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Ambitious chocolate cake
It's sis's birthday today, and when I asked what birthday cake she wanted she said 'something with chocolate'. Not very specific. Sis is fussy, especially about chocolate, but I couldn't get anything more out of her than that.
So I went through my books and actually, while there are a lot of chocolate-based cakes, I don't have many that really work as an adult birthday cake. What I ended up making is something I've wanted to try for a while. Considering it was my first attempt, I didn't make too big a hash of it. It's a layered cake: three layers of chocolate buttermilk sponge layered with vanilla buttercream, and the whole thing encased in chocolate fudge. If that sounds like I'm giving Sis a heart attack for her birthday...well, yeah, it's pretty much a dietician's nightmare. But should taste amazing.
The chocolate fudge was so much fun to make. The recipe called for cream and syrup heated to boiling then poured over the chocolate, and mixed really, really slowly. I had visions of it going terribly wrong but when the whole thing came together it was such a great yay! moment! I won't be scared of it again.
One of the sponge layers fell to bits while I was assembling the cake. It didn't matter too much as I just carefully squished the pieces back together and hid it under the chocolate fudge. But that's the only thing that went wrong.
Want a pic?
I'd love to show you one with all the layers, but the cake hasn't been cut yet.
The recipe came from Tea with Bea by Bea Vo and it's the cake on the cover so you can see what it's supposed to look like, at least.
It's a tough book to puzzle out in parts as there's a lot the author doesn't explain, but judging from my results today it's worth the effort.
So I went through my books and actually, while there are a lot of chocolate-based cakes, I don't have many that really work as an adult birthday cake. What I ended up making is something I've wanted to try for a while. Considering it was my first attempt, I didn't make too big a hash of it. It's a layered cake: three layers of chocolate buttermilk sponge layered with vanilla buttercream, and the whole thing encased in chocolate fudge. If that sounds like I'm giving Sis a heart attack for her birthday...well, yeah, it's pretty much a dietician's nightmare. But should taste amazing.
The chocolate fudge was so much fun to make. The recipe called for cream and syrup heated to boiling then poured over the chocolate, and mixed really, really slowly. I had visions of it going terribly wrong but when the whole thing came together it was such a great yay! moment! I won't be scared of it again.
One of the sponge layers fell to bits while I was assembling the cake. It didn't matter too much as I just carefully squished the pieces back together and hid it under the chocolate fudge. But that's the only thing that went wrong.
Want a pic?
I'd love to show you one with all the layers, but the cake hasn't been cut yet.
The recipe came from Tea with Bea by Bea Vo and it's the cake on the cover so you can see what it's supposed to look like, at least.
It's a tough book to puzzle out in parts as there's a lot the author doesn't explain, but judging from my results today it's worth the effort.
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Design? Do you mean that crazy bird? It's a still from David Attenborough's Africa: a shoebill chick. I love the picture, it doesn't signify anything except I think it's cute!
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I hope we'll eventually get to see how it looks when it's cut!
We really need smell-o-vision internets. lol
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I asked Sis to take a pic when she cuts it - it's for her birthday dinner and I'm not going, so I won't be there. Hopefully she'll remember.