Creating this cake was a collection of disasters. But I got to say the end result was better this way.
It started already with the shopping. Instead of buying frozen currants I grabed cranberries. But ok. In combination with the Mixed Berries it still tasted good.
The cream I made stayed fluid for to long because of the chocolate bars I used. But that was ok too. I worked on other things in the mean time. So in the end it was solid enough to work with it.
With the recipe I used there was a lot of chocolate dough. I had to bake a few layers. And there is were the next disaster comes in. After taking one layer out of the pan I wanted to turn it on its head to detach the bottom of the pan. It still was rather warm so I used towels. I think you can guess what happend. During the turn it slide out of my hand. And there went one of the layers. But that was ok. Thanks to the recipe I still had enough that where whole.
I planed to cover the cake completely with fondant. It was my second time using fondant. After the first try worked out quite good I was optimistic. It was a catastroph. It turnd out to dry and ripped during the covering. I couldn't repair it and when I took it of some of the cream came of too. I had to throw it away. What a waste. But even that was ok. There was still some left over chocolate cake layer. I or rather my mother broke that into fine crumbs and coated the cake with it. When we ate the cake the crumbs really added to the flavor.
So like I said a collection of disasters. But still a tasty cake.
You should take this as an incentive to keep on going even when something doesn't work out at first or at all. If you hang on you might get a reward at the end.
But on the plus side the orchids worked out on the first try. I made the stencils for them myself. I cut them out of some sturdy plastic sheets. It takes a little longer to always cut out the individual leaves with a knife. But it's way cheaper and I can make them in any size I want.
I really liked this one. It tasted great. But it should be eaten at room temperature. If it's cold the flavor of the cream is too intense and smothers the rest.
The flower bouquet on the picture was a gift from my father to my mother. It was so gorgeous especially the rose. If I had known he would buy flowers in bright green and orange I would have color coordinated my orchids with them. Bet it would have looked pretty good in green instead of blue too. But whatever!
Oh, I almost forgot! I tried out something new. Cake strips. I don't know where I read about them but I remembered how they work. And they do really work. The chocolate cake layers stay perfectly flat. I used a homemade version made out of a cut up terry cloth towel and a saftey pin.
Totally worth the extra work. I will use it more often from now on.
I like to make the photos for this blogg when I'm visiting my parents. The light is better. There are more places to arrange the food. And my mom got so many nice and different dishes. I'm jeaulous. I would like to buy some more too. But my apartment is already bursting at the seams.
I'm so sad.
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Mamas Birthday Cake
Mixed Berry Curd
300 g mixed berries, frozen
300 g cranberries, frozen
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp cornstarch
6 eggs
4 tbsp butter
lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1. Let the berries thaw.
2. Combine the berries, the sugar, the cornstarch and the sugar in a sauce pan. And bring everything to a boil. Mash the berries during the cooking with a wooden spoon.
3. Add the eggs and stir everything. Boil the mixture for 1 minute.
4. Add the butter and let it boil until the butter has melted completely.
5. Take the pan of the stove.
6. Press the mixture through a fine sieve. Let the curd cool down.
7. Squeeze out one or two lemons. Add the juice to the curd, depending on how sour you want it.
8. Cover the curd with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours. In the fridge the curd can be stored for a few days.
Chocolate Frosting
250 ml whipping cream
70 g butter
1. Chop the Chocolate Bar into rough pieces.
2. Bring the whipping cream in a sauce pan to a light boil and pour it over the chocolate. Make sure that it is cover completely in the cream.
3. Leave it for about 5 minutes and stir everything afterwards.
4. Let the ganache cool down. When the consistency is thick and almost doesn't flow anymore, you can go on.
5. Beat the butter with a hand mixer until it's light and fluffy.
6. Add the butter to the ganache and mix it well.
Chocolate Batter
170 g butter, soft
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup boiling water
1 1/8 cups sugar
7 g vanilla sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1. Sift the cocoa powder and whisk in the boiling water.
2. Beat the eggs lightly.
3. Combine the flour, the cornstarch, the baking soda and salt. Sift it all together.
4. Cream the butter with a hand mixer until it's light and fluffy.
5. Gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla sugar. Beat it for about 3-4 minutes, scrap the batter twice from the sides of the bowl.
6. Gradually add the eggs and mix it well.
7. Add the milk to the cocoa and mix it.
8. Add the flour and cocoa mixture alternately to the batter. Start and finish with the flour.
9. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/360°F.
10. Grease the baking pan (20cm) and dust it with cocoa powder. If you want to use a Cake strip, put it on the baking pan.
11. Divide the batter in three portions. Twice 2/5 and one time 1/5. Pour one of the 2/5 portions into the pan.
12. Bake the cake for ca. 35-40 minutes.
13. Put the baking pan on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes. Afterwards take the cake out of the pan and leave it to cool on a cooling rack.
14. Repeat the process twice with the remaining batter.
15. Break the 1/5 cake into rough pieces. Leave them out to dry.
Biscuit
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
5 eggs
1 pinch citric acid powder
1. Sift the flour twice. Leave the flour in a sieve, ready for use.
2. Carefully separate the egg white from the yolk.
3. Beat the egg yolks until they are pale. Cover the eggs with a plastic wrap, it should rest directly on the eggs. Put them in the fridge.
4. Put the egg whites in a small container and cover it with a lid or with plastic wrap. Put the container in a freezer and leave it there for at least 45 minutes. The egg whites can stay in the freezer until they congeal a little bit on the sides.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 195°C/385°F.
6. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
7. Whip the egg whites and the citric acid powder manually. Preferably use a spiral whisk or a normal whisk, if you don't have one. It's important that you don't turn the bowl while you whip the eggs and you always have to beat in the same direction. Basically you have to repeat one hand movement the whole time.
8. After 10 minutes start gradually adding the sugar. Overall the egg whites should be whipped for 25 minutes.
9. Carefully add the egg yolks and briefly fold them in.
10. Add half of the flour to the whipped egg whites. Carefully but quickly fold in. Add the remaining flour and fold it in too. Like with the egg whites you should not turn the bowl and fold in the same direction. Work rather quickly but always be careful.
11. Spread the batter quickly on the baking parchment. Try to make it as even as possible. Don't make it much thicker than 1 cm. It's better if you leave some of the batter over than make it to thick.
12. Bake the biskuit for ca. 18 minutes. When you press it lightly and it springs back than the biskuit is finished.
13. Take the baking sheet out of the oven. Turn the biskuit around, detach the baking parchment and turn it with the parchment back.
To Assemble
1. Put one of the chocolate cakes on a plate.
2. With a spoon carefully pour some of the curd on it.
3. Spread some of the chocolate cream on top.
4. Cut the edges of the biskuit of, so that you will get an even rectangle. Divide the short side in three even pieces and cut it lengthways.
5. Coat the biskuit generously with the curd.
6. Take one of the biskuit strips and roll it up from the short side. Add another strip to the end of the roll and roll it up too. Repeat the process with the third strip.
7. Put the roll upright on the prepared chocolate cake.
8. Spread some chocolate cream on top of the roll.
9. With a spoon carefully pour some of the curd on the cream.
10. Put the second chocolate cake on top.
11. Cover the cake with the remaining chocolate cream. Coat it evenly.
12. Finely crumble the roughly broken chocolate cake.
13. Coat the cake with the crumbles from all sides.
14. If you wish, dekorate the cake with fondant.
15. Store the cake in the fridge. Serve at room temperature.
For this recipe you have to use a small baking pan, 20 cm or smaller. Otherwise when you put it on the chocolate cake the biskuit roll would not be big enough to reach the edges.
Bon appétit!!
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