circle will enable you to easily remove the cheesecake from the springform pan later.) Wrap pan in several layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil to waterproof the springform pan, as the cheesecake will be baked in a water bath.

Finely grind crackers in food processor. (Alternatively, you can crush the crackers in a bowl with a potato masher, or place them in a sealed ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Just make the crumbs as fine as possible.) Transfer crumbs to a large bowl and add sugar. Add butter. Stir together vigorously with a fork, until thoroughly combined. Add more butter, 1 TBS at a time, if necessary. Transfer crumbs to springform pan and press crumb mixture firmly up sides to within 1/2 inch of top edge, then over bottom of pan. Note: A glass measuring cup can be used to press down the crumbs evenly on the bottom of the pan.

For the ganache filling (underneath the cheesecake layer):
Place chocolate and liqueur in a large bowl. Bring whipping cream to simmer in large saucepan. Remove from heat; pour immediately over chocolate and liqueur. Whisk until chocolate is melted and ganache is smooth. Pour ganache over bottom of crust and use a pastry brush to brush the sides as well. Freeze springform pan until ganache layer is firm, about 30 minutes. While crust is freezing, make the cheesecake.

For the cheesecake:
Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350°F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium-low speed for about 1 minute to soften. Scrape the bowl and beater. Add sugar and beat on low speed for about 1 minute; scrape bowl and beater. Add the cream and sour cream and beat on low speed for about 1 minute; scrape bowl and beater. Add the Bailey’s and beat on low speed for about 1 minute; scrape bowl and beater. Add the eggs one at a time, beating on low speed for about 1 minute after each addition and also scraping bowl and beater after each addition. Add the yolks and beat on low speed for 1 minute; gently fold mixture with rubber spatula to ensure the yolks are completely incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared pan (ganache should have firmed up by now) and place springform pan, wrapped securely in several layers of aluminum foil, into a roasting pan filled with very hot water that reaches halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 90 minutes. (The cheesecake will appear very wobbly. This is as it should be.) Allow to cool in oven. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Unmoulding:
Take plastic wrap from top of cheesecake and set aside upside-down, so that the side that was touching the cheesecake is facing up. Carefully release springform sides. Run bottom of cheesecake, still on springform bottom, over hot stovetop for 10 – 15 seconds. Lay the plastic wrap back onto the top of the cheesecake, and place a large, flat plate over the top of the cheesecake. Carefully flip cheesecake upside down so that the top is against the plate. Using an extremely sharp knife, loosen crust from springform bottom. (You may have to reheat the bottom of the pan if it is being stubborn.) Flip cheesecake onto serving platter. Remove plastic wrap from top of cheesecake.

Decorating:
Pipe ganache over top and sides of cheesecake as desired. Ganache can also be spread onto cheesecake with an offset spatula or a knife. If the ganache is thin enough, it can simply be poured atop the cheesecake for a rustic, inviting look.

*Try placing eggs in a bowl of hot water for 10 minutes. They will beat more easily into the cheesecake batter this way.

Source: Crust was an original creation; cheesecake adapted from Food.com; Bailey’s ganache is from Annie’s Eats; ganache layer on bottom of cheesecake adapted from Bon Appétit, February 2002

Cadbury Creme Egg cupcakes – oh my!

Cadbury Creme Eggs in cupcake form – winning! Finally, a cupcake version of one of my favourite holiday treats ever! This is apparently not a new concept, but I discovered it only recently. Why had I never thought of doing this before? The inimitable Sticky Pinny designed these cupcakes for the Iron Cupcake: Leeds competition, and I am eternally grateful not only to Sticky Pinny, but to Milwaukee, the city which spawned the Iron Cupcake competition. A dark chocolate cupcake base (I used the one from these White Mocha Frappuccino Cupcakes) is topped with icing that is approximately 2/3 cream cheese icing and 1/3 yellow-tinted fondant. The icing is piped so that it resembles the filling of an actual creme egg, which is quite pretty and appealing. I did a side-by-side taste comparison of this icing and the filling from an actual creme egg, and was amazed to discover that the icing for these cupcakes truly tastes like the Cadbury Creme Egg filling! It is phenomenally good, and its sweetness is balanced quite nicely by the dark chocolate cupcake base.

A close-up of the yellow fondant and white buttercream. It’s eggy!

The white and yellow streaked icing is a beautiful canvas for further decoration, and there are myriad ways to decorate these cupcakes. Sticky Pinny topped her cupcakes with tiny creme eggs which she broke open, spilling the “yolk” and “white” onto the icing, but I chose to keep my egg toppers intact. I also used the regular creme eggs, rather than the minis, because my heart belongs to those whopping big chocolate treats. The minis just don’t groove my mojo. I thought the cupcakes looked a bit naked with just the eggs on top (I never do anything halfway), so I chopped up some Cadbury milk chocolate bars and sprinkled them over the cupcakes. The addition of a bit of crunch, plus more chocolate (seriously, how could more chocolate ever be a bad thing?), worked wonders with cupcakes that were already stellar to begin with. Winning!

Creme eggs, as far as the eye can see!

I got so excited by the concept of creme egg cupcakes that I made a few chocolate ones to pay homage to chocolate creme eggs. I made a small batch of ganache (I love the ganache recipe from these Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes), iced about a half dozen cupcakes with it, and then broke open chocolate creme eggs to use as toppers. Winning!

An homage to the underrated chocolate creme egg. Yum!

If you enjoyed reading this, click here to subscribe to my blog. That way, you’ll never miss a post!

Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes

Yield: About 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
5 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Hershey’s Special Dark)
2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
5 TBS cocoa powder
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups hot espresso or strong coffee
12 TBS unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cup + 2 TBS light or dark brown sugar

For the creme egg fondant filling:
4 1/2 TBS butter, softened
3/4 cup golden syrup (if you can’t find golden syrup, light corn syrup is an excellent substitute)
3 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
yellow food colouring (preferably in gel form)

For the cream cheese icing:
1/2 cup + 1 TBS cream cheese, softened
1 stick + 1 TBS butter, softened
4 1/4 cups + 2 TBS powdered sugar

For decorating:
Cadbury creme eggs and / or chopped chocolate

Method:

For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 cupcake tins with paper liners.

Melt the chocolate and let cool slightly. In a medium bowl, stir together flour and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, cocoa powder, and baking soda, mixing to form a paste. Slowly whisk in the coffee. In a small bowl, stir eggs and vanilla until well combined.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Slowly add the egg and vanilla mixture, and beat until combined. Add the melted chocolate and beat well. Add the flour mixture, alternating between it and the sour cream mixture, beating just until all ingredients are incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners, filling each about 2/3 full. (A 1/4 cup measure accomplishes this very well.) Bake 18 – 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. (The cupcakes must be completely cooled before you ice them!)

For the creme egg fondant filling:
Beat the butter, syrup, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment. (Doing this by hand would be exceedingly difficult and would take much, much longer than using an electric mixer.) Gradually add the powdered sugar (you will probably need to switch to the dough hook attachment at this point, for the mixture will be incredibly thick and heavy*), followed by the yellow food colouring to tint the mixture to the desired shade of yellow. Beat until smooth. Cover and set aside.

For the cream cheese icing:
Beat the cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy and completely blended. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until smooth and thick. Use immediately, else cover and store in the refrigerator.

Assembly:
To achieve a two-toned, swirled effect, place some of the fondant down one side of a piping bag and add the cream cheese down the other side, trying not to mix them. There should be a 1:2 ratio of fondant to cream cheese icing. Remember, the egg “white” forms most of the icing!

Pipe the icing onto a plate or aluminum foil until the two-toned effect comes through. Swirl icing onto the cupcakes in whatever pattern or patterns you choose. Decorate with Cadbury creme eggs, chopped chocolate – the sky is the limit!

*I strongly advise switching to a dough hook as soon as the fondant gets too thick for the paddle attachment to beat. Otherwise, you really might damage your mixer.

Source: Sticky Pinny

The chocolate genoise is only happy when it is served on a blue plate.

I’ve been thumbing through my copy of Eating Royally by Darren McGrady, looking for new things to try in the kitchen. Something called “Royal Birthday Cake,” supposedly the cake England’s queen gets every year for her birthday, caught my eye. It’s a chocolate genoise filled and iced with chocolate ganache. I’d never attempted a genoise before, and I was a bit nervous. A genoise is a French sponge cake leavened only by air: whole eggs and a few yolks, plus a bit of sugar, are whipped in a double boiler until they triple in volume and, when the whisk is lifted, form ribbons that take a second or two to dissolve back into the rest of the mixture. There are so few ingredients in this cake that the chocolate figures prominently in the cake’s flavour, so use the best chocolate you can find.

The recipe directs the baker to tort the cake – for the recipe yields only one cake layer – into three layers, which seemed a daunting task considering that the layer I pulled out of my oven would make for three very, very thin layers. Plowing ahead determinedly, I torted the cake while it was still hot, and cooled the three layers atop one another, separating the layers with sheets of waxed paper.

The cake from the side. Rather mysterious, like James Bond.

I tasted a scrap of cake, and was, I have to admit, disappointed to find that the genoise lives up to its reputation of being a bit dry for American tastes. I remedied this by making a simple syrup, with which I generously brushed each layer. This eliminated the dryness and added a boost of flavour. I highly recommend that you use the simple syrup for this cake, unless you genuinely prefer the unadorned genoise texture. Husband and I agreed that a coffee-flavoured simple syrup is in order for next time, as a coffee kick would have given the cake the complexity it needed to be truly great. Otherwise, this turned out to be a fantastic kitchen experience and a valuable lesson in working with French techniques.

One caveat: The ganache recipe given for this cake is way too thin to ever ice anything. It wouldn’t firm up, even after several hours in the freezer. I tried freezing it overnight, but as soon as it began to thaw, it went right back to its liquid state. Dismissing that effort as hopeless, I turned to my favourite ganache recipe, in point of fact the one from these Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. The recipe for the second ganache is included below.

This recipe is in honour of special March birthdays. Here’s to robust health and true enjoyment of life. Sláinte!

It’s just begging you to eat it. You don’t want to disappoint the genoise, do you? Because the genoise should never be disappointed.

If you enjoyed reading this, click here to subscribe to my blog. That way, you’ll never miss a post!

Chocolate Genoise Royal Birthday Cake

Yield: 10 – 14 servings

Ingredients:

For the ganache:
18 oz. chocolate (milk, semisweet, or dark, depending on your preference)
2 TBS unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups + 1 TBS heavy cream
2 TBS Bailey’s liqueur, optional

For the cake:
6 egg yolks
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup + 2 TBS all-purpose flour
4 TBS Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the simple syrup:
1/2 cup water
6 TBS sugar
2 TBS brewed espresso or strong coffee

For garnish:
1 1/2 cups chopped chocolate (I used Hershey’s Special Dark chips)

Method:

For the ganache:
Place chocolate and butter in a medium bowl. Heat cream until boiling and pour immediately over chocolate and butter. Let stand two minutes. Whisk until completely incorporated and smooth. Whisk in the Bailey’s, if using. Cover and let stand for several hours to thicken to icing consistency. (You may speed this process by placing the ganache in the freezer or refrigerator and stirring every 10 minutes or every 30 minutes, respectively.)

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter an 8″ cake pan (do not flour) and line with parchment paper; butter the parchment paper.

In a small bowl, sift flour and cocoa together.

Set a metal mixing bowl (I used the bowl for my stand mixer) over a saucepan half filled with simmering water. The water shouldn’t touch the bottom of the mixing bowl. Add the yolks, eggs, and sugar to the mixing bowl, and whisk together, allowing the heat from the simmering water to warm the mixture.

Keep whisking the egg mixture until it triples in volume and, when the whisk is lifted, forms streams that take a second or two to dissolve back into the rest of the mixture.

The egg mixture, whipped until it begged for mercy!

Gently fold in the flour / cocoa mixture. Carefully fold in the melted butter.

The mixture has been folded together.

The genoise batter is ready to bake!

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until the edges begin to pull away from the sides. Remove immediately from oven – this is one cake that does not take kindly to being even slightly overbaked!

Turn cake onto cooling rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Using a long, serrated knife, tort cake into 3 thin, even layers. Place a layer of waxed paper between each layer and stack layers. Allow to cool completely.

For the simple syrup:
While the cake is cooling, make the simple syrup. Place sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat on medium, swirling occasionally (do not stir), until the sugar has dissolved completely and the mixture is clear. Heat an additional 2 – 3 minutes to slightly thicken the syrup, then remove from heat and immediately stir in the coffee.

Assembly:
Place bottom cake layer on a serving platter. Brush very generously with syrup and then ice with 1/4 of ganache. Top with second cake layer. Brush very generously with syrup and then ice with 1/4 of ganache. Place approximately half the chopped chocolate atop ganache. Top with remaining layer and brush very generously with syrup. Ice top and sides with remaining ganache. Garnish with remaining chopped chocolate.

Serve with whipped cream and coffee.

Source: Cake barely adapted from Eating Royally: Recipes & Remembrances from a Palace Kitchen by Darren McGrady, 2007; ganache from Annie’s Eats

Ganache latticework atop the white chocolate layer. A bit of the chocolate crust is visible along the side.

The very first cheesecake recipe I ever tried was this one. Cheesecake has a fearsome reputation for being finicky, a reputation which, in my firm estimation, cheesecake doesn’t deserve. I wanted to scale the mountain of cheesecake fear, and this recipe, which involves incorporating melted baking chips into cheesecake batter, seemed perfect for my first cheesecake. Only problem was, I didn’t realise that cheesecake ingredients should be at room temperature, so I woefully overbeat the batter in my attempt to get the ingredients to smooth out. My inexperience led me to overbake the cheesecake, because I simply couldn’t believe that the center two inches of the cheesecake should be wobbly. The result was much too heavy – the texture wasn’t light or silky or any of the things that cheesecake should be. I was flummoxed.

Looking back, it’s clear as day what I did wrong: I used cold ingredients and I overbaked my hapless cheesecake. I strongly suspect those are the two primary culprits behind cheesecake’s ice princess reputation. My advice to bakers struggling with making cheesecake is this: Firstly, use ingredients that are room temperature because room temperature ingredients require less beating. Less beating means less air incorporated into the batter, which means a creamier, more evenly baked cheesecake. Cheesecakes with too much air beaten into the batter tend to crack, bake unevenly, and overbake, which leads me to my second piece of advice: Don’t overbake the cheesecake. If the edges have browned and are set, and the center two inches are still wobbly and not quite set, then the cheesecake is finished baking. Take it out of the oven and let it cool! It will continue to bake outside of the oven, thereby setting those wobbly center inches. Follow these two pieces of advice, and your interactions with cheesecake will morph from “Yes, your majesty!” to “Did you just look at me funny?”

The layers: chocolate crust; chocolate layer; peanut butter layer; white chocolate topping; and ganache latticework on top. This cheesecake was demolished by hungry Norsemen before I was able to get a proper picture of the layers or of a nice, neat slice.

If you enjoyed reading this, click here to subscribe to my blog. That way, you’ll never miss a post!

Triple Layer Cheesecake

Yield: 1 9″ cheesecake

Ingredients:

For the ganache:
1/3 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup chocolate
1 TBS butter

For the crust:
1 box vanilla wafers
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 – 2 sticks butter, melted (start with one stick of melted butter and add more butter as needed to make a moist crust)

For the batter:
3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
1 cup peanut butter chips, melted and cooled
1 cup white chocolate chips, melted and cooled
OR flavours of your choice

Method:

For the ganache:
Place chocolate and butter in a medium heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until boiling. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and butter and let stand 2 – 3 minutes. Whisk until completely blended and smooth. Refrigerate until of proper piping consistency, or let stand at room temperature and pour over cheesecake once it has cooled to room temperature.

For the crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Using a food processor or potato masher, crush the crumbs until of fine consistency. Stir in the powdered sugar and cocoa powder until evenly blended. Stir in 1 stick of melted butter; add more butter, 1 TBS at a time, to achieve a moist crust.

Press crust evenly on the bottom and slightly up the sides of a 9″ springform pan. For a soft, brownie-like crust, place pan in freezer while you prepare the batter and do not pre-bake. For a firmer crust, bake crust for about 10 minutes in 350°F oven. Cool completely on wire rack.

For the batter:
Ensure oven is preheated to 350°F.

Beat cream cheese on medium speed to soften, about 1 – 2 minutes. Scrape bowl and beater. Blend in sugar at medium-low speed and beat until evenly incorporated, about 1 – 2 minutes. Scrape bowl and beater. Blend in sour cream, vanilla, and salt at low speed for 1 minute. Scrape bowl and beater. Blend in eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute on low speed after each addition and scraping bowl and beater after each addition.

Divide batter into thirds of approximately 1 1/3 cups each. In one of these thirds, stir in the melted and cooled semisweet chocolate chips until well blended. In another of these thirds, stir in the melted and cooled peanut butter chips until well blended. In the last of these thirds, stir in the melted and cooled white chocolate chips until well blended.

Wrap the springform pan in several layers of heavy-duty foil. Fill a pan large enough to comfortably hold the springform pan slightly less than half full with very hot water.

Pour one of the flavours into the frozen or completely cooled crust and smooth top. Pour a second flavour atop the first and smooth the top. Pour the final flavour on top and smooth the top of this layer.

Place the filled springform pan into the water-filled pan. Bake for 55 – 65 minutes, or until the top edges are golden-brown and the centre two inches are still wobbly. Transfer cheesecake from water bath to cooling rack and immediately run a sharp knife around the edges of the springform pan to loosen the cheesecake, making sure to scrape knife against the sides of the pan and not against the cheesecake itself. Cool to room temperature, cover top with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

Source: Heavily adapted from Hershey’s 100th Anniversary: 100 Years of Hershey’s Favorites by Hershey Foods Corporation, 1994; original recipe is available here

The birthday cake I made for a family friend. I really have a thing for Godiva chocolate.

I never understood the appeal of German chocolate cake. The ones I tried were invariably dry, insipid, and essentially flavourless, with never enough of the coconut filling between the layers. Plus, they just looked… well, they looked messy. I don’t mind messy if it brings incredible flavour along for the ride, but messy and tasteless? Nope. Life is too short!

Without knowing of my antipathy toward German chocolate cake, a close family friend requested that I make a German chocolate cake – her favourite – for her birthday. I actually looked upon her request as a challenge: I was going to find a way to make a delicious German chocolate cake! Well, the incomparable David Lebovitz had beaten me to the punch. His recipe for German chocolate cake dictates that this classic cake be iced in ganache. How revolutionary – at least, to me! It certainly solved the problem of the cake’s looking disheveled. As I thought more about this extraordinary solution, I realised that the ganache would also pair incredibly well with the chocolate cake layers and the filling.

Glorious.

I made a test version of this cake, learning quite a bit in the process, and there are a few recommendations I’d make. Firstly, when beating the egg whites, do not overbeat them to the point of dryness. The egg whites must be beaten until they are stiff but moist; as with a soufflé, it is better to slightly underbeat the whites than to overbeat them. If they are overbeaten, the cake will be dry and will bake much more quickly than indicated in the recipe. Secondly, the coconut pecan filling must be cooked until it is noticeably thick and reads 170°F on an instant-read thermometer. If undercooked, the filling will ooze everywhere and will not set up properly. Finally – and this last point is more of an opinion than an objective observation – I feel that the amount of coconut pecan filling produced by the recipe is inadequate, as there was barely enough to thinly ice each cake layer. The filling is so, so, so good – I could sit down with a whole bowl of it and happily polish it off. If you like a lot of filling, I would advise doubling the filling recipe (simply double each ingredient listed for the filling).

The ganache really makes this cake, in my opinion. It adds moisture, and the creamy chocolate smoothness complements the chunky coconut pecan filling. I’ll never again even consider making German chocolate cake without ganache. Having said that, I must admit that I did not like this particular ganache recipe. This ganache is quite thin at first; I had to place it in the freezer for almost an hour, stirring every 15 minutes, for it to thicken enough for use in icing and piping. I suppose you could pour it onto the cake instead of icing the cake with it, but I don’t think much ganache would actually stay on the cake that way. In subsequent makings of this cake, I wound up reducing the cream by 1/4 cup and increasing the amount of chocolate by about 2 oz. In the form produced by the original recipe, the ganache was just too thin for me to comfortably work with. The original proportions are listed below, so you can decide for yourself if you’d like to keep the ratio the way it is or alter it.

Roll that beautiful ganache footage!

Remember how I said I disliked German chocolate cake? After making this cake twice – the first time for practise, the second time for the birthday girl – I wound up making this a third time just for Husband and me.

A slice of win, I tell you!

If you enjoyed reading this, click here to subscribe to my blog. That way, you’ll never miss a post!

German Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used semisweet)
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped (I used bittersweet)
6 TBS brewed espresso / coffee, OR 6 TBS water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted OR salted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar, divided
4 large eggs, separated
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the simple syrup:
1 cup water
¾ cup sugar
2 TBS dark rum or brewed espresso / coffee, optional

For the coconut pecan filling:
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
6 TBS butter, cut into small pieces
½ tsp salt, optional
1 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped
1 1/3 cups unsweetened coconut, toasted (I used sweetened coconut and did not toast it, and I loved the outcome)

For the ganache:
8 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 TBS light corn syrup
3 TBS butter
1 cup heavy cream

Method:

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 2 9″ cake pans with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper rounds; spray parchment rounds. Alternatively, butter and flour the pans, lining with parchment paper rounds; butter and flour rounds.

Melt the bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate together with the coffee. Stir until smooth, then set aside until the mixture reaches room temperature.

Stir or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a liquid measuring cup or a small bowl, blend buttermilk and vanilla.

Beat the butter and 1¼ cup of the sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the melted chocolate. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, scraping bowl as needed.

On low speed, mix half of the flour mixture into the butter mixture, then mix in the buttermilk mixture; mix in the rest of the flour mixture. Stop beating before the flour is fully incorporated, instead folding gently with a spatula until no streaks of flour remain.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft, droopy peaks.* (This can be done with a hand whisk.) Beat in the remaining ¼ cup of sugar until stiff peaks form. If you overbeat the egg whites, check the cakes at about 25 minutes in, as the cakes will bake much more quickly with stiffer, dryer egg whites.

Fold about 1/3 of the egg whites into the cake batter to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg whites until no streaks remain.

Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans, smoothing the tops. Bake 40 – 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool cake layers completely in the pans.

While the cakes are baking and cooling, make the filling, syrup, and icing.

For the simple syrup:
In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water until the sugar has melted and is fully dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in the dark rum or coffee, if using. Let cool to room temperature.

For the coconut pecan filling:
Place the cream, sugar, and yolks in a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, place the butter, salt (if using), coconut, and pecan pieces in a large bowl.

Heat the cream mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to noticeably thicken and reads 170°F on a candy thermometer or an instant-read thermometer.** This process usually takes me about 20 minutes over medium heat.

Pour the hot custard immediately onto the pecan-coconut mixture and stir until the butter is melted. Cool completely to room temperature. The mixture will thicken upon standing.

For the ganache:
Place the chocolate in a bowl with the corn syrup and butter.

Bring the cream to boiling. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate mixture. Let stand 2 minutes, then whisk until smooth. Let cool; then refrigerate or freeze until the ganache thickens to icing consistency.

Assembly:
Make four cake layers by torting the cake layers using a long, serrated knife. Set the first layer, cut side up, on a cake circle or serving plate. Brush generously with syrup. Evenly spread about 3/4 cup of the coconut pecan filling over the layer. Top with second layer; repeat. Repeat for both third and fourth layers, making sure to spread the coconut pecan filling over the top layer of the cake.

Ice the cake with the thickened ganache. Do not ice over the top of the cake (unless you want to!). If desired, pipe a decorative border around the bottom and the top of the cake, hiding the seam between the coconut pecan filling and the edges of the cake.

*I overbeat the egg whites the first time making this, and the cakes were overbaked 30 minutes into baking. If you overbeat the egg whites, check the cake at 25 minutes in.

**It is very important that you do not undercook the filling; else it will not thicken, and will be incredibly runny.

Source: David Lebovitz

Yep, Godiva. I pulled no punches.

I’ve been positively itching to write about this cake for a long time, but I kept forgetting to take pictures of the whole process. (I’ve made this cake several times.) When the chance arrived yesterday to make this cake for a client’s birthday, I made sure to take photos of the process. This is such an unusual cake that I felt its creation and assembly should be documented. A fudgy brownie base is covered with a thick layer of chocolate mousse, which is topped with a dark chocolate cake layer. The whole thing is iced in chocolate ganache.

Yes, the whole thing. See?

An interior shot of the first version I ever made of this cake: brownie layer, on the very bottom; chocolate mousse layer; chocolate cake layer; then ganache over all.

The brownie and cake layers are baked at the same time, which is one of the reasons I find this cake so odd. (Perhaps I’m odd for thinking this odd.) Another quirk about this recipe is its love of strange measurements: many of the ingredients are measured in eighths. It helped me immensely to know that 1/8 cup = 2 TBS. I was then able to figure out that 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 TBS. Intimidating measurements are made friendly!

I don’t know how many of you have been to the Longhorn restaurant chain, but for those of you who have yet to step foot there, that chain is known for its Chocolate Stampede Cake. It consists of 6 layers of chocolate, including chocolate cake, chocolate fudge, and chocolate mousse. It’s absolutely incredible. This cake, though named for the Longhorn Chocolate Stampede Cake, takes said Longhorn cake out back and smacks it around. Then it spanks it for good measure. And then it laughs at the Longhorn cake and seduces its wife. If you want to mimic the way the Longhorn cake is served, top this cake with whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup, and serve with vanilla ice cream. Oh, yeah, baby.

As I always do with chocolate cake recipes, I used brewed espresso in place of water, because coffee intensifies the flavour of chocolate. I also used semisweet and unsweetened chocolate in place of just unsweetened chocolate for the brownie and cake layers, because I don’t much like dark chocolate. In addition, I used a combination of milk and semisweet chocolate instead of using only semisweet chocolate for the mousse and ganache. I’ve made this cake a good half dozen times, and the first time, I followed the recipe to the letter. I’ve come to prefer the less dark version of this cake, for sure. Instructions for both dark and lighter versions of this cake are included below.

I feel it is only fair to point out that this cake takes a bit of time to make and assemble. To break it into more manageable steps, make the brownie and cake layers one day, then assemble and ice the cake the next day. If necessary, you can ice the cake a day after assembly. Do not rush this recipe, because it takes patience and concentration. Keep the finished cake in the refrigerator and – this is important! – slice with a hot, dry knife, wiping the knife clean between slices. I learned the hard way that slicing with a cold knife will lead to collapsed, messy cake slices and heartache. One additional caveat: During the cake-making portion of this recipe, in the step in which room-temperature butter is added to the batter 1 TBS at a time, I’ve never been able to get the butter to fully incorporate into the batter. It beats into little pea-sized pieces, and refuses to incorporate any further. I have no idea if this is as it should be, or if I should beat the butter more. At any rate, the cake has always turned out to be moist and flavourful, so I have quit worrying about the butter issue, though I would have appreciated some advice about it when I first made this cake.

This gorgeous cake is oh so worth all the dirty dishes. I say this as someone who doesn’t have a dishwasher.

This makes two cakes I’ve made in as many days. Wowza!

A slice of win from the first version I ever made of this cake.

Making the cake layer: the cocoa, coffee, and chocolate mixture becomes glossy and smooth again upon adding sugar.

Making the cake layer: the chocolate mixture being added to the eggs and sugar.

Brownie layer (left) and cake layer (right), before baking.

Brownie layer (left) and cake layer (right), after baking.

The brownie in the springform pan, outfitted with a parchment paper collar. Next come the mousse and cake layers!

The cake just before icing with ganache. The mousse is spilling out a bit, making this cake look like the world’s sweetest hamburger.

From a fairly recent version I made of this cake: Glossy ganache is glossy.

If you enjoyed reading this, click here to subscribe to my blog. That way, you’ll never miss a post!

Chocolate Stampede Cake

Ingredients:

For the brownie layer:
1/2 cup + 2 TBS cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine (I used 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate and 1 oz. semisweet chocolate)
6 TBS unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
1 1/8 cups (1 cup + 2 TBS) sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

For the cake layer:
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate and 1 oz. semisweet chocolate)
1/8 cup (2 TBS) Dutch-processed cocoa
1/4 cup hot brewed espresso or strong coffee, OR 1/4 cup hot water
7/8 cup (3/4 cup + 2 TBS) sugar, divided
7/8 cup (3/4 cup + 2 TBS) unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
6 TBS unsalted butter, soft

For the chocolate mousse:
6 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used about half milk chocolate and half dark chocolate, with a small amount of bittersweet chocolate added)
2 cups heavy whipping cream, very cold
1 TBS sugar

For the ganache:
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 TBS unsalted OR salted butter
18 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used about half milk chocolate and half dark chocolate, with a small amount of bittersweet chocolate added)

Method:

For the brownie layer:
Line the bottom of a 9″ springform pan with a round of parchment paper and spray the sides and paper with nonstick cooking spray. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 325°F. In a medium bowl, combine the cake flour, salt, and baking powder. Stir with a fork to mix. Melt the chocolate and butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. When the chocolate mixture is completely smooth, remove from heat and stir or whisk in the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring or whisking after each addition until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture until completely homogenous.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula. Do not bake yet. Set aside, prepare the cake batter, and bake the two layers at the same time.

For the cake layer:
Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Combine buttermilk and vanilla in a glass measuring cup or small bowl.

Line the bottom of a 9″ round cake pan with a round of parchment paper. Spray the pan and paper with Baker’s Joy or similar, or grease and flour the pan and parchment paper. Combine the chocolate, cocoa, and hot coffee in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring with a rubber spatula, until chocolate is melted (mixture will be dull in sheen and very thick). Add 1/4 cup sugar to chocolate mixture and stir until glossy and thickened, 1 – 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the eggs and yolk on medium-low speed until combined. Add remaining sugar, increase speed to high, and whisk until fluffy and lightened in color, 2 – 3 minutes. Replace whisk with paddle attachment.

Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and mix on medium speed until thoroughly incorporated, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Add softened butter one TBS at a time, mixing about 10 seconds after each addition. (Note: Beating at medium speed, butter did not disappear into batter but instead was broken into pea-sized pieces.) Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture followed by half of the buttermilk mixture, mixing just until incorporated after each addition. Repeat, using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining buttermilk mixture (batter may appear separated). Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at medium-low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour. Pour into prepared pan; smooth batter to edges of pan.

Bake the brownie and cake layers at the same time: the brownie for 25 – 30 minutes and the cake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each comes out clean. Transfer the pans to a wire cooling rack. Allow the brownie to cool completely in the pan. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto the wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Once the brownie layer has cooled, run a knife around the edges to separate it from the pan. Remove the sides of the springform but leave the brownie layer on the springform base. Form a ring of parchment paper around the brownie layer (this is far more irritating to do than it sounds, but it is necessary for the mousse layer to stay in place) and extending up the sides of the springform pan. Re-tighten the springform pan so that the parchment collar is fitted tightly to the sides.

For the chocolate mousse:
In a medium, heat-proof bowl, melt chocolate in microwave or in a 2 – 3 quart saucepan on stove. Set aside.

Place cream and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat.

Fold in about 1/3 of the whipped cream into the chocolate to lighten it. Gently fold the chocolate / cream mixture into the remaining whipped cream until no streaks remain.

For the ganache:
Place butter and chocolate in a large heat-proof bowl. Separately, heat cream until boiling. Pour the boiling cream over the butter and chocolate; let stand 2 minutes. Whisk until completely incorporated and smooth. Chill 1 cup of ganache for 1 hour. Allow the remaining ganache to come to room temperature and to thicken. (This took about 2 hours for me.)

Assembly:
Spread the mousse evenly over the top of the brownie base. Smooth the top. Place the cooled cake round over the mousse, pressing down lightly (pressing heavily will cause mousse to spill out from between the layers). Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Remove the springform ring and parchment collar from the assembled cake. Carefully transfer the cake to a serving platter (a cake lifter comes in handy here), removing the springform base and parchment paper round. Gently wipe away any mousse that is squeezing out of the sides. Use a spatula to smooth the room temperature ganache over the cake top and sides, covering evenly.

Place the chilled ganache in a pastry bag fitted with a shell tip and pipe a shell border around the base of the cake. Pipe rosettes around the top of the cake to indicate servings. Serve chilled and store cake leftovers in the refrigerator. Cut the cake with a hot, dry, sharp knife.

Source: Slightly adapted from Annie’s Eats

Release the beast!

This has become one of my very favourite recipes, ever. That’s pretty surprising, considering the fact that I almost passed it by when I first encountered it. Essentially a rich, deep, dense brownie, with a dark, moist, fudgy tunnel of chocolate lava burrowing through the center, Lava Beast Cake is so named because it is a beastly lava cake that will devastate all but the most hardcore chocoholics. This beautiful cake is then drizzled with the royalty of the icing family – chocolate ganache.

The Lava Beast Cake (I really love saying that aloud!) comes together in minutes with ingredients that are basic pantry staples. Those ingredients are probably eyeing you right now, saying, “You know you want to put us in that cake. Go on! Put us in there! Do it! Do it now!” This cake is a winner for entertaining, because the recipe is so easy to implement, yet the outcome is stately. Yes, I said stately. Though the cake is baked in a humble tube pan, it is elegance personified.

I did have one minor issue with this recipe. The ganache is meant to be poured over the finished cake, but when I attempted to do so, I was attacked by a tidal wave of ganache. I stopped what I was doing and put the remaining ganache in the freezer for 30 minutes, stirring it every 10 minutes or so, and then iced the cake with it, using an offset spatula. The consistency of the ganache without refrigeration is really best for drizzling sparingly, rather than outright pouring, over the finished cake.

When it comes to chocolate, I don’t do anything sparingly.

Who knows what richness lurks in the heart of chocolate lava?

If you enjoyed reading this, click here to subscribe to my blog. That way, you’ll never miss a post!

Lava Beast Cake

Makes 1 10″ Bundt or tube cake

Ingredients:

For the pan:
1 TBS Dutch processed cocoa powder
nonstick cooking spray (such as Baker’s Joy) OR 1 TBS unsalted butter, melted

For the cake:
½ cup boiling espresso OR boiling water
2 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. salt
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 TBS vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
2½ sticks butter, at room temperature

For the ganache:
¾ cup heavy cream
¼ cup light corn syrup
8 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
½ tsp. vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Spray a 10″ (12 cup) Bundt or tube pan with nonstick cooking spray and then dust with cocoa powder. Alternatively, you could stir together the melted butter and the cocoa powder, using a pastry brush to coat the inside of the pan with the resultant mixture.

In a medium bowl, pour the hot coffee over the chocolate. Let stand for a minute, then whisk until smooth. Separately, combine flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and salt. Lightly beat the eggs and the vanilla in a small bowl.

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter. Beat until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes on medium-high speed). Add egg mixture and mix on low until just combined. Note: Batter will not look smooth at this point.

Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and mix until combined. Blend in flour mixture on lowest speed until just combined. Note: Batter should smooth out with addition of flour mixture.

Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top. Bake 40 – 45 minutes or until the edges of the cake begin to pull away from the pan. Cool on a wire rack for 90 minutes before inverting onto a serving platter. Cool completely, about another 90 minutes.

To make the ganache:
Combine cream, corn syrup, and chocolate in small saucepan. Stir mixture frequently over medium heat until smooth; blend in vanilla. Set aside for 30 minutes or until slightly thickened. Drizzle or pour over cake and let set for 10 minutes or so before slicing.

Source: Barely adapted from Annie’s Eats

Three tier vintage style wedding cake  with hand made fondant buttons, pearls, doves and flowers. The bottom tier is chocolate mud cake, middle blue velvet and the top tier is fruit cake which the couple are keeping for their first anniversary.

A pink teapot shaped cake is filled with chocolate mud cake and decorated with hand made flowers for a Kitchen Tea Party

This is a beautiful, impressive cake, easily assembled for a special occasion or just a Sunday night dinner. Many recipes for black forest cake will tell you to use a packet-mix cake but I feel this has neither the flavour nor the satisfaction of making Mary Berry’s Very Best Chocolate Fudge Cake.

In the original recipe, Mary sandwiches the cakes together with ganache and then ices it with the same. While I did use ganache to ice the cake, whipped cream, cherries and kirsch are a very easy way to turn this, admittedly already delicious cake, into a black forest cake.

Ingredients:

Very Best Chocolate Fudge Cake:

• 50g cocoa powder, sifted
• 6 tablespoons boiling water
• 175g self-raising flour
• 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 100g butter, melted and cooled
• 50ml milk
• 275g caster sugar
• 200ml thickened cream (to sandwich together)
• 4 tablespoons icing sugar
• 30ml Kirsch (cherry liquor)

Cherry filling:

• 1 x 400g jar of pitted cherries, drained and ½ cup of liquid reserved.
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar (or more to taste)

Ganache (to ice only):

• 100g chocolate (dark is best but milk is equally yummy)
• 100ml thickened cream

The cake:

Firstly, pre-heat your oven to 180º and then put the cocoa and boiling water in a mixing bowl and mix with a tablespoon to make a paste.

Now pour in the milk and stir well, ensuring there are no lumps of cocoa powder. Next add the eggs, sugar and butter and mix well.

Sift the flour and baking powder together over the mix and stir in. Briefly beat on high-speed (with your electric beaters) for about 1 to 2 minutes, to give a little air to the mixture and take care of any lumps.

Divide the batter between two round 20cm cake pans (greased and bases lined) and slide into the oven to bake for 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. When the cakes are done, allow them to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack.

The ganache:
Meanwhile, heat the cream in a small pan over a medium heat (be sure not to burn it!) and add the chocolate (broken into squares) as it heats. Once the chocolate starts to melt significantly, turn the heat down to low and give it another minute before removing the pan from the heat entirely and stirring briskly to blend the cream and chocolate well. Once a smooth consistency has been reached, set the pan aside to cool to room temperature and then place it in the fridge to finish cooling.

The filling:

While the cakes cool, you can assemble the cherry mixture.

In a small pan, place the cornflour, sugar and about half of the reserved cherry syrup. Stir the mixture with a silicon spatula to make a smooth mixture, especially ensuring you get rid of any cornflour lumps. Add in the remaining liquid and the cherries, stir and place over a high heat to bring to a boil.

Once boiling, turn the mixture down to a simmer and let it bubble away for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. When it starts to thicken, remove from the heat and allow to cool completely. If you need to assemble the cake in a hurry, pour the mixture out onto a lipped baking tray and pop into the fridge to cool. The cherry syrup will thicken significantly when cold.

To assemble:

Invert one of the cakes onto your serving plate (so that the cake is upside down) and make a few pricks in the cake with a fork. Slowly pour the kirsch all over the base, distributing it evenly.

When the cakes and cherry filling are absolutely cool, beat the cream until soft peaks are formed and then briefly beat in the icing sugar, just enough to mix it through; don’t over beat it.

Spread the cold cherry filling over the base, trying to keep a small margin from the edges. I have found that, when you go to cut the cake, the pressure will push them out of the cake if there is no margin. Blob the cream on top, being gentle so the cherries are no disturbed. Again, try to leave the same margin as the cherries.

Now gently place the second cake on top of the cream. Remove the ganache from the fridge and blob it over the top of the cake, gently spreading with a spatula to spread it evenly. It will probably drip a little down the sides; that’s all part of the charm. If you wish to decorate it further, a crushed flake sprinkled over the top is always welcome, or glace cherries would look equally kitsch. I usually serve it without any further decoration; the dripping ganache speaks for itself I feel.

To serve this cake I highly recommend bringing it whole to the table, for everyone to admire, before cutting everyone a generous slice to enjoy!

Deeply chocolate without being sickly sweet, the Very Best Chocolate Fudge Cake is a very enjoyable moist and fluffy sponge. I can highly recommend this as a chocolate cake for an afternoon tea or for dessert as a Black Forest Cake.

One word of advice with this cake; it does not travel well once assembled; the cherries and cream in the middle seem to be especially slippery. I have gotten around this by bringing the cakes, ganache, cherries and cream separately and carefully assembling them upon arrival. The added benefit in this is that this cake really seems to assemble best when the cakes and cherries are at, or below room temperature.

I’ve been crazy busy working (and eventually getting paid which is a motif running through all of my posts it seems… le sigh)

STEAM SALE is on <3 <3. So far I’ve gotten Oblivion GOTY edition (didn’t that come out in like, 2005?) and Just Cause 2 + a little tiny DLC for it.

2006, actually

I played Just Cause 2 at Chris and Michelle’s house on their PS3 and it was amazing. Really good fun. I hope it’s as good on PC but seriously, it was only five bucks .-. Steam sales make me cheap, yo.

FUCKING GRAPPLING HOOK

I don’t reaaaally have much else to write about apart from making an amazing chocolate cake with ganache icing om om om. Ganache is pretty easy to make and effing delicious.

Recipe time <3 <3 <3:

Ganache Icing

250ml cream

60g butter

2 tbsp sugar

450g fine chocolate

2 tbsp golden syrup (Lyle’s represent yo)

So start by putting the cream and sugar and syrup in a bowl to double boil it (make sure it is a glass bowl that can be put over heat). The principle is that there is a pot underneath the bowl with boiling water and it melts everything deliciously. So make sure your bowl fits over your pot.

Lightly heat the cream until the sugar and syrup are dissolved and then put in the chocolate and butter, stirring constantly until it is all melted. This is not something you can leave, you have to watch it or it will burn. Also keep the heat down you maniac because it will scald the cream/burn the chocolate.

Remove from heat and cool. It can be frozen for a few months or kept in the fridge for a few days.

Om nom noms

Anyways time to get back to work

<3 Em out and I promise I’ll post more soon

Russian word of the day: прочитать/Prochitat’/to read through

“I really appreciated your helpful and creative advice which resulted in a design that was exactly what I wanted.”
Daniella O

Chocolate Tia Maria cake

makes a thick 8″ round cake

1 1/2 c flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
170g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped (60% is good if you like bittersweet chocolate, if not, use 45%)
170g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 c Tia Maria
2/3 c water
1 1/8 c granulated sugar (raw is fine)
2 free range eggs
3/4 tsp vanilla

Butter and/or line an 8″ round springform cake tin (lining the bottom is a must-do).

Whisk flours & salt. In a large metal bowl set over simmering water, melt chocolate and butter together, stirring occasionally until smooth and well combined. Preheat oven to 150C or 300F. Remove from heat, and whisk in rum, sugar and water to combine. Whisk in flour gradually until well combined, then whisk in eggs and vanilla, beating to incorporate air into the batter, and until well combined and batter is smooth. Pour into lined baking pan, and bake on centre rack of the oven for about 1 hour and 45 minutes, or until a skewer/knife inserted all the way in comes out clean.

Let cake cool completely in pan (preferably overnight – I know it’s hard, but it’s worth it), then run knife between cake and pan sides, along the outside, trying to scrape as close to the pan as possible without scraping the pan (I know, it’s a delicate process). Turn cake out, peel off paper lining, and plate.

EDIT: Making this into an 8″ cake gives it plenty of thickness to turn into a layer cake (see quick chocolate mousse recipe below), just shave off the rounded top carefully with a large sharp chef’s knife, then split in half horizontally.

Chocolate Ganache icing

Ganache (my version anyway) doesn’t use icing sugar, so it’s super smooth, doesn’t form a crackly outer skin, and is like a soft, melt-in-your mouth chocolate shell for the cake.

All you need to do is throw 150g (or 200g for a thick layer) dark chocolate in a small saucepan with about 100ml (or 200ml for a thick layer) or so of whipping cream (don’t be a whimp by using the low fat stuff), and heat on medium until the chocolate BEGINS to melt. Then turn your heat to low (very low), and mix with a wooden spoon. Keep blending (they look like they won’t combine, but they will) until you get a smooth, glossy, chocolatey sauce. Turn off heat, and pour (and scrape with a spatula) the icing onto the center of the cake. Spread outwards until large dribbles of icing cascade down the sides. You can stop here, but if you want it all covered in icing, twirl your spatula around the cake to spread the icing along all sides of the cake, leaving no cake showing. Then smooth the top of your cake, preferably moving your spatula in a spiral. Top with nuts (crush em by putting them in the chocolate wrappers and banging them with a rolling pin. This will make the cake prettier because you’ll get a variety of sizes for your nut chunks, as compared to store bought chopped nuts) – I used macadamias, roasted hazelnuts, and walnuts – only a small handful though.

EDIT: Quick chocolate mousse filling

I made this filling for a birthday cake for one of my very good friends, and it went perfectly with this cake, taking it from amazing to ridiculously rich.

• 100g dark chocolate (60%-70% is best)
• 100ml whipping cream

Whip cream in a small but deep bowl until it JUST starts to leave deep trails that keep their shape. The stage your stop whipping will make or break this mousse, so if using beaters, slow it down when the cream starts thickening to make sure you don’t overwhip. The cream should still be pretty smooth. Meanwhile, melt chocolate in a very small saucepan over low heat, stirring regularly. EDIT: Make sure you don’t heat the chocolate so that it’s too hot to hold the pan. Pour melted chocolate (EDIT: If you want to be really careful you can fold it in gradually) into whipped cream and fold in with a spatula, or you could use a whisk but do not beat. Spread over the bottom layer of cake. Ta-da!