30 September 2008

This Takes the Cake

photo of Koko in the cabinetLast Thursday, my wife "asked" me to make a cake for a birthday party she was hosting at her work. Since the recipient of the party happens to a Director at the hospital, the cake needs to be good. Last year I made a Tiramisu, which happened to go very well, thank you very much. This year, she wanted me to make a Chocolate Torte with Apricot Filling. Not a problem, but the recipe she gave me was not written with the correct proportions. Since I did not have the time to work them out myself, I tried to find something else that would be just as good. I ended-up taking parts of three different recipes and combining them into something I am calling Chocolate Fudge Cake with Cream Cheese, Apricot Filling, and Chocolate Glaze. I gave this recipe a test-run this weekend and it turned-out very good. The photo below, shows the cake I made on Saturday, because I was too stupid to take a picture of the one I made for the party. Sorry, I am not the best photographer. My wife just told me that the cake was a hit; there was nothing left to bring home.


photo of the Chocolate Fudge Cake with Cream Cheese cake


Chocolate Fudge Cake with Cream Cheese, Apricot Filling, and Chocolate Glaze

Da Cake Ingredients
1 ¾ cups of All-Purpose Flour
1-cup less 1TBS of Cocoa Powder
1 ¼ tsp Baking Soda
1/8 tsp Salt
3/4 cup (1 ½ sticks) Unsalted Butter (softened)
2/3 cups Granulated Sugar
2/3 cups firmly packed Brown Sugar
2 Large Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
1 ½ cups Buttermilk

  • preheat oven to 350 degrees and line the bottoms of 2-9" cake pans with parchment paper and grease and dust the sides with flour

  • Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside

  • In another bowl mix the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes)


    • This is a very important part, because during the mixing, the sugar is tearing tiny holes in the butter (creating air pockets), which allows the cake to become lighter and less dense.

  • Add the eggs, one at a time. Mixing well after each addition


    • Tip: to avoid the unwanted egg shells in your mix, first break the eggs into a bowl and use that for your addition.

  • Add vanilla

  • At low speed, alternately add the dry mixture and the buttermilk into the butter mixture. Mix only till combined. Do not over mix

  • Divide the batter evenly into both pans

  • Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

  • Place cakes on a cooling rack and let cool for 10 minutes

  • Turn-out cakes onto racks, remove paper, and place cakes upside-down to cool
    completely

Hey, guess what, you're 1/3 of the way there!!

Da Filling Ingredients
6 Ounces of Cream Cheese (softened)
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
2 TBS Grated Lemon Peel (about 4 lemons) (careful and avoid the white pith...tis bitter)
1 TBS Lemon juice
1 TBS water (for you science types that's H20)
1/3-2/3 cups of Apricot Preserves

  • In a bowl, place the cream cheese, lemon peel, lemon juice, and water.

  • Mix well, until thoroughly combined

Go Team, Go...

Da Construction

  • If you desire a clean serving plate (this was learned the hard way, as seen in the picture below), take strips of wax paper and slide them under your cake; completely covering the edges of your serving dish

  • Take the largest of your two cakes and, with it still upside down, place on serving platter and spread the apricot preserves on it

  • Spread the filling over the apricot preserves

  • Take the other cake and flip right-side up

  • Trim the top to flatten

  • Spread some additional apricot preserves on the top and then flip over and place on the bottom cake

  • Trim the sides, if the cakes are uneven

Hey, You're almost there...

Da Glaze Ingredients
2/3 cup of Heavy Cream
6 ounces (squares) Semisweet chocolate (coarsely chopped)
2 TBS Unsalted Butter
2 TBS Light Corn Syrup
2 ounces White Chocolate baking squares, shaved (optional)

  • Put everything into a pan

  • Over medium heat, stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil

  • Remove from heat and stir for an additional 1-2 minutes, until glaze thickens

  • Slowly pour the glaze over your cake and smooth

  • If desired take the white chocolate shavings and sprinkle over the top of the cake
I hope you enjoy your cake

Shopping List for Entire Recipe
1 ¾ Cups Flour
1 Cup Unsweetened Chocolate
1 ¼ tsp Baking Soda
1/8 tsp Salt
2 Sticks Unsalted Butter
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
2/3 Cups Brown Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 ½ Cups Butter Milk
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 Pint Heavy Cream
6 Ounces (squares) Semisweet Chocolate
2 Ounces (squares) White Chocolate baking squares (optional)
2 TBS Light Corn Syrup
6 Ounces Cream Cheese
5 Lemons
1-15.5 Ounce Jar of Apricot Preserves

10 comments:

  1. Mom says that sounds absolutely decadent, and like something she wouldn't even *begin to attempt! Good going!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It looks real tasty, How good was it? Did the guys that actually ate it, like it?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lux: It is very rich, but not really that difficult to make:)

    Luis: I was told that they really liked it. They even took extra pieces for their co-workers. My wife took the "test cake" into work today and within 2 hours, it was eaten.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Chronic Chick Talk: You're welcome. Hope it's useful:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mmmm, looks delicious! Anything with heavy cream, chocolate and cream cheese gets my attention every time! I hate to cook but love to bake so might just try this!

    ReplyDelete
  6. BeadedTail: My wife tell me it is very good and very rich (I can't have any because of my diet). If you try is, please let me know what you think.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yummi cake !!!

    And the cat helped you to cook ;) ???

    Ohhhhh I say it again he is sooooo cute !!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. My cats like going inside the kitchen cupboard too! They're so funny! Your cake looks delicious--I'd be happy to eat it up.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gaolga: Thank you. Koko has to supervise to make sure that I do it right:)

    Karen &Gerard Zemek: I have to watch myself, because I forget and leave a drawer open and when I come back, Koko has taken-up residence.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for the information on the green tomatoes.

    (Repaired broken link. Comment originally made on...October 1, 2008 2:11 PM)

    ReplyDelete

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