Baking ...

a new recipe I created

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A couple of months ago a neighbor asked me if I would be willing to bake a cake for her sister's birthday. She would pay for the ingredients and a bit extra. I said yes. The date seemed far into the future. She wanted a chocolate mousse cake, and even though I'd never made one, I thought how hard can it be? I've made difficult cakes before.

A few days before baking day, I found a recipe online, made a shopping list, and bought the ingredients. I noticed there were a lot of steps, but didn't dwell on it.

The night before baking day, just before bed, I decided to read the entire recipe. Ooh, that's a lot, I thought. I decided to start at seven a.m. in order to be ready for something I had to do at noon.

In the middle of the night, I woke up fretting about all those steps. I look on my phone for an easy chocolate mousse cake, and went back to sleep.

At six a.m. I woke up, looked at both recipes, and realized neither of them could be made into the sheet cake my neighbor desired.

From six to seven, I did the math for how much batter I needed for the sheet cake, found yet a different recipe for a chocolate sponge cake in the right size. By seven, I had created the recipe that would work for me, and I started baking.

When a recipe gives the amount of time to prep, I always double that amount because I know professionals have everything at the ready. I don't. I'll have to assemble all the ingredients, I might have to wash dishes first, and definitely will have to move things around to make room on the counter for baking.

I'll have to dig out baking pans, and I might have to restack things because we're also short on storage space.

After I put the cake in the oven, I washed all the dishes, and put the mixing bowl and attachment in the freezer (this also entailed moving things around to make room). I know a very cold mixing bowl and beater makes for fast and easy whipping of the cream.

While the cake cooled, I made the soak (so the cake wouldn't be dry), made the ganache and put it in the fridge. When the ganache was cool, I made the chocolate mousse. After the cake was room temperature, I applied the soak, then a thin layer of ganache, and the thick layer of chocolate mousse. Back in the fridge overnight. The next morning, I whipped the cream, applied it to the cake, and dusted the top of the cake with cocoa.

My neighbor was happy, and tells me the cake tasted good.

Are you a chocolate lover? If so, or if not, what is your favorite cake?

Here is my recipe if you want to make this Chocolate Mousse Cake. As you can see from the photos it isn't a tall cake, this one is all about the chocolate.

Sandra's Chocolate Mousse Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 Cup butter, melted

1 Cup white sugar

1/2 Cup brown sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla

4 large eggs

3/4 Cup flour

1/2 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 Cup buttermilk

Soak:

 1/2 Cup hot coffee

1 Tbsp. cocoa

Ganache:

11 oz 70% dark chocolate

1 1/2 Cups heavy cream

Mousse:

Ganache (from this recipe)

1 Cup heavy cream, chilled

Topping:

1 Cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon sugar

cocoa, sifted over top (final step)

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350F; prepare baking pan by buttering it and setting it aside.

2.     Stir melted butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together in a bowl; add vanilla, stir; add eggs one at a time, stir until smooth.

3.     Sift flour, sugar, and salt into a separate bowl. Alternate adding flour mixture, then buttermilk, into the sugar mixture. Stir until smooth, then pour into prepared pan.

4.     Bake 35 minutes, test with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out dry, it's ready. If not, bake three or four more minutes.

5.     Cool on rack for 10 minutes; then turn onto the serving plate.

6.     Cool to room temperature while making soak and ganache.

7.     To make soak, stir the coffee and cocoa powder and set aside; to make ganache, heat the cream to boiling, pour over the chopped chocolate in a heat proof bowl, cover the bowl for five minutes, then stir until smooth. Put the ganache in the refrigerator to cool for 30 minutes.

8.     When cake is room temperature, use a spoon to cover the top of the cake with the soak.

9.     Add a thin layer of ganache to the top of the cake.

10.  Make the chocolate mousse by folding a cup of heavy cream into the remaining ganache; apply the mousse to the top of the cake, smooth it out, then place the cake in the refrigerator at least four hours, up to overnight.

11.  Whip the heavy cream with a teaspoon of sugar into stiff peaks (be careful not to overbeat). Apply the whipped cream to the top of the cake.

12.  Dust the cake with cocoa powder. Cake is ready to serve, or can be refrigerated until you're ready.