Dark Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Mousse Filling, Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting and Chocolate Shavings

Both my husband and brother in law had a birthday last week. I took the liberty of throwing a joint birthday party for them and since my brother in law doesn’t eat sweats…my husband…the chocoholic got to choose the cake flavor.

This was the essence of our conversation.

C: “Hey husband, what kind of cake would you like me to make for your birthday?”
J: “Um, you know that cake from the Townsend?”
C: “Yea…”
J: “Well, I want that cake. The chocolate one.”
C: “You want me to go buy you the cake?”
J: “No, I want YOU to make it.”

So there it is….the cake challenge. (For those who don’t know what the Townsend is, it’s a swanky hotel with an even swankier bakery a few blocks from our house that any celebrity, The President and the alike stay when they come to the Detroit area). I didn’t panic too much because quite honestly, I can handle chocolate cake, I can handle a meringue buttercream, and I can handle chocolate mousse. But all the components together I knew would take me at least a day to do…and maybe a few hours to assemble. Plus hosting the dinner party for 20? No sweat…

So not only could I handle all the components, I had the golden ticket….I have GREAT go to recipes for all of these…so I knew the cake was sure to be a hit as long as I didn’t drop it.

I used this ‘go to’ chocolate cake recipe in 2 8-inch round cake pans, and after baking cut each layer in half to create 4 layers of cake.

I used this ‘go to’ Chocolate Italian Meringue Butter cream to frost the outside of the cake.
I filled the cake with dark chocolate mousse and topped with about 4 oz. of chocolate shavings. You can use any mix of chocolate (Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, semi-sweet etc). I used a mix of chocolate bars that I had in my pantry.

The cake verdict: In addition to the cake, I made homemade peanut butter cups, chocolate covered strawberries, and chocolate cups filled with chocolate mousse, berries and whipped cream so my thought was….there will be SO much cake left over. We barely had any cake left. The cake was RICH. The chocolate cake layers were deep, dark, moist and fudgy, the chocolate mousse kept the cake light, and the Italian meringue buttercream topped off the heavenly chocolate flavor of the cake. This is the ULTIMATE chocoholic’s cake…and everyone that had it made a point to tell me it was by far their favorite cake they ever had. I will take that as a success!

A bottle of Pinot Noir was being passed around to go with the cake (you know...to pour some in your glass)….my husband took the liberty of having the bottle stop with him. And as we had run out of forks from the dinner—he dug in my utensil drawer for a ‘spoon’ (AKA a pasta skimmer). That is just Klassy with a “K” honey…klassy…

Dark Chocolate Mousse
Recipe courtesy of Mirepoix Cooking School

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
1 oz. coffee liquor
8oz. dark chocolate, melted
4 egg whites
1 ½ cups heavy cream

Directions:
In a double boiler, melt chocolate. Set aside but don’t let it cool too much or else it will not mix well.

In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks, sugar, coffee liquor until pale yellow and thickened, set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Set aside and refrigerate until ready to use.

In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

With a rubber spatula, fold the melted chocolate into the egg yolk mixture. Then fold in the whipped cream. Then, gently fold in the egg whites.

If the mousse seems a bit ‘loose’, you can refrigerate for a few hours to stiffen.

German Chocolate Cake with Coconut Pecan Frosting and Another Birthday

One type of cake I don’t see too often is German chocolate cake. I am not sure if it just looks difficult to make or if it’s been locked away in some 1950’s homemaker time capsule. I have made this cake since I was young, always for my father’s birthday. German chocolate cake is his favorite (that and butter pecan ice cream).

Truth is, I haven’t made it for him in years and this year I figured it was time for me to get back on track and make him one….even when I had 7 other cakes on my February roster. Yes, I said February…and yes…I realize it is now March and I am just now getting to posting. Oops!

I don’t typically use melted chocolate in my cake batters, not sure why. I think I read in a cake book somewhere that you should only use melted chocolate in brownies. But just about every German chocolate recipe said to use the ‘German chocolate bars’, melted. So that is what I did. Despite omitting the cake flour (something I just didn’t have in my pantry that day), the cake was still positively light and fluffy. I think I would attribute that from separating the eggs and folding in the egg whites in the last step of mixing.

The only problem I had with the cake this go around was making the frosting. For some reason, the first time I made it, it turned out soupy. I think I didn’t let the egg mixture thicken enough before I added the coconut. I did a second round of it and waited for the egg mixture to thicken a bit more and didn’t have a single problem. I also provided a ‘doubled’ recipe…because let’s face it folks…it’s ALL about the frosting in my family! So, if you don’t want it on the sides of the cake, by all means, cut the recipe for the frosting in half.

It’s funny, when I brought the cake out; I got so many ‘ooohs and ahhs’. For someone who has made this cake since I was a young girl, it makes me feel good that something I think is so seemingly simple to make can still impress the ones that I love. Because after all…what’s the point but to impress them and make them happy.

German Chocolate Cake
Recipe derived from Allrecipes.com
Yields: 2, 8-inch rounds

Ingredients for cake:
1 (4-oz.) package of Baker's Sweetened Chocolate
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
4 egg yolks
4 eggs whites
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 cups sifted all purpose flour (The recipe calls for 2 ½ cups cake flour you can use that if you have it)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk

Ingredients for the frosting:
2 cup evaporated milk
2 cup sugar
6 beaten egg yolks
1 cup butter
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 2/3 cup Baker's Angel Flake Coconut
2 cup chopped pecans (toasted)

Directions for the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Grease and flour 2 - 8 inch round pans (There is enough batter here that you can make 2 – 9inch rounds). Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat water until boiling. Pour over 4 ounces chocolate and stir until melted. Allow to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, cream 1 cup butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. I usually do this on low. It may take about 5 minutes for it to really incorporate. Beat in 4 egg yolks one at a time. Blend in the melted chocolate mixture and the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated. The whole process of adding the flour and buttermilk shouldn’t take any longer than 60 seconds. You do not want to over mix.

In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form (a metal or glass bowl are preferred because they are considered non-reactive. A plastic bowl will adhere to the proteins in the egg whites and inhibit the whites from forming any peaks). Gently fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter with a rubber spatula, and then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain.
Pour into 2 - 8 inch pans Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack, then turn out onto wax paper.

Directions for the frosting:
Begin by toasting the pecans on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes. You do not need cooking spray but keep an eye on them and stir them maybe half way through. You will know when they are getting close to being done because you will begin to smell them. Keep an eye on them though, they burn fast! You can also do this on the cook top in a dry skillet…just keep a close eye on them and stir them frequently. Let them cool a bit and roughly chop them.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan combine 2 cups sugar, evaporated milk, 1 cup butter, and 6 egg yolks. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened, about 12 minutes. (If the mixture doesn’t look thickened at 12 minutes, do not proceed until it does) Remove from heat.

Stir in coconut, pecans and vanilla. Cool until thick enough to spread.
Spread filling between layers and on top of cake. The sides are a bit messy and difficult, just stick it on with a spatula and spread it lightly.

TWD: Lemon custard cup

SORRY! NO TWD today from me!

I was out of town all last week in California---actually enjoying sunshine for the first time in months (serious...there isn't much sun in the winter months in Michigan!). I just couldn't wrap my head around making a custard when I had to prep for my cake class today. I will be participating next week so stay tuned!!

Thank you for hosting this week, Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles. Check out the other bakers from TWD's blogroll!!

TWD: Caramel Crunch Bars

It’s TWD again and it’s time for Caramel Crunch bars hosted by Whitney of What’s Left on the Table. These are from pages 112-113 from Dorie Greenspan's, "Baking From My Home to Yours"

I am pleased with myself this month because I participated in TWD every single week! Next month is 5 Tuesdays and as I enter my second session of Wilton, we will see what happens!

I decided to make these bars: one because I love a good shortbread, and two they just looked fun to pair them with ice cream. Fortunately to for me, these were rather easy. Easy enough to START baking these…Tuesday morning. Actually I was dealing with a whole other cake crisis so anyone requesting something from me can just take a number. LOL. (Whoa…testy—I think I need a piece of cake)

I altered the bars by adding toasted slivered almonds because I didn’t have heath, the closest store near my house didn’t have them and I wasn’t bearing the sub zero temps in the middle of a cake crisis to search further…as that would have sent this girl to the nut house!

I am not sure if it was just my bars, but they seemed not crunchy enough meaning they had the consistency that I didn’t cook them long enough? Not sure if anyone else had that problem or if that is the way they are supposed to be (I even cooked them a few extra minutes).

Regardless of my uncertainty of what they were supposed to be, I really enjoyed them. I love shortbread, probably because I am a big fan of butter. ;) . I thought the almond topping added great flavor and a nice crunch.

I made espresso ice cream the other day so I figured it would be a great accompaniment to the bars. So sinful, yet so good! One bite. That. Is. All. I’m. Allowed. Why? Because…these aren’t figure friendly! Sorry…this girl is on Vacation next week and I still need to fit into my spring-ish clothes.

Thank you Whitney for hosting this truly delectable treat this week!

Check out how the other bakers did by clicking on Tuesday with Dorie’s blogroll.

I’m off to frost this fix a cake disaster….ciao.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls in the Bread Maker

I really love cinnamon rolls. When I was in high school, my girl friend and I would go to the mall every weekend to spend our babysitting money on new clothes. Without fail I always made my way over to the Cinnabun store and ordered a large cinnamon roll with a side of extra frosting. It was my favorite treat.

So for as much as I love cinnamon rolls, I rarely make them (ok, almost never—I think I made them once). Truth be told, making my own dough just scares me. Mainly because of how labor intensive I think it is and about 75% of the time, it doesn’t turn out. Plus, who has patience to wait for something to rise? Not me.

For some reason last night I got up from the couch and decided I was going to make cinnamon rolls. (This type of neurosis is absolutely no surprise from my half sleeping husband). I have been wanting to make these for months and I figured I had everything at my fingertips; I might as well make a trial run and get some practice. It’s all about facing my fears these days.
I used my bread maker for my rolls but you can certainly do this without a bread maker. I have provided directions for both.

The verdict: These turned out great! Nice and gooey in the middle, spicy cinnamon flavor, and the frosting had a great cream cheese flavor. I was surprised to find that these were not that difficult! I even saved half of them in the freezer for another day! My father-in-law stopped by this morning to sample one and told me they were the best he ever had. I think he is a little biased.

Cinnamon Rolls
Recipe courtesy of Recipe Zaar

Ingredients
1 (1/4 ounce) package dry yeast
1 cup warm milk (I used low fat and that worked just fine)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

FILLING
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons Saigon cinnamon
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

ICING
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt


Directions

1. Dissolve yeast in the warm milk. Pour into bread maker.

2. Add flour, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, and vanilla to the bread maker. (I added mine in that order you can check with your manufacturer’s instructions—mine didn’t provide any so I just made sure I put the liquid in the bottom since it had the yeast to make sure it was the farthest from the salt). As long as the machine is going to mix right away, it probably does not matter. Set machine on Dough.

3. If you don’t have a bread maker—just mix everything in a large bowl. Knead the dough into a ball with floured hands. Put it in a bowl and cover to let it rise in a warm place for about an hour (it should double in size)

4. Pull risen dough out of bread maker or bowl and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to be about 21x16 and ¼ inch thick. (If your dough is really soupy—mine was….just add more flour and kneed it a few times until you have the consistency that allows you to roll it out.)



5. Make the filling by mixing together the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

6. Spread filling on top of dough evenly.



7. Working from the long end, roll the dough.



8. Cut into 1 ¾ inch slices and place on a lightly greased baking pan.



9. At this point you can choose to cover with plastic and put in the refrigerator or freezer for later or you can bake them now.




10. Preheat oven to 400, you can put the rolls in the oven to let them rise a bit more while the oven preheats. If the rolls are coming from the refrigerator, you can put the baking dish from the refrigerator right to the preheating oven as well.



11. Bake 10 – 12 minutes. Mine took about 15 because mine came from the refrigerator. They should be somewhat golden brown on the top and gooey in the center.



12. Make frosting while they are in the oven, mix butter, sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla together with a mixer until smooth.



13. Pull rolls out of the oven and top with frosting.

Teddy Bear and Pansy Chocolate Butter Cupcakes

Continued Week #2 of Wilton classes!

Ok, so the directions for class were: frost a 8 inch cake or frost 8 cupcakes. Me, "the more is better when it comes to cake girl", made both.

Since I am on this 'try a new cake recipe kick', I tried a new chocolate cake recipe for this as well. The verdict: same as my white butter cake. Something was missing. Most specifically, cake that melts in my mouth. It just wasn't moist and chocolate-y enough for me. My go to cake, is still this one.

BUT, its not to say I can make some improvements on these in the future! I will say, my decorating skills are greatly improved!

We learned to make clowns, drop flowers (I think they look like pansy's) and bears. Oh my...these sweet bears were too cute! I was lazy and didnt want to change my frosting colors in my piping bag so white and pink got mixed and what came out were cute pink fuzzy looking bears. (Aren't most discoveries found by accident?). Too fun! Now, I just don't know what to do with all this cake!?

Chocolate Butter Cake
Recipe courtesy of: “Cake Love”, by Warren Brown

Ingredients:
7 oz. (1 ¼ cups) all purpose flour
2 oz. (1/2 cup) dutch processed cocoa powder, I used Droste
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup half and half
2 tablespoons brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 oz. unsalted butter
14 oz. (1 ¾ cup) extra fine granulated sugar
4 eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 8 or 9- inch round pans with waxed paper on the bottom. Or for cupcakes spray the pan with cooking spray then line 2 pans with cupcake liners. This recipe is really for two 9 inch pans, but if all you have are 8 inch, use those and make cupcakes with the extra batter. Just don’t over fill the pans!

Slowly cream the butter and sugar together until creamy and pale.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together. Set Aside. These are your DRY ingredients.

Whisk together half and half, brandy, and vanilla extract together. Set aside. These are your WET ingredients.

Add eggs one at a time to the butter mixture letting them fully incorporate between each addition. Then alternate adding the dry and liquid ingredients into the butter mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Only mix until incorporated because you do not want to over mix the batter.

Pour batter into cake pans or cupcake liners. Fill only 3/4 full. For two, 8 or 9- inch pans, bake 25-30 minutes, for cupcakes bake 15-20 minutes. Cake is done when you insert a cake tester or toothpick and it comes out clean.

Frost with Vanilla Buttercream

Purple Pansy White Vanilla Bean Cake with Strawberry Meringue Filling

For week #2 of my Wilton class, I wanted to try a new white cake recipe. I typically use the same one because it's so good, but I am really enjoying my "Cake Love" book these days and decided to give another one of Warren Brown's cakes a try, instead. This book is truly a phenomenal book for any new baker or someone learning to bake cakes or make frosting from scratch. The photos and flavor combos alone entice me and I look through this book more often than I would like to admit (I have read it cover to cover about 20 times).

My only issue is I think the cakes are a tad dry for my taste. I have, so far, tried 4 cakes all of which seemed to be lacking something. I think I am still going to try again, but alter each of them to see what happens. I am not sure if it's because I used cake flour for this white cake (which any book tells me that using it creates a light crumb) but anytime I have used cake flour the cake seems more dense and dry...not really 'light' at all. Also, what I have noticed in any cake I favor, is that they all contain one thing : Buttermilk. Something about the chemical interaction with the buttermilk and the other ingredients makes a very moist cake. So next time...I will have to try that...but for now...we are in trial stages! These are just my learning observations...

My favorite thing about this cake? The Strawberry Italian Meringue Filling. OMG. This frosting sends me through the roof. Let me tell you, this book has by far the most amazing frosting's I have EVER sunk my teeth into. If you get the Cake Love book for any reason, it would be worth it alone to get it for the frosting's. They are some what easy if you can master whipping up meringues. OK, enough plug for my fave book....of all time.

I will mention that since this cake was very 'structured', it cut rather well, and looked beautiful for its photo op. I topped it with a Vanilla Buttercream since that is easy to work with when trying to decorate. Thanks to my lovely neighbor "A" for taking pictures....she is pretty much the best neighbor on the planet. :)

White Butter Cake
Recipe derived from “Cake Love”, by Warren Brown

Ingredients:
12 oz. (2 ½ cups ) Cake Flour
3 oz. potato starch
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ cup egg whites (about 4-5 whites)
¾ cup half and half
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ¾ sticks unsalted butter (7 ½ oz)
18 oz. (2 ¼ cups) extra fine granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 8 or 9- inch round pans with waxed paper on the bottom. Or for cupcakes spray the pan with cooking spray then line 2 pans with cupcake liners. I used two 8-inch pans and made a few cupcakes but this recipe is really for two 9 inch pans.

Slowly cream the butter and sugar until it’s creamy and pale.

Sift cake flour, potato starch, baking powder, and salt together. Set Aside. These are your DRY ingredients.

Whisk together egg whites, half and half and vanilla extract together. Set aside. These are your WET ingredients.

Slice vanilla bean length wise scraping out the seeds with the back of a knife.

Put the seeds of the vanilla bean in the butter mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Then alternate adding the dry and liquid ingredients into the butter mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Only mix until incorporated because you do not want to over mix the batter.
Pour batter into cake pans or cupcake liners. Fill only HALF full. Be sure to smooth out the tops of the batter because you will notice the ripples in the cooked cake if you don’t.

For two, 8 or 9- inch pans, bake 25-30 minutes, for cupcakes bake 15-20 minutes. Cake is done when you insert a cake tester or toothpick and it comes out clean.

Italian Meringue Buttercream
Recipe from “Cake Love” by Warren Brown

5 egg whites, room temperature
10 oz. (1 ¼ cup) fine granulated sugar, divided
¼ cup cold water
4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, broken into 1 tablespoon chunks

Directions:
1. In a heavy bottom saucepan, add 1 cup of the sugar (save the ¼ cup of sugar for the egg white mixture) and the cold water. Stir with your candy thermometer and set up the thermometer to sit inside the saucepan so you can keep an eye on the temperature. Heat on medium heat until it reaches 245 degrees. (Just above the ‘soft ball’ stage).
a. Tip: Place the lid half way on the pot to collect the condensation so the sugar crystals don’t build up. To prevent it further, use water and a pastry brush to brush down the sides of the saucepan.
2. While the sugar syrup is heating, begin mixing your egg whites on high until you get stiff peaks. Once you get stiff peaks, add the ¼ cup of sugar while the mixer is still running.
3. Check on your syrup. It should be about 245 degrees now, if not, turn up the heat and KEEP AN EYE ON IT. You don’t want it going too far or else you will get caramel.
4. Once the syrup reaches 245 degrees, remove the thermometer. Keep the mixer running and slowly pour the hot syrup into the mixer along the side of the bowl. Be careful not to splash yourself with the hot liquid.
5. Keep the mixer running on high for 2 minutes, and then turn it down to medium speed for another 5 minutes or so until the meringue is cooled.
6. Add the butter, one tablespoon at a time. Mix until it’s fully incorporated. Add your flavorings.

Fruit Flavoring
1 10 oz. bag of frozen fruit, keep the juices (cherry, raspberry, strawberry)

2 tablespoons superfine sugar

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

For Strawberry: (The Cake Bible) In a colander over a bowl, thaw strawberries. Press them to force out the rest of the juices. You will probably get about ½-3/4 cup. Take the juice and boil until reduced by 75% (about a ¼ cup). In a food processor, puree strawberries. This will give you about ½ cup. Stir together the puree, syrup and lemon juice. This should give you about ¾ cup. If you want it sweetened add the sugar and stir until dissolved. (The proper proportions is 1/5 of the mixture to be sugar so for ex: if you have 1 ¼