Spicyana

Cakes from the Days Past
Post #1 – Chocolate Strawberry Harvest Cake

I am humbled and inspired by all your most generous words of appreciation, especially for the cake. Although I am a serial weekend baker, we plan on a well-decorated cake only when we are having a special gathering or celebration, so that we could all share the sugar and fat between each other, and feel less guilty about the slice we gulp in.. So as we wait in joyful hope for the next gastronomical event, I am posting couple of cakes I did in the last one year. Here is post #1. This one was made in last year’s summer, topped with fresh strawberries we picked from a farm in scenic Sauvie Island near Portland. Freshly picked strawberries, as you know, look and taste rich. It is crisp, glossy and vibrant, bursting with color. It looks fabulously surreal, and you might even never want to touch, slice or eat it. Well, if I happen to use it on cakes, these are my favorite combinations.

1) Make a white or angel food cake, layer with whipped cream and berries

2) Go yellow- Make a yellowcake, layer with lemon curd and of course berries.

3) Nothing works better visually together, than chocolate and strawberries. The contrast is amazing. Red and green just flare up from mysterious shades of chocolate. Since we really want to accentuate the freshness of berries, I would rather go with a mild to medium flavor strength chocolate cake recipe. A mild German chocolate or a chiffon cake will be ideal. We will save the Devils food and Death by chocolate recipes for some other time. Instead of using a calorie loaded chocolate butter cream, I would go light in summertime with a smooth, creamy and airy chocolate mousse for filling the cake.

This chocolate cake has three fine layers and was filled and frosted with chocolate mousse. I wasn’t quite yearning to use a pastry bag that day, so the side panels were made by marbling dark and white chocolates. Strawberries are dipped, without any particular reason. The following recipe makes a cake with a very delectable chocolate flavor, with a delicate under taste of molasses coming from brown sugar.


CHOCOLATE CAKE

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

2 cups sifted cake flour (sifted, then measured)

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-processed)

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

1/2 cup lukewarm water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides with nonstick spray. Line bottom of pans with parchment paper. Whisk flour and next 4 ingredients in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat brown sugar and butter in large bowl until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions. Beat in 1/2 cup lukewarm water. Divide batter among prepared pans (about 2 1/3 cups for each). Smooth tops. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 22-30 minutes. Cool completely in pans on cooling racks. Invert cakes onto 9-inch-diameter cardboard rounds or tart pan bottoms. Peel off parchment.

Adapted from: Chocolate cake recipe, Bon Appétit , April 2003


CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

2 cups chilled heavy cream

4 large egg yolks

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

7 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
Garnish: lightly sweetened whipped cream

Heat 3/4 cup cream in a 1-quart heavy saucepan until hot. Whisk together yolks, sugar, and a pinch of salt in a metal bowl until combined well, then add hot cream in a slow stream, whisking until combined. Transfer mixture to saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until it registers 160°F on thermometer. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and stir in vanilla.
Melt chocolate in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or in a glass bowl in a microwave at 50 percent power 3 to 5 minutes), stirring frequently. Whisk custard into chocolate until smooth, and then cool.
Beat remaining 1 1/4 cups cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Whisk one fourth of cream into chocolate custard to lighten, and then fold in remaining cream gently but thoroughly.
Chill the mousse covered, for at least 6 hours. Mousse can be chilled up to 1 day.

Source: Gourmet, December 2002.

Click here to read instructions for making chocolate cutouts.

My method for making panels is more or less the same, except that instead of using a cookie cutter, i used a ruler and a super sharp knife to score off, and then to cut panels of desired length and width.

33 comments Cakes and Cookies

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