The Great Chocolate Cake Saga.
The Great Chocolate Cake Saga.
My mom asked for a chocolate cake for her birthday, specifically, for a cake her mother used to make. As it happens, my mom had this written out by my grandmother. Of course, then my mom proceeded to say how it was not what she remembered and, oh, that wasn't really the frosting my grandmother used and she didn't like that and just wanted a "regular" frosting.
Ultimately, though, I made the cake per what was written down. Wherein it was discovered that probably a few pieces of info were lacking. There's a bit of confusion about whether the recipe intended to use dutch/alkalinized or regular cocoa, which matters for taste, not to mention acidity, and the pans probably needed a parchment bottom, not just grease/butter and flour. They were not burnt, but would not come out of the pan.
After some hemming and hawing, my mother decided that she guessed that was the taste and texture she remembered, notwithstanding the fact that it was in crumbs and chunks b/c could not properly remove from pan.
Which led to a sudden spate of research for a basic chocolate cake recipe. Which turns out to be more complicated than you'd think. Which led to my inquiry about other chocolate cake recipes. Which I would still love to have if you have a good one you like.
What I ended up using was Rose Levy Beranbaum's "Perfect All-American Chocolate Butter Cake" from The Cake Bible. Partly because it did not require me to go get any ingredients I didn't already have and was pretty close to the recipe from my grandmother.
That worked great. it was chocolately enough, it could be cut into layers and had enough structure to deal with layers and fillings. It's very rich and while not fudgy at all, it's also, I guess, somewhat dense or something. It isn't light and fluffy is what I'm trying to say.
That's just the cake.
I tried to explain to my mom that she really didn't want a "regular" American frosting, because that would be all powdered sugar and butter and way too sweet, but nope. So I used the chocolate frosting recipe from Williams-Sonoma's "Classic Birthday Cake" recipe.
The other thing I did was make two different fillings. Mom wanted a chocolate chocolate chocolate cake, but I was concerned that with that frosting and cake it was getting too rich, so I made lighter fillings. One was just a whipped milk chocolate ganache.
The other was a stabilized cinnamon whipped cream. My mom looooves the cinnamon syrup from this one old fashioned candy and soda shop place. It's very strong candied cinnamon, like red hots, or something. So I used that to flavor the whipped cream. I used Joe Pastry's technique for making stabilized whipped cream.
It turned out well, although I shall have to continue my search for the perfect chocolate cake for such purposes. That, and mom now agrees that it will be better in future if I make an Italian or other buttercream, which is tasty, light, and rich without being cloyingly sweet.
So that's the saga. There was cake. We ate it, too.
My mom asked for a chocolate cake for her birthday, specifically, for a cake her mother used to make. As it happens, my mom had this written out by my grandmother. Of course, then my mom proceeded to say how it was not what she remembered and, oh, that wasn't really the frosting my grandmother used and she didn't like that and just wanted a "regular" frosting.
Ultimately, though, I made the cake per what was written down. Wherein it was discovered that probably a few pieces of info were lacking. There's a bit of confusion about whether the recipe intended to use dutch/alkalinized or regular cocoa, which matters for taste, not to mention acidity, and the pans probably needed a parchment bottom, not just grease/butter and flour. They were not burnt, but would not come out of the pan.
After some hemming and hawing, my mother decided that she guessed that was the taste and texture she remembered, notwithstanding the fact that it was in crumbs and chunks b/c could not properly remove from pan.
Which led to a sudden spate of research for a basic chocolate cake recipe. Which turns out to be more complicated than you'd think. Which led to my inquiry about other chocolate cake recipes. Which I would still love to have if you have a good one you like.
What I ended up using was Rose Levy Beranbaum's "Perfect All-American Chocolate Butter Cake" from The Cake Bible. Partly because it did not require me to go get any ingredients I didn't already have and was pretty close to the recipe from my grandmother.
That worked great. it was chocolately enough, it could be cut into layers and had enough structure to deal with layers and fillings. It's very rich and while not fudgy at all, it's also, I guess, somewhat dense or something. It isn't light and fluffy is what I'm trying to say.
That's just the cake.
I tried to explain to my mom that she really didn't want a "regular" American frosting, because that would be all powdered sugar and butter and way too sweet, but nope. So I used the chocolate frosting recipe from Williams-Sonoma's "Classic Birthday Cake" recipe.
The other thing I did was make two different fillings. Mom wanted a chocolate chocolate chocolate cake, but I was concerned that with that frosting and cake it was getting too rich, so I made lighter fillings. One was just a whipped milk chocolate ganache.
The other was a stabilized cinnamon whipped cream. My mom looooves the cinnamon syrup from this one old fashioned candy and soda shop place. It's very strong candied cinnamon, like red hots, or something. So I used that to flavor the whipped cream. I used Joe Pastry's technique for making stabilized whipped cream.
It turned out well, although I shall have to continue my search for the perfect chocolate cake for such purposes. That, and mom now agrees that it will be better in future if I make an Italian or other buttercream, which is tasty, light, and rich without being cloyingly sweet.
So that's the saga. There was cake. We ate it, too.
Would totally eat.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of Sacher torte...
Oh, I made that before. The ganache cracked, but otherwise it worked great. Plus, I used the homemade apricot jam I made from our apricot trees, which didn't hurt.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I forgot to try the first time I was in Vienna, a few years ago, was Sacher Torte at the Hotel Sacher — I rectified that when I was there last year.
ReplyDelete