There it is ladies and gentlemen, seven layers of noisette-syrup soaked devil's food cake, seven layers of dark chocolate ganache and one massive stretch of milk chocolate and coffee mousse sandwiched between two textured slabs of chocolate butter cake; all covered with chocolate ganache and adorned with noisette flavored Swiss meringue rosettes. I have to say, in terms of flavor and texture composition, this is quite possibly the most successful piece I've ever done: not too busy or incoherent, but complex enough to be engaging and totally delicious. That bit of mousse was pretty tough to get in there. I knew it was too soft to hold its shape unless I built that part separately and let it set in the refrigerator. I put one layer of butter cake in each waxpaper-lined pan in which it had been baked and then spread ganache on the sides, creating a frame to keep the mousse in place once the cakes were stacked. I piped in the mousse and pressed another appropriately sized butter cake layer on the top to seal it in. I half expected this not to work at all because the mousse was really just so soft and in such a thick layer. Well, now I know, and I'll be employing this new technique in the future!
In terms of presentation, I went with a... homier look?
Tall, dark and chocolatey, just like Clarence (uh oh, I think he follows my blog... I'll apologize on the phone). I'd promised him about five years ago that I would make him his own cake and was finally able to fulfill my promise this past Monday the fourth, a week or so after his 22nd birthday. He requested chocolate and coffee, and I obliged.
I dunno, looks pretty good from the top...
Ah, the obligatory psychotic cake-stabbing picture. You're a natural, Clarence =)
I'm fascinated by how every friend-with-cake photoshoot I've ever done inevitably includes a shot of somebody poised to perpetrate some sort of violent fantasy on the as of yet undefiled pastry. Honestly, I fully support and even encourage these expressions of what I think lies at the heart of our appreciation of intricately decorated sweets: the desire to completely eviscerate it, to destroy something delicate and beautiful with our hands and devour it, consuming all that careful construction and reducing it to human filth. Maybe that's why I spend hours and days working on a piece that can be entirely dismantled and ingested in a matter of hours or even minutes, manifesting some sort of masochistic desire to watch my labors of love suddenly brutalized and literally turned to shit.
Huh. Maybe I shouldn't listen to Behemoth while I blog. I think the metal is seeping into my narrative. Speaking of which, I swear I'm going to start including weirder cakes soon. All this cuteness is really unusual for me. Maybe I should listen to more Behemoth while I blog. And bake. Good plan.
Huh. Maybe I shouldn't listen to Behemoth while I blog. I think the metal is seeping into my narrative. Speaking of which, I swear I'm going to start including weirder cakes soon. All this cuteness is really unusual for me. Maybe I should listen to more Behemoth while I blog. And bake. Good plan.
The composition of the bottom tier was exactly the same as that of the top, with one layer fewer of the devil's food cake. The whole bottom was taken home by Clarence to be enjoyed by his family, and from what I hear it was a success! Hooray!
The texture is so appealing that tactile people such as myself could never be expected not to secretly hope for the blossoming of a crack that could by pried apart with fingers, the cake releasing clouds of chocolate steam as little pieces of crust find their way into mouths... how is that waste? Who in their right mind would try to keep cracks from appearing on top of every cake he or she bakes?
Who wouldn't want to do this to a cake right out of the oven?
Just look at that beautiful texture... Mmm, I should go bake something. I think I will. Right now.
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