When I went to Culinary school my mom never asked me to make anything in particular until my second year when I returned for Christmas, when she had a long list of things she had seen or eaten that she wanted me to recreate.
Among these was a chocolate cake with "that delicious chocolate ganache frosting." Luckily, at the school I go to we have a small 3-week crash course in Baking and Pastry techniques at the beginning of sophomore year. I pulled out my recipe for a simple genoise, French sponge cake, and began the break down from there.
I wouldn't just do a cake with chocolate ganache, bit boring to me (though my baking skills have suffered recently). Chocolate genoise soaked in Kahlua simple syrup, layered with chocolate Italian buttercream and then, and only then, covered in chocolate ganache. Sounds like a better idea to me…and who doesn't love a bit of Kahlua and Chocolate? Chef Carla Hall, from Top Chef and now The Chew fame, says she prefers to eat her alcohol, I agree.
So I started the cake portion and kahlua syrup on Monday and refrigerated it, thinking I would make the rest of its components Tuesday. Woke up Tuesday and got the recipe for buttercream and realized eggs had mysteriously left the house again. So I threw the cake in the freezer. Wednesday came around and I was determined to make it. So I pulled the cake from the freezer and set it on the counter. 14 hrs later, no eggs and I put the cake in the refrigerator. Thursday morning the cake was hard, dense, and disgusting...so once I got eggs from my hand-dandy BFFL I remade the cake, this time it came out much better. The syrup was still good, albeit weaker than I may have liked.
My friend and I busted out the buttercream in no time and I had assembled the four layer cake and gotten the ganache together. Would've liked the ganache to be a bit thicker, which I remedied in the recipes below. My mom tasted it and like the good mother she is looked at the cake, then back at me, smacked her lips obnoxiously and said "It's not very sweet". And then like the good friend I have is, mimicked saying, "No...it needs...some raspberry jam or something!". Four days of hard work and my selfish family and friends have nothing good to say. Contrarily, I enjoyed the cake for someone who's not a big chocolate fan and my mother later ate a small piece after our delicious Papa John's, a piece served underneath a scoop of ice cream which she claimed added needed sweetness. Go figure. Why am I spending $120k on my education?
This picture makes this cake look beautiful, I just wanna say.
Recipes after the break
Chocolate Genoise
5 Eggs
5 oz Sugar
3/4 oz Corn Starch
4 oz Cake Flour
3 T. Cocoa Powder
1.5 oz Vegetable Oil
1. Place eggs and sugar into an electrical mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip eggs and sugar on high speed until thick and fluffy (like whipped cream).
2. Meanwhile, sift corn starch, cake flour, and cocoa powder together.
3. When eggs and sugar are whipped gently fold in dry ingredients using a spider or slotted spoon (spider is best as to not deflate the eggs).
4. Remove approximately 1 1/2 C of the batter and place in another bowl. Mix oil with this batter, again with the spider, then add oil mixture to batter, folding together with spider.
5. Pour batter into 2 - 8" or 9" cake pan that is lined with parchment paper (no cooking spray necessary!).
6. Bake at 340 degrees for 20-25 minutes. You'll know its done by inserted a cake tester in the middle.
7. Let cake completely cool.
Tip! Make the cake a day ahead and wrap with plastic wrap once cooled and store in refrigerator over night.
Kahlua Simple Syrup
1 C Water
1 1/2 C Sugar
1/4 C Kahlua
1. Bring sugar and water to a boil to dissolve sugar and remove from stove, do not over boil.
2. Add Kahlua to simple syrup and let cool completely.
Tip! Make the syrup ahead of time, it must be cold when applying it to cake so, why not?
Tip! Don't want to use Kahlua? No problem, add your favorite brewed espresso instead.
Chocolate Ganache
1 pt Heavy Cream
1/4 C Sugar
8 oz Dark Chocolate (I used 70% Lindt Dark), chopped
1. Add cream and sugar to a medium-sized sauce pan and bring to a boil, careful not to boil over.
2. Pour cream mixture over chopped chocolate in a bowl, with a spatula or whisk mix quickly to melt all of the chocolate and make a uniform product.
3. Gently chill in refrigerator just until its cool but still fluid!
Tip! This should be done once the cake has been frosted with buttercream otherwise the ganache will harden.
Chocolate Buttercream
2 ea Egg whites
8 oz Unsalted Butter, room temperature (leave it out for several hours), and diced
3.5 oz Dark Chocolate (again, I used 70% Lindt Dark,1 bar)
5.5 oz Sugar, separated in half
1. Whip egg whites at high speed in mixer, slowly adding amounts of sugar to eggs. As soon as soft peaks form, turn mixer off.
2. Put leftover sugar in a small sauce pan with just enough water to cover it. Heat sugar to approximately 235 degrees (known as soft ball stage), using a candy thermometer.
3. As whites whip and sugar boils, heat chocolate over double boiler until melted and remove from heat, allowing melted chocolate to cool
4. When eggs are whipped and sugar has reached appropriate temperature, slowly add sugar to whites, while mixing on medium speed, in a slow and steady stream.
5. When no more sugar is left, mix on low-speed until mixture is cool (body temperature is perfect).
6. Add butter in small amounts on medium speed.
7. When all butter is incorporated add melted chocolate and mix on low speed until full incorporated.
Assembly:
1. Using the cake pan used to cook them in, cut out a circle of cardboard to build the cake on.
2. Split the two cakes in half, using a serrated knife, being careful to make both halts even. If your cake has a "hump" in the middle be sure to trim away to make flat.
3. Brush each cake with simple syrup mixture.
4. Place layer of cake, cut side down, on cardboard and spread even layer of buttercream.
5. Place second layer of cake on top of the buttercream and repeat with the other layers.
6. When the four layers are stacked spread a thin layer of buttercream along the outside, this is not the final look so do not over do it!
7. Refridgerate for 20 minutes. At this time, make your ganache.
8. When buttercream is slightly hardened on cake and your ganache is cool remove both from refrigerator.
9. Place cake on a wire rack over a cookie sheet.
10. Gently pour the ganache onto the middle of the cake, letting it pour naturally over the sides. Eventually, bring the bowl of ganache around the top to fill in any visible buttercream, again letting it pour naturally over the sides.
11. At this point, you can remove the rack and cake and place on another cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes until set or place in refrigerator for 10 minutes and repeat ganaching step two times to get a thicker, more rich finish, using the leftover ganache that has pooled on the cookie sheet.
And there you have it. It looks like a lot, but its really not, I promise. Make the cake and syrup ahead of time (even the morning before and everything will be okay). Make sure you have ALL your ingredients together and go at it. I decided I enjoyed this too much and will make this a job of mine to create a delicioso signature cake...so until next time, enjoy Triple Chocolate Cake, version 1.0.
Looks great!
ReplyDelete