It's the first birthday of the New Year (Happy Birthday again Jessica!) and in my new found free time, I decided to bake a cake. Normally, I tend to lean towards vanilla, but every once in a while, I'll catch myself scouring the internet for a chocolate cake recipe. Not any chocolate cake, but one that's haunted my dreams! Dramatic, I know. I'm stubborn, and when I decide on something, I won't budge - I can't budge...like a barnacle (it's my inner animal spirit, don't judge me).
A fun tidbit -- the best fruit tarts in Hong Kong? They're at The Island Shangri-la's Island Gourmet. But they don't make miniatures anymore -- those were (and still are) the BEST. It's the ratio of cream, to fruit and to crust-- which was perfect! So much so that a few birthdays ago, one of my best gals, Dorian, begged the pastry chef to dig up the recipe and make a special little batch, despite discontinuing them a while ago. Best surprise birthday ever. I digress...
My point is, sometimes you fall in love with something, but you can't find that exact flavor again, ever. And no matter how many times you get your hopes up, right before you take that bite, you're let down yet again. I've let go of the fruit tarts, mainly because I've eaten enough for a lifetime, but the 'Chocolate Cake of 2003' from The Aberdeen Marina Club is a taste-memory I can't shake and I'm not even a chocolate person! I doubt that's a word or a phrase (taste-memory) but it should be. For Joel, it's Carson's coleslaw in Chicago.
There actually wasn't anything particularly spectacular about this cake, it's wasn't made from expensive chocolate; no gold leaf; it was bought from the little market outside of the club accessible to non-members, but similarly to the fruit tarts, it was so well balanced. Moist, without being dense; chocolate-y, but not overwhelmingly so; a delicious shortbread round on the bottom (which I recently discovered) and some sort of fruit preserve, I want to say raspberry, but I just can't be sure.
All 3 recipes call for 'fine-quality semisweet chocolate'-- I didn't have it on hand. But I did have some splendid Hair Bender blend!
This article on beating eggs helped, greatly.
I don't know if you can call it an 'adaptation', but I forgot to add vanilla! Conveniently, the recipe call for 3/4 teaspoon so I stirred in 1/4 into each pan.
Straining the raspberries was annoying, but I found the best technique was to swish your spatula up and down and/or side to side. circles = no good.
If you're like me, you probably forgot to let the butter sit out. Here's a tip: take out your day's stresses and flatten the butter with a rolling pin, let it for a few minutes, and it'll come to room temp faster.
Because I was combining 2 different recipes, I ended up with a lot more raspberry filling then what was called for with the blackberry preserves. I 'dressed' 2 cake layers with raspberry filling and then put them out on the balcony to freeze, protecting the layers from bleeding when I started with the buttercream.
And finally, the pièce de résistance! (pre Martha Stewart inspired decorations of course)
All in all a success! Hands down, the best chocolate cake recipe I've ever made from scratch. The verdict is still out on frosting- on one hand, a lot of people who don't normally eat frosting did finish it, they liked that it wasn't too sweet and enjoyed the firmer texture. But I think I'd have to agree with Matt, it could have been lighter/fluffier. I'll definitely make this again, but perhaps a fluffier buttercream filling with this butter cream on the outside, almost like a fondant encasing.
And because you'll probably want to make this cake right away, I feel the need to remind you of Bruce Bogtrotter's fateful tale:
Bonus: The cast of Matilda reunited and made older (and skinnier) Brucie reenact the scene!
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