Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Dark Mocha Cake


Confession 1: the only part of this that I made up was the combination of the two recipes.


I used the same Chocolate Stout Cake recipe that I used for Chocolate Irish Car Bomb Cake, and I found the Mocha Buttercream recipe online at Zoe Bakes, and thought they'd make a good combination for mr.'s birthday cake. And they were. The coffee flavor is not overpowering to the buttercream-just sort of subtle and deepens the flavor. And like I said before, you can hardly taste the stout in the cake, it just makes for a very complex flavor. Together, they make for a cake that is flavorful and wonderfully textured. And rich? Oh my, yes.

Confession 2: I don't think I really like using an Italian meringue as a starting point for buttercream. The frosting was delicious, and the texture was lovely. But look at all of the cooked sugar (i.e., "candy") that I ended up digging out of various stages of the frosting:


The directions indicate that you should pour the cooked sugar down the side of the bowl so it doesn't hit the beaters and splash out, but then the sugar just gets stuck to the side of the bowl. And there's no way to avoid some of it getting whipped like spun sugar around the mixing bowl, even if you're using a low speed setting. However, using a low speed setting, I think, is what results in these giant chunks of candy. I think it sort of pooled at the bottom of the mixing bowl because I was using a low speed. So, yeah, I need to figure out a way to alter the BAKED basic buttercream into a Mocha Buttercream. I'll add it to my list.


Pretty though, right?!


TGIP Rating--Dark Mocha Cake--KEEPER--in concept. I think the idea of mocha frosting with this particular cake is perfect. I just need to work on a different version of the frosting--ALTHOUGH THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS ONE. It's just a preference thing.


Next up: Black Forest PIE. I'm making it up as I go along, folks.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This cake makes my mouth water, April. I can almost feel the frosting melting on my tongue.:9

Pat Catherall said...

We never made it over for a piece :( Sadness and longing envelops me!