HCB: Double Chocolate Valentine
Sunday, February 14, 2010
In tribute to Valentine Day the Heavenly Cake Baker group baked the sinful, delectable Double Chocolate Valentine cake this week.
And let me tell you this cake, well this cake is ... There are NO WORDS except to say that if you like chocolate then this cake (and I’m going to quote the book) “is really the final word in chocolate cake...” The basic ingredients of cocoa powder, eggs yolks, sugar, flour and butter with a touch of vanilla extract and salt gives you a rich, not so sweet flavor with a fudge-ty and moist texture.
I wanted to make it on a heart-shape baking pan, like the book picture. But, apparently everyone in Tampa had the same idea, because after visiting 3 Walmart, 2 Targets, 3 Michael’s and the William-Sonoma (which was the hardest thing I have done to date, going in and walking out without buying the whole store up) store, I came up empty. No heart-shape pan to be had ANYWHERE in town.
The round 9x2 pan was it. But I had a plan.
The cake was not complicated to make, once you gather the ingredients you are pretty much done in about 15 minutes and into the oven it goes. On a side note: I’m really loving the way that Rose’s recommends mixing the cake batter, which is putting all the dry ingredients in the mixer first, giving a spin for 30 seconds and then incorporating the butter and wet ingredients which in most cases have been whisked before hand. It just creates a better cake batter in my opinion.
I do have to say that I took a peek at the video that Rose’s blog had posted for this cake before hand. I wanted to make sure that I was going to do all of this the right way. So, I was super prepare for the next steps, which were basically taking the cake out of the oven after baking it for 30-40 minutes and then soaking the top with the Ganache Glaze, then flipping it, taking the baking pan out and soaking the bottom with more ganache (YUM!). I was a bit scare that the cake was going to be way too hot and crumble on me during all of this flip-flopping. But, to my surprised it held its own.
Then of course the waiting... Since I made this cake on Sunday, I knew that the waiting period was going to be hard because,
a) the smell of the cake was just driving everyone in the house crazy and had us all salivating and
b) I was running out of natural light to take pictures of the finish product.
The book said to put it aside to cool for 1 or more hours... And I knew deep down that the more it rested and cooled the better it would be at the end. But....
...I was on a deadline people! I waited an hour. (queue foreboding music here)
Before all the carving started, I needed to move it to the serving plate, so I tried to do a flip and flip and realized that it was not going to work. So, I tried to slide it, and nope, nada. Next up lifting the cake with two spatulas and transferring it to the serving plate, and it seem to work, except that I did not count on it still being wet at the bottom, so when I tried to remove the spatulas, the cake started to split ... YIKES!
Abort! Abort! And yelled for HELP! Tom came to my rescued and together we were able to place it on its final resting place, but not without some damage. My type “A” personality was going into overdrive at this point.
My carving idea flew out the window, since I realized that it was not going to work. The cake was way to moist and soft within and there was no way it would hold the planned sculpture without really making a total mess of it.
Next up...I thought of doing the heart shape with the raspberries!
And it seem to work, except that my heart-shape looked waked and off-centered. At this point I gave up and covered the whole thing with the raspberries. Then I gave them a quick glaze over with the red currant jelly and off it went to be photographed.
As soon as I came back into the house with the cake, Tom and the little men were awaiting with forks and grins in their faces.
The verdict:
Tom: “I take it back, THIS is my favorite cake so far. I love that its light and not sweet at all, but very chocolate flavor. (the poor man, I still have over 80 more cakes to have him taste)
The little man: “Its not so sweet, I really like it”
The neighbors (after ringing the doorbell and sticking a paper plate at me): “Just gives us another piece for us to fight over”
Me: Rose’s keeps pushing the envelope in giving me cakes with fruit and me having to take back my restraint in liking the combinations. I’m a chocoholic, I love chocolate and if its the dark kind, even more, so this cake just hits my happy center dead on, even with the raspberries on top, which I promptly remove from my piece and give them to Tom to eat.
Plus by the time I finish writing this and posting it, the caked looked like this:
Reader Comments (10)
This cake looks so fabulous....but I can't find the recipe....can you tell me where to look????? Thanks so much, would love to make it.
Maureen,
Thank you for your comment! Sadly this cake is part of my baker club, where we are baking our way thru Rose Levy Beranbaum book, “Rose’s Heavenly Cakes”, and we do not post the recipe unless she has it posted in her own blog: http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/. If you like baking, I highly recommend her book where there is this and many, many more cake recipes.
Love the raspberries on top! Good to hear that your cake turned out moist. This cake is definitely a chocolate lover's DREAM. Glad everybody liked it :o)
monica, i cannot get over how scrumptious your photos are! i love how dark your cake turned out.
Hi Monica! Thank you for your kind comment on my blog--I'm so excited to be part of this group! Your pictures are gorgeous and your cake looks just like the picture in the book! Well done! :)
I love your photos. Amazing. Do you live in a studio or just somewhere with amazing light?
Laughing at Tom's statement. I suspect that each week he will be saying "But *this* one is my favourite." And I want your neighbours!
That redcurrant jelly really sets off the raspberries - will have to remember that trick during the summer.
Great post.
Everyone, thanks so much for the comments (I love comments, don’t you love comments? YES WE DO! :)
Jill, you are welcome, like you I’m pretty new to the group and they have made me feel welcome and I love to see the end results that everyone has at the end of the process. And lady, your cakes are amazing as well.
Nicola, nope, no studio (I wish!). We live in West Florida, and lately we had very cold temperatures (40’s and 30’s – I know, I know nothing compare to some of you, but for us is COLD - brrrrr) and it has been very over cast, but Sunday it was bright and sunny and I was able to do the photos outside in natural light. For those days that are crappy, I have a little corner of the laundry room set up with a homemade light box with cheap lights and with a lot of persistence and trial and error and LOTS of beginners luck, I can pull of some good photos.
It looks fabulous! So glad everyone liked it!
wow...that is some luscious looking cake. Lucky Valentine!
The cake does look heavenly!! How is the book? I'm wondering whether to buy this, or the Cake Bible.