I spend a lot of time mulling over the following question: If [insert friend's name here] were a cake, what kind of cake would [he/she] be?

Those of us who enjoy baking celebration cakes understand the weighty significance of this question, with its myriad of factors to be weighed. Taste is an obvious one, our goal being to avoid flavors that exercise the recipient’s gag reflex and focus squarely on those that cause he or she to roll around and salivate like a dog.

I had a whole year’s notice for choosing the cake recipe for Brian’s birthday this year, but in classic style, I waffled on the decision until just two days before. I flirted with the flavors of sweet potato, dulce de leche , gingerbread, and caramel, but dismissed them all on the grounds that Brian is, if nothing, a chocolate man.

And, not surprisingly, my quest for chocolate celebration cakes led  to a book that pulls me back time and again with its georgeous photography, festive spirit, and more importantly, innovative recipes that please ever time.

When it’s a chocolate fiend’s birthday, you have to bring your A-game: rich, intense chocolate cake with a surprisingly light crumb, filled with a creamy white chocolate mousse, and slathered with a bittersweet sour cream icing that reminds you that chocolate frosting can be so triple-X sexy that it should be kept far from children.

I don’t think I have to tell you, this cake was a success. The only issue that remains is that I’ll be baking cakes for my beloved for the rest of our days, and I’m not sure how I’ll top this one next year.

Shameless Plug Alert! You may have noticed that I’m participating in a bake-off over at Bon Appetit.com. I really hope that you will take a moment to click over here and vote for my entry for my unbelievably delicious chocolate ravioli in the miscellaneous category (you get there by selecting your favorite in other categories and then clicking on vote on next batch at the bottom – the miscellaneous category is the last one). And now, without further ado…

Triple Chocolate Layer Cake
Adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

A few months ago I might have been shocked by the idea of using mayonnaise as a cake ingredient, but we use things that are far more shocking in pastry school every day, so I’ve become a bit desensitized. Don’t allow the mayo to sway you, after all, it’s basically just eggs, oil, and vinegar, and it gives the cake a luxurious, soft crumb. The while chocolate mousse set up in the fridge with a firm layer on top and a more liquid layer on the bottom of the bowl – I skimmed the firm layer off the top and had plenty for the filling. You may consider using a few bamboo skewers or strawy to stabilize the cake (I wish I had), as the layers slid around a bit around the mousse when I was frosting the exterior.

Serves 10 people

butter for greasing pans
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups hot, strongly brewed coffee
2 eggs
1 cup mayonnaise  (Do not substitute with light mayo.)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar

White Chocolate Mousse:

4 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg white
1 tablespoon sugar

Sour Cream Chocolate Icing:

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 stick unsalted butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup half-and-half, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature

Heat oven to 350F. Butter bottom and sides of 3 (9-inch) cake pans. Line bottom of pans with parchment or wax paper. Butter top of linings.

For batter, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Put chopped chocolate in heat-proof bowl. Pour milk and coffee on top and let it stand for 1 minute, then whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool slightly. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat eggs, mayonnaise, and vanilla. Gradually beat in sugar. Add dry ingredients and coffee liquid alternately in 2 or 3 additions, beating until smooth (do not over beat). Divide batter among pans.Bake 25-28 minutes, or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pans on wire racks 10-15 minutes. Unmold cakes. Peel off paper lining and cool completely, 1 hour.

3. For mousse, melt white chocolate with 1/4 cup cream, whisking until smooth. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Beat remaining 3/4 cup heavy cream until soft peaks form. Whip egg white with sugar until fairly stiff peaks form. Fold beaten egg white into white chocolate cream. Then fold in whipped cream.

4. For sour cream icing, melt chocolate with butter and corn syrup on very low heat. Remove from heat and whisk until smooth. Whisk in half-and-half and sour cream.

5. Place one cake layer flat-side up on cake stand. Cover top with half the mousse, leaving 1/4 -inch margin around edge. Repeat with second layer. Set third layer on top. Use enough of the icing to thinly cover top and sides. Don’t worry if cake shows through. This layer seals in crumbs. Refrigerate cake 30 minutes to set. Cover cake with remaining icing, swirling with back of spoon or offset spatula.

Recipe note: If icing becomes too soft, chill slightly. If icing becomes too stiff, microwave on high 2 or 3 seconds to soften, and then stir to mix well.

So many important milestones in the lives of friends and loved ones are marked by me pouring through cookbooks, searching for a cake that I think will speak to the honoree in a particular way. Sometimes these decisions are ingredient-based, like the cakes that I make for chocoholics, and sometimes the cake is driven by a theme or message, in which case aesthetics will drive the flavor choices that I make.

In Matthew’s case I had nothing to go on. He likes every flavor. He’s a dream of a dinner guest because there’s absolutely no limits to the foods that he’s willing to try.

For a warm August rooftop party, doing something gooey and chocolate just didn’t seem right. Especially when the blueberries are still piled high in the stalls of the farmer’s market. I wanted light airy cake, even lighter frosting, and a cake that would show off the star ingredient beautifully.

Just like so may times before, my quest ended with Alissa Huntsman’s gorgeous book, where I found this. Swirls of blueberry and lemon in a cake as light as air, sandwiching fresh blueberry jam between the layers, and covered in a light, just slightly lemon buttercream.

The results were all one could hope for from a summer celebration cake, delicious, beautiful, and not too heavy.

And like all the other cakes featured in Sky High Cakes, this was perfect for it’s honoree, time, and place. I highly suggest that you run out and get a copy. It’s worth it for the food porn alone.

Marbled Lemon Blueberry Butter Cake
Almost as is from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 tsp grated lemon zest

11⁄2 tsp lemon extract ( I do not have lemon extract and substituted with an additional tsp lemon zest)

7 egg whites

3 cups cake flour

4 tsp baking powder

1⁄2 tsp salt

11⁄4 cups milk

Fresh blueberries, for decoration

Lemon blueberry preserves (below)

Lemon buttercream frosting (below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of three 8 inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.  In a mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, lemon zest and lemon extract until light and fluffy. Gradually add the egg whites 2 or 3 at a time, beating well between additions and stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, whisk gently to blend. In 2 or 3 alternating additions, beat the dry ingredients and milk into the butter mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl several times. Beat on medium-high speed for about 1 minute to smooth out any lumps and aerate the batter.

Scoop 1 cup of the batter into a small bowl. Divide the remaining equally among the 3 prepared pans, smoothing the tops with a spatula. This gives you a smooth surface to work with. Add 21⁄2 tbsp of the lemon blueberry preserves to the reserved batter and blend well. Drizzle heaping teaspoons of this blueberry mixture over the batter in the pans. Use a skewer to swirl the blueberry mixture in short strokes to drag it down through the lemon batter without mixing it in.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester or skewer stuck in the centre comes out clean and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Lat the layers cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack, peeling off the paper and leaving to cool completely.

Lemon Blueberry Preserves

3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

11⁄2 tsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

Puree the blueberries with any juices that have exuded in a blender. Pass the puree through a coarse strainer to remove the skins.  In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the blueberry puree with the sugar, lemon juice, zest and ginger. Bring to a gentle boil over a medium heat, stirring often for 20 minutes, or until the preserves have thickened and are reduced to 1 cup. To check the proper thickness place a small amount of a saucer and put in the freezer until cold. Drag your finger through it. If a clear path is made through the preserve then it is ready. Let the preserves cool before using. (Can be made up to 5 days in advance).

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

1 cup sugar

1⁄4 cup water

2 eggs

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to boil without stirring, occasionally washing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from the heat.

In a large mixer bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beast the eggs briefly. Slowly add the hot syrup in a thin stream, pouring it down the sides of the bowl; be careful to avoid hitting the beaters or the syrup may splatter. When all the syrup has been added, raise the speed to medium,-high and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and cooled to body temperature. This can take 15-20 minutes.  Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and gradually add the softened butter 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time, beating well between additions. As you’re adding the last few tablespoons of butter, the frosting will appear to break, then suddenly come together like whipped butter. Beat in the lemon juice, and the frosting is ready to use.

To Assemble

To assemble the cake, place a layer, flat side up, on a cake stand. Spread half of the lemon blueberry preserves over the top. Place a second layer on top of the first and spread the remaining preserves over it. Finally place the third layer on top and frost the top and sides with the lemon buttercream.  Decorate with fresh blueberries and serve.

Makes one 8 inch triple layered cake.

]]> http://eastvillagekitchen.com/2009/08/21/marbled-lemon-blueberry-butter-cake-recipe/feed/ 14 http://eastvillagekitchen.com/2009/03/31/black-and-white-park-avenue-cake-recipe/ http://eastvillagekitchen.com/2009/03/31/black-and-white-park-avenue-cake-recipe/#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:33:23 +0000 Lauren http://eastvillagekitchen.com/?p=1647

See that picture directly above? The one with the pretty black and white cake? I made that! Me!

I’m usually more humble about my creations, but this one makes me giddy – but more about why in some posts to come. For now, let me tell you about this cake. Check it out – the cake layers, made from scratch (natch), have TWO different chocolates melted into them, one for the light checkers, and one for the dark. 

The batter is the smoothest of any cake batter i’ve ever made. It’s almost foamy, it’s so airy and light. It’s made with puffy clouds (and rainbows and unicorns) … and a truckload of butter.

I’ve been obsessed with this book since the first time I read Deb’s praises of it on Smitten Kitchen. Then, once I had my own copy, I became obsessed with this cake. I found the dividers on eBay and I couldn’t wait for an excuse to bake it, and with so many friends turning 30 this year, the opportunity came along before I knew it.

My favorite thing about this cake was the extreme attention to detail that each and every step demands. The batters require tempered, cooled white and dark chocolate to be meticulously blended, to prevent the eggs in the batter from being cooked and causing lumps. Piping each layer into the sections requires focus and care to ensure that there are equal amounts of batter to go around. And once the batter is all piped in, the divider has to be slowly, evenly pulled straight out of the cake to prevent sliding between the dark and light rings.

But once you’ve cleared that part, you get to prepare the decadent, smooth ganache made with 65% dark chocolate. Swoon…

I also survived my first buttercream (there was laughter, there were tears), which was not just any ordinary buttercream, but a white chocolate one which required (for the fourth time) tempering chocolate in the double broiler and also heating a mixture of sugar and water to exactly 238 degrees, which is then drizzled into the bowl of my mixer in the tiniest of streams as it whisks away at egg whites on high speed, cooking and sweetening them simultaneously. 

It got tense for a while there, when the addition of butter created a slop in the mixing bowl that had the consistency of vanilla pudding (epic fail). All I could do was stand there staring into the bowl, watching the blades whirr and pray to the gods of cake that I wouldn’t have to start over. It was a very long four minutes, but then suddenly – it just came together. It was characteristically light, but at the same time, dense and workable, and thanks to the aforementioned sugar solution, there wasn’t a hint of the grainy texture from confectioners sugar that you find with cupcake or wedding cake buttercreams. 

With frosting ready, I was off, cloistered away in my own private world of smoothing, adjusting, turning, smoothing, removing, adding, adjusting . I used an actual piping bag for the first time to do the trim and it was just so much fun.

I was hoping to make adorable little uniform chocolate curls, but they were so brittle and delicate, they kept crumbling. Perhaps if I had used a chocolate with a higher cacao butter ratio, they would have been more flexible. I think the shavings still achieved a pretty great effect.

The dinner was a lot of fun, complete with good food and friends that we never seem to be able to see enough. I thought it was very cool that Victoria’s husband Barry had kept our scheming cake emails a secret until the cake was actually brought out. 

During dinner, Barry tapped his glass and made a nice toast to Victoria, reminiscing about how they met,  and eventually became engaged and married. Their happiness was written all over the way that they looked at one another. As Barry told their story, in which he convinces Victoria, at each step of their courtship, to fall in love with him, I thought about how fast I had become friends with the both of them through Brain, and how accepting they have been since the very first time we were introduced. We always have so much fun, each and every time I see them. Victoria and Devon both turned 30 on the same night, and how refreshing that there was no depressing talk of crossing the first major age milestone, but rather, a tremendous celebration of accomplishment and a wholehearted “bring it on!” for the years to come.

Black and White Park Avenue Cake Recipe
Adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

3 cups all-purpose or cake flour

2 cups sugar

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

4 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

2 oz white chocolate, melted and cooled

Semisweet ganache (see below)

White chocolate buttercream (see below)

Dark chocolate shavings

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or wait until you are about 15 minutes from being ready to put the cake in the oven, around step 4). Butter three checkerboard cake pans, 8 to 9 inches in diameter. Line the bottoms with parchment and butter the paper.

2. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and 1 cup of the buttermilk and beat until just combined and evenly moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, remaining 1/4 cup buttermilk, and vanilla. Add to the batter in 2 or 3 additions, scraping down the sides each time and beating only until incorporated after each addition, do not overmix.

4. To make the dark chocolate batter, whisk one cup of the vanilla batter into the melted, unsweetened chocolate, then gently whisk in another 3 cups of batter (I used more, because I felt that the batters looked uneven and still ended up with less chocolate – use at least 4 1/2 cups).

5. For the white batter, whisk one cup of the vanilla batter into the melted white chocolate and whisk back into the remaining vanilla batter in the bowl as gently as possible. Using the dividers provided in the set, and two pastry bags or plastic bags with the one corner each clipped, fill the pans about half full. The cakes will rise to the top when done. You’ll need two layers with 2 chocolate rings and 1 layer with two vanilla rings.

6. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks. peel off the paper and let cool completely. Wrap in plastic and freeze for at least one hour. Remove from the freezer and use a knife or cake leveler to make the tops of the layers completely flat.

7. To assemble the cake, place one of the layers with 2 chocolate rings on a cake stand, covered cardboard round, or large serving plate. Scoop about 1/3 of the ganache onto the cake and spread it evenly over the layer, leaving 1/4 inch untouched around the edges of the cake. Place the layer with two vanilla rings on top and spread another layer of ganache on it. Top with the final cake layer, taking care to align the sides, so the pattern will be even. Place the cake in the fridge and make the buttercream.

8. Frost the sides and top with the white chocolate buttercream, carefully smoothing out the frosting. Decorate the cake with chocolate shavings, candy wafers, or chocolate covered nuts.

Semisweet Ganache

6oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup heavy cream

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream to a simmer, pour over the chocolate, and let stand 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth.

White Chocolate Buttercream

3 egg whites

4 oz good-quality white chocolate

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

3 sticks (12 oz) butter, at room temperature

1. Put the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer and set the mixer up for use. melt the white chocolate anbout halfway in a double broiler over simmering water. Remove from the heat, stir until smooth, and set aside to cool.

2. Combine the sugar and water in a small, heavy saucepan. Set over medium heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil and cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

3. Immediately start beating the egg whites on medium-low speed. Slowly add the syrup in a thin stream, taking care not to hit the beaters.Continue to whip until the mixture is body temperature and a stiff meringue has formed.

4. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter, 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time. When all of the butter is incorporated, beat on medium speed until the frosting appears to curdle. Continue to whip, and suddenly it will come together. At this point, add the melted white chocolate and mix well.