Bakertan Botches Things Up - Nutella Cream Cake No.2

(pic taken by my friend's iphone)

If you have'nt realised, I am very much a cake person. Give me any cake and I would not say No. No is never an option, at least to me. The cakeboy in me was whining for a cake making session, and so I whipped up a Nutella Cream Cake for a friend's birthday just a couple of days ago. This was my second attempt on it and was eager to improve on it  further this time round. You can take a look at my first attempt over here - nutella cream cake.

Unfortunately at the very critical moment, Bakertan botches it all up. Arghhh!!! How unlucky could it get? Notice in the picture that the cream frosting is grainy? I will explain what happen exactly.

After I frosted the cake for the first time, I chucked it all into the freezer as the nutella cream was melting away fast, just like chocolate ice cream melting away on a hot sunny day. Well, I thought freezing it for 10 minutes or so would'nt hurt, and it would firm up the cream fast enough so that I can do some touchup to it. I probably forgotten all about my frosted nutella cream cake and I recieved a rude shock when I tried to smoothen the frosting when I retrieved my cake about 20 minutes later. The freezing must have 'shocked' the cream such that it went grainy. ( If the temperature in the refrigerator is too cold, plain whipping cream will separate when stored)

For a moment, I was disgusted and felt like dumping the whole mess into the bin. Ok, that is a sillly thought I admit. Anyway, I went ahead and tried to cover up the messy cake a little by coating the perimeter with chocolate rice. The cream was melting furiously as I was doing the coating, so I quickly wrapped up everything and chucked the cake into a cake box and off it went for refrigeration.

  

Despite the imperfection, the taste and texture of the cream was'nt compromised. It was still smooth and creamy. The cake layers were soft, moist and fluffy, all thanks to the recipe. This time round, I doubled the amount of nutella cream, hence the layers were more obvious. I felt sorry for the birthday boy though (being a little perfectionistic in baking, maybe I am a little too harsh on myself). Thankfully, he did not mind a bit and am glad he liked it.

When the cake cutting was over, I sat down to think and review the entire episode. Two ideas struck me. It would be a much better idea doing the frosting in a cake ring, since the cream melts easily. I will probably settle for the second idea which is a safer bet; frost the cake with chocolate buttercream instead and have no worries about it softening or melting at warm room temperature. If things goes well, I can even do practice with my piping. I shall get down to working on the chocolate buttercream cake (using the same chocolate sponge) some time soon. Wish me good luck...

Tips from nice, friendly and helpful fellow baker bloggers:

1) According to NEL from The Batter Baker, the water in the cream frosting frozed into ice crystals, hence separating from the fat/cream. Me and NEL think that gelatin would help stabilize the nutella cream and prevent it from melting as fast.  

2) Jess from Bakericious suggested chilling the cream every now and then when doing the frosting. (I was lazy to do that hence I committed the mistake of freezing the cream)