One of my best friends got married last night. About two weeks ago, she asked me to make the groom's cake. She wanted something rich and chocolatey - nothing fancy. This was good, because it was a busy week, and I didn't have a ton of time to put something together.
Things got off to a rough start. Wednesday night, I baked the cakes. Two batches ended up looking like this.
Things got off to a rough start. Wednesday night, I baked the cakes. Two batches ended up looking like this.
I ended up switching from 12" cake pans to 10" cake pans, which seemed to help. Thursday night, I stacked the layers with a chocolate filling, and covered the cake with a Bailey's Irish Cream-spiked ganache.
I ended up carting the cake around town all day Friday while I taught my classes. Luckily, it was cold and rainy out, which meant the cake would be okay in the car. We cheated and my friend ordered the strawberries from a local chocolate shop.
By the time I got home, I had 20 minutes to get ready for the wedding. We made it in time, and partied it up at the reception.
Cupid's Chocolate Cake
from Taste of Home
Feb/Mar 2000
1 c butter, softened
2 1/2 c sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 c all purpose flour
1 c baking cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 c water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9-inch round baking pans.
In a mixing bow, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla.
Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with water, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Pour into baking pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 c water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9-inch round baking pans.
In a mixing bow, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla.
Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with water, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Pour into baking pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
Bailey's Irish Cream Ganache
3 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/4 c heavy cream
1/2 c Bailey's Irish Cream
Place chocolate chips in a medium heatproof bowl. Pour the heavy cream in a small saucepan and heat until scalding. Pour cream over the chocolate chips, and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir until chips are melted and the cream is mixed in. Stir in the Irish cream. Let cool to desired consistency.
What a fantastic cake! I love the tuxedo strawberries!
ReplyDeleteIt looks kinda simple but I would definitely say it has some fancy in it, love the Irish cream ganache...mmm
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely, yummy-looking cake! I'm sure the married couple loved it!
ReplyDeleteI love the strawberries too.. =) I remember seeing a tastespotters entry for these same chocolate tuxedo strawberries a few months back and i attempted to do it myself--which turned into a disaster (they kept slipping and falling into the chocolate, chocolate wouldn't cling evenly to strawberries, the chocolate would break off the berries when i attempted to peal them off the wax paper, etc), so definitely a smooth move by store purchasing when on a tight time budget ;-)
ReplyDeleteNice cheat! I love the tuxedo strawberries!!
ReplyDeleteThese strawberries are great!
ReplyDelete