Double Chocolate (Not Necessarily For) Valentine's Cake

I am one of those people who grumbles and mumbles about Valentine's Day (my friend Joelf likes to call it VD). Even when I am not single, there is grumbling and mumbling. So naturally, I refused to bake this cake in a heart shaped pan and serve it on VD, and I even protested so far as to refuse to buy out of season raspberries. (Harumph!) I did bring this cake to February's doula meeting, so I did share this ode to chocolate with a bunch of people I love.

Double Chocolate Cake

February 8, 2010
Name of Cake: The Final Word in Chocolate Cake
Occasion: Doula meeting, and HCB
Constituents: one 9 in layer chocolate cake soaked in chocolate ganache, topped with whipped cream

In the book, Rose introduces this cake by saying "this may possibly be the final word in chocolate cake," and I have been thinking about that ever since I baked this cake. In many ways, I have to agree. This cake is at once amazingly delicious, serious chocolate, and almost too moist and dense for my liking. And yet, I really loved it. Go figure.

I was pretty happy to get back to butter cakes after the last two cake fails. It was like coming back to my bed after staying in weird foreign hotel rooms. Ahhh, the familiar comforts of baking a butter cake.

Double Chocolate Cake
right out of the oven

This butter cake is fancied up by getting a deep soak in ganache syrup once it comes out of the oven. I couldn't believe this little butter cake was going to be able to absorb all that ganache; Rose warns it will take about ten minutes for the cake to absorb half of the sauce and she's not kidding.

Double Chocolate Cake
and we're soaking...

Double Chocolate Cake
...and we're soaking...

I decided, after much fiddling, to cover the top with whipped cream instead of serving it on the side or piping it around the bottom. And, to make it look semi-fancy, I decided to try piping stars. Which I've never done before, which explains why they came out looking more like blobs than stars.

Double Chocolate Cake
blobs.

One of the doulas kindly called them "flowers." Such a nice girl.

The doulas crack me up. They insist on nice, prim, tiny slices of cake, and then for the rest of the meting they pick at and munch at and clean up the rest of the platter. I was lucky to go home with two slices! I guess they liked it. One of them asked me if it was flourless, and I can understand why. There is a melt-in-your-mouth, dense and fudgy quality to this cake that is similar to a flourless cake. I looked back at my notes and called it hot fudge, in cake form. It would be delicious with a scoop of cold, creamy, vanilla ice cream. In fact, I think that is precisely what this cake is missing.

Comments

  1. mmm, this sounds like my kind of cake! I'm with you on out-of-season raspberries. The local ones are so good in the summer, it seems silly to pay top dollar for the relatively flavorless ones at the grocery store in february. Maybe I'll make it and serve with a raspberry puree...

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG, the waiting! Rose makes us wait a lot right? Next time I'm going to try it with the whipped cream... (Tom is a big fan of raspberries, so he won out this time).. and I can totally vouch that this cake with vanilla ice cream is sinful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love your whipped cream take on this one. I can only imagine how wonderful it tasted.

    :)
    ButterYum

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would never had guessed you to be such a Valentine's day pooper! You are going to make a great girlfriend, because I think most men really hate Valentine's day too. (You know they'd be happy if you'd just show up naked...any old day.)

    I like your version of this cake too.
    With or without the raspberries it looks deadly chocolatey delicious.
    I'd like it with some vanilla ice cream also.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like how you decorated your cake with whipped cream and you did it very nicely. Whipped cream would be my choice as a topping as well, not just because I like whipped cream but because hubby won't eat raspberries or most fruit for that matter. I also made a chocolate cake for VD but couldn't find a heart shaped pan anywhere so round it was.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Not a big fan of Valentine's day either. Though I did make this cake - will post later today.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Amanda, this is definitely your cake! With all your advanced chocolate knowledge I bet you could create one heckuva double chocolate cake. Rasp puree would be great; Marie suggested rasp whipped cream.

    Monica, I wish I had some ice cream when I had this cake! Makes me consider making another one...

    ButterYum, thanks!

    Melinda, gosh you make me laugh!

    Oriana, I think round is a pretty shape, but then again I am anti-heart shaped anything. Thanks for your compliments regarding my decorating! You are too nice.

    Jenn I look forward to your post!

    ReplyDelete
  8. ב''ה

    I wish my cake had come out the way you describe it...

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh yum, that looks so moist and choc-o-lat-ey! Nice job!

    Happy late VD, ECL!
    <3
    Raya

    ReplyDelete
  10. I like the look of the flower stars. Whipping cream added a nice
    touch, as did the mousse. Mine wasn't as moist as you describe, even the second time I made it.
    Can't figure out why.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Loved your comments on this post! I can just picture the ladies cutting small pieces, but going back for more--that sounds like something I'd do. :) I think your whipped cream stars do look like flowers--good job. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mendy, I thought your second cake came out better? Maybe someday ni the future you'll get a dense, moist, fudgy double chocolate cake.

    Raiuchka, thanks! Happy late VD to you, too!

    Vicki, well, if you ever decide to try it again, I hope it turns out better. Thanks for liking my very amateur piping job.

    Jill, okay, I'm very flattered that you called my blobby stars a good job, especially after taking a look at your gorgeous cakes! Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Looks so good with whipped cream! I love how you piped the cream..very pretty! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Looks great! I'm glad everyone liked it.

    ReplyDelete
  15. faithy, oh, thanks. you are very kind.

    bungalow b, thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great idea to add whipped cream. What I like about your cake is that it turned out moist and fudgy. Good for you. I wasn't so lucky. Mine was a bit on the dry side. I'm thinking of making this cake again and using Rose's All American Choc Butter Cake from TCB instead. Never had issues with that cake and it's delicious.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts