Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Party Chocolate Cake



You will believe me if I told you that this is the cake I baked for my daughter's birthday last month. The 4-year-old also frosted and decorated the cake, with my help of course. You will believe this as well... but hey no, I decorated this one (wish you could see my sheepish expression:-). The post hence comes with some deliberation and struggle (will tell you why). But I better make sure the birthday cakes of my kids are presentable enough from next year to avoid dealing with one or both demanding ''Why is my 4th/10th/12th birthday cake not on the blog???''. Or even worse if I don't post one of the kids' cakes, ''Think you love him/her more than you love me'' during the teenage phase. I remember when my son was about 2 years old and I had taken him to the library. Was getting all flustered and irritated running behind him, grumbled and whined to another Mom(of older kids) browsing there.  I really was hoping for some empathy and sympathy from her. The amused lady just said,'' Enjoy this phase, teenagers are the worst!!''. I sincerely hope I don't have to remember this lady when my kids grow up to be teenagers...Like all other mothers, I believe at every phase that this has been the toughest phase I am going through as a mother. And like all mothers, I think in retrospect, that the phase which went by was better than the current one:-)

As my little angel(?) turned 4, it was time for a cake again. I have to and don't have to think hard for her birthday cake. Have to think because she is choosy about what she eats, when in doubt, will sniff food and decide if she will eat it or not. And she does not like nuts in everything, Ferrero Rocher chocolates, peanut butter and chikki some exceptions to this rule. I don't have to think much as she invariably wants a chocolate cake. So it has to be a different chocolate cake for each birthday, God and you folks must help me!

This year, we had to celebrate her birthday in the morning as we had to attend a wedding in the evening on the same day. I was busy at work, hence not much prior preparation or planning ( Nothing new I am telling you I know, but am usually a little better than this year). I baked a chocolate cake and put it on the rack to cool, went back to my desk. I come back annnd... Trala! the cake has a cute little crater in it!! Crumbs of chocolate cake on her hand and around her mouth, she very sweetly told me that the cake looked very 'yummmmy' so she ate it...That's it, simple - If you look at it from her perspective. For me, conflicting emotions - should I bring the roof down yelling at her or fling myself on the bed and cry like a heroine in a 70's movie? (and you thought I would say something like 'should I kiss her a misty eyed mother's kiss or scream at her') Reality won at last. Long story short, baked another cake that night, filled and frosted it the next morning just before the kids arrived. And this is my excuse for putting up a clumsy looking cake here. Good excuse I hope?:-))

The chocolate cake this time was from the book, 'Cakes And Cake Decorating'. A lovely cake with melted chocolate and butter, which tasted good as is when eaten plain freshly baked (no this time, it was me who made the crater, OK, slice in the cake, had baked in 2 tins) and more chocolaty when filled and slathered with ganache and served at room temperature...



I had wanted to take a picture of her, after a lot of coaxing, she allowed me this one, before this one...


This recipe makes quite a large, tall cake, should serve more than 15 people. As I do not have a big tin of the right size, I divided the batter between 2 tins and baked it. You could bake as per the original recipe.

The original recipe uses a brandy and raspberry glaze,  and a filling and frosting of ganache with brandy added to it. The cake is in the original recipe is chilled. I have filled and frosted with thickened ganache and served at room temperature.
 

Ingredients:
Dark chocolate - 200 grams ( the recipe has plain chocolate, refer note)
Butter, diced - 115 grams / 1/2 cup
Water - 2/3 cup
Granulated sugar - 250 grams (the recipe has 275 grams equal to 1 1/3 cup, refer note)
Vanilla essence/ extract - 2 teaspoons
Eggs -2 , separated
Yogurt - 3/4 cup (the recipe has sour cream)
APF - 3 cups/ 350 grams
Baking powder - 2 teaspoons
Baking soda - 1 teaspoon

Procedure: Pre heat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 F. Grease a 10 inch round springform tin, line with baking parchment. I have used one 8'' round tin and the remaining batter in a 6'' round tin. Grease and flour the tin lightly. Measure out all the ingredients and keep ready.

Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Keep aside. Separate the eggs. Reserve the yolks. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Keep aside. I do this in the beginning as I have one set of beaters and I do not want to stop, wash, clean and dry them for whipping egg whites, prefer to do this when the beaters are clean. If you can, you can whip the whites at the last stage when needed.


In a saucepan, over low heat, carefully melt the chocolate, butter and water, stirring in between. Remove from heat, transfer to a large bowl. You will be mixing the rest of the ingredients in this bowl. Beat in the sugar and vanilla into the chocolate mixture and cool. Beat the egg yolks lightly and beat into this mixture. Gently fold in the yogurt. Sift the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Gently fold it in. Fold in the egg whites. Transfer the mixture to the cake tin. Bake for 50-60 minutes or till the cake begins to shrink away form the sides of the pan. I baked the 8'' cake for about 40 minutes, you could check at 30 minutes to not over bake. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Do not over bake.

Cool the cake in the tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes. the cake may sink in the center, this is normal, says the recipe. One of my cakes sank a bit in the center as you can see, the other did not.

Run a sharp knife around the edges of the cake, invert on the rack. Allow to cool completely.

For the ganache:
Dark chocolate chopped fine - 1 1/2 Cups
Cream - 1 1/4 Cup, I have used 25% fat, Amul
Unsalted butter - 1 tablespoon

Bring the cream and butter to a boil in a heavy saucepan, over low heat. Boil for a full minute, taking care not to burn the cream. Take off the heat. Gently stir in the chocolate and leave for 2-3 minutes, till the chocolate dissolves completely. Chopping the chocolate fine helps it to dissolve faster. Stir gently with a spatula till it becomes a homogeneous mixture. Do not stir or whisk vigorously as it may cause the ganache to become grainy. Strain the ganache, cover the bowl with a cling film. Chill in the fridge till thick and of spreadable consistency.

You could also pour the ganache if you wish, in this case, no need to refrigerate the same.

Place the cake on the cake platter and spread the frosting. Decorate with chocolate curls and berries and serve at room temperature. I had strawberries in the fridge which I could have used, but then it would have not pleased my daughter as much as the heart shaped sprinkles did. Her day after all!





Note: Sugar- I have reduced the sugar as I have used dark chocolate where the recipe calls for plain chocolate. If using plain chocolate the original amount of sugar should work fine, I have never used plain chocolate though...

The result: A cake with good chocolate flavor without too much in the face kind of chocolatey-ness ( no such word?) I liked it plain freshly baked and also liked it with the ganache the next day. Though the cake has yogurt and water, it was not really the moist, moist cake which can be made ahead and still be eaten as is and moist the next day. But definitely very good freshly baked sans the ganache too.







30 comments:

Divya Kudua said...

Aww..the cake looks very pretty so don't feel sheepish about it!!I am sure the kids enjoyed the cake which in the end makes it all worthwhile!Your angel looks so cute!!

Indian Khana said...

Looks so so cute n yum ...very delish n ur princess is very cute

Fajeeda said...

yummy cake..........belated b'day wishes to ur lil princess......

anitha karanam said...

Yummy cake and so is ur daughter....:)

Jayashree said...

A very happy birthday(belated) to your daughter, Suma. She looks adorable.

Unknown said...

the cake looks so pretty..am sure the kids liked it a lot..

chef and her kitchen said...

sooperb looking cake..really delicious..:)

Hari Chandana P said...

Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww... What a tempting cake.. looks absolutely inviting dear.. thanks for the recipe :)
Indian Cuisine

Reshmi said...

belated birthday wishes gto ur daughter....n i m very happy to c such an inviting n delious cute looking cake...ur daughter z such a lucky tht she gt cute choco cake for her birthday....thnks for sharing this one..

Cindreen said...

Ur daughter is very cute, belated birthday wishes n blessings to ur little angel! :) n the cake is very beautiful n it must've been real yum...i wish i was ur daughter too!!! :D

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

a very belated happy birthday to your adorable little angel. May God shower his choicest blessings on her. the cake looks yum and I hope to be such a doting mother like you Suma. In this Calcutta heat all I do these days is running behind my lil monster and screaming not to break another furniture.

Priya Suresh said...

WOw ur lil angel looks sooo adorable..my belated birthday wishes to her..Cake looks super prefect and wonderful frosting, marvellous!

notyet100 said...

mmmm,.luv this cake,.

notyet100 said...

belated birthday wishes to ur daughter,.

Parita said...

The cake looks so cute..belated bday wishes to your angel..she is adorable!

M D said...

Happy B'day to Aditi! And that cake looks decadent. Lucky for ur daughter to hav a mom like u ;)

Az said...

Happy Birthday Aditi... She is so cute. Love your blog. I have an award waiting for you at my blog on http://desizayeka.blogspot.com.

Zareena said...

Suma, the cake looks perfect and mindblowing. So dont feel sheepish The heart shaped sprinkles are lovely and cute and more over your daughter is very very cute.
One query, where do you get those sprinkles Suma?

Unknown said...

OMG your princess is just adorable and pinchable (in good way) :)

So, I heard that enjoy this phase and teenagers are worse. I have 6 yr. old and 20 months old, so I know what you mean. He doesn't care about my blog or may be not know yet, he is that ignorant, but then he is a boy. Even my husband doesn't know or care about what I put on the blog, sorry for rambling.

The looks to die for and I am bookmarking it :)

Madhu said...

Wonderful cake for the very adorable birthday girl. Belated wishes to her.

Seema said...

Hey Suma,

Was waiting for this post ever since I saw ur message in FB about the cake. It has come out very pretty. Love the frosting and the little hearts all over. Perfect cake for a girl on her birthday!

I'm sure the birthday girl would have liked it and would be proud of her mom any given day!

Regards,
Seema
amchi-bong-konnexion.blogspot.com
seemabbas.blogspot.com

Preeti said...

First of all..a belated birthday to you little angel..she is such a cute little thing!! You cake looks really tempting:) I always read your posts every morning here in UK...all in my morning rush to work and hence can't comment at times but this post made lovely post made me comment..I had marked it and came back home to read it again :)

divya said...

The cake looks so cute..belated bday wishes to your angel..she is adorable!

Aps Kitchen said...

Happy B'day Aditi!!! Ur daughter is a beauty n so is ur cake suma :)

abha said...

Happy B'day to your beautiful little girl.Look how camera friendly she is !

Suma Rowjee said...

Thanks folks, so not that bad after all I guess:-)

@Zareena - The sprinkles are phoren:-)). Haven't seen this kind here, will keep you posted if I see any.

Anonymous said...

Cute Girl:-).Cake looks yumm

Saf

Nachiketa said...

am sure you would have been flattered with her digging into the cake....
you really are super mom for making such goodies for the kids.....
love the cake, looks awesome :))))

Happy Birthday, Aditi :))))

Cheers,
The Variable, Crazy Over Desserts - Nachiketa
Catch me on facebook @ Crazy Over Desserts

Shri said...

Hi Suma, I was looking out for a chocolate cake and this looks so tempting. Planning to bake this for a friend's bday couple of weeks from now. Can you tell me if I can bake this in a regular cake pan, I don't have a springform tin yet and did you make the chocolate curls? If yes, could you pls pls enlighten me on how to go about it. Thanks so much !!

Suma Rowjee said...

@Shri - You could use a regular tin too, only spring-form helps easier release without any damage to the cake. Yes, made the curls at home. Just use a potato peeler to shave a bar of chocolate at room temperature. If that doesn't give good curls, warm the bar for a few seconds say 5, then try. Good luck!