Saving a dry chocolate cake - Apricot Sacher Cake

Very often, my chocolate cakes turn out to be dense, dry and crumbly as compared to other kinds of cakes. Perhaps it is the nature of cocoa that accounts for the sturdy structure and an absence of moisture, or it could be how well recipes work out. For me, I believe it is a combination of both factors.

To yield tender chocolate cakes, most recipes ask for a whooping amount of sugar. Having baked for some two and a half years, I am habitually cutting down on sugar on most recipes, as the Asian palate is not accustomed to the level of sweetness that the Americans are used to. This works well most of the time, without compensating much on the texture and moistness. However, it is not advisable to do so for chocolate bakes, since sugar helps to balance the bitterness and intensity of cocoa. Cut down on too much sugar and you will find your chocolate cakes or brownies to be on the bitter and dry side.

Sugar is not the sole tenderizer where baking is concerned. Other ingredients like butter, chemical leaveners, sour cream and yoghurt also help contribute to a tender-crumbed cake. On the other hand, flours and eggs are tougheners. Out of the four basic ingredients - flour, sugar, eggs, butter, we have two tenderizers (weakens structure) versus two tougheners (build structure). 

In a basic pound cake recipe using only the four basic ingredients, there is equal parts of flour, sugar, eggs and butter in weight. The total weight of tenderizers (butter and sugar) is equal to that of the total weight of the tougheners (flour and eggs). Tweak the proportions appropriately and you will get a tender cake. Of course, the mathematics becomes complex when more ingredients come into the picture or when the amount of egg yolks and whites differ.

From experience, I like chocolate cake recipes that use a decent amount of liquid (sourcream, whipping cream, yoghurt, milk, buttermilk). When leavened with the help of beaten egg whites, the resulting texture is much lighter.

Earlier this week, I tried out a chocolate cake recipe and it turned out dissatisfactory being dry and dense, despite the fact that the cake batter was leavened with egg whites. Refusing to let my cake go to waste, I reluctantly followed the instructions and completed it as a Apricot Sacher Cake. The dense cake was sliced into three layers and each layer was brushed with warmed apricot jam. Finally, the three layers were assembled and glazed with chocolate ganache. It sure made a lot of difference with the thin apricot jam layers and the chocolate ganache, adding much depth and flavour to an otherwise dull and boring chocolate cake.

Dark Chocolate Ganache
Taste and texture: Intense, rich, smooth.
Yield: Enough to coat a 8 x 2 inch tall chocolate cake
Equipment and materials:
1) Heatproof bowl
2) Spoon
3) Knife
4) Measuring jug
5) Wire rack
6) Baking paper
7) Spatula

Ingredients:
120ml heavy cream (whipping cream)
120g semisweet (55% cocoa) dark chocolate, finely chopped (use the best quality you can afford)

Method:
Making the Chocolate Ganache - Place 120g finely chopped bittersweet dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Place heavy cream in a saucer and heat it until it is almost coming to a boil on medium heat. Turn off the flame and remove the saucer. Pour the cream over the finely chopped dark chocolate and allow chocolate to sit for a while in the heated cream. Stir gently to allow chocolate to melt and blend in with the cream. Do not over-stir or the mixture may become grainy. The smooth cream and dark chocolate mixture is known as a dark chocolate ganache. The chocolate should melt completely if this is properly done (if chocolate is finely chopped)

If dark chocolate is not completely melted - Place the heatproof bowl over a saucepan filled with water. The bowl should fit snugly onto the saucepan and the bottom of the bowl should not be in contact with the water in the saucepan. Bring the water in the saucepan to a low simmer on low heat. This is known as a double-boiler. Stir the chocolate cream mixture gently to obtain a smooth ganache. Do not over-stir or the mixture may become grainy.
 
Coating a cake with ganache:
Place cake on a wire rack over a large sheet of baking paper. Allow chocolate gananche to cool to a pouring consistency. Pour the ganache onto the centre of the cake and use a spatula to help spread the ganache evenly outwards. The ganache should coat the top and sides of the cake completely. Allow ganache to set. It may take several hours.
 
Notes:
1) If the chocolate do not melt completely and there is a need to use a double-boiler, there is a risk that the resulting ganache may be grainy if the heat is not well controlled.
2) Scale recipe up or down to glaze smaller/larger cakes.
3) The purpose of the baking paper below is to prevent a mess. If any part is uncoated, simply scoop and reuse some of the ganache that has dripped onto the baking paper.
4) When cake glazed with ganache is chilled, the ganache will become dull. Use a hair-dryer/blower to blow the surface of the ganache to return the shine.

Cake Project 4: Mission Tiramisu and a special day of a lifetime, 20/10/2010

You might be wondering whats with the date 20/10/2010. It marks my 26th birthday and the date conincidentally forms a unique number sequence, 20102010, which is rare to come by. For this very special occasion, I promised to treat myself to a luscious layer cake. Hmm.. sounds a bit weird huh? Poor Bakertan has to resort to baking his very own birthday cake. Well, I would prefer a home-made birthday cake anytime. Firstly, I get to customize the texture and flavour to my liking and secondly, its going to be another enjoyable experimental layer cake session/lesson/therapy at home.   

I scratched my head pretty hard trying to decide the flavour. Was wondering whether I should make a blackforest cake, a tiramisu or a durian mousse cake. After some considerations, I opted for the tiramisu. It has been quite a while since I helped myself to one and I was certainly looking forward to a nice turnout.

So last friday, I stepped forth and tried my hands at making tiramisu for the first time. Instead of using saviordi fingers (lady fingers), I decided to make it a tiramisu torte by using coffee sponge cake layers. The first attempt on making the tiramisu mousse was a complete disaster. The steps were tedious and there were plenty of room for errors.

The recipe had asked for warmed egg yolks (leave to cool) and beaten egg whites. I might have overwarmed the egg yolks slightly, scrambling it a little (straining it might help, which I didn't) and the beaten egg whites turned out dry and clumpy (I used Swiss meringue method instead of the Italian meringue method). After mixing the yolks, beaten whites, mascarporne cheese and whipped cream, the mixtue curdled real badly. It taste good though but it was not going to do the job for sure.

You can imagine my morale and spirits dipping to an all-time low at that instance. I almost fell into despair thinking that I will be going cakeless the next day when my family will be celebrating for me in advance. At the same time, I hated the fact that I wasted my precious mascarporne cheese, a good 300g of it. Arghh!

At that moment, I was faced with a tough decision. Should I carry on or abandon the mission? My coffee sponge layers were sitting aside and drying out with every minute that passed by. Thanks to the encouraging words from my mum, I decided to re-attempt the mousse a second time using a different recipe and my remaining 200g of mascarporne cheese, minus the yolks and whites which were way too troublesome for me to handle.

Thankfully, the second attempt was a successful one. I made some coffee syrup and brushed it over the sponge layers to moisten them. Making the mousse the second time round was a familiar sight to me. The mousse consists of gelatin solution, whipped cream, mascarporne cheese, a little of the coffee syrup and a small amount of kahlua. Gently folded these components and they came together to form a nice smooth mousse. With the help of my cake/mousse ring, I managed to get my desired tiramisu torte cake with ease. Now that I learnt my lesson the hard way, there will be no more tiramisu mousse containing eggs in future! I actually brought trouble to myself trying to figure out how to make the eggs as safe for consumption as possible in the first attempt.

It was'nt all that bad after all. Despite the disaster with the mousse curdling at first, the silver lining was that the tiramisu turned out decent on the second attempt. What I liked best about the tiramisu was the sponge layers were moist due to the coffee syrup and the mousse firmed up well without being gelatinous. I will be adding more kahlua to give it a little more kick, increase the amount of mascarporne cheese and add more sugar in future. Will be posting the complete recipe in future when I am done with the fine-tuning.

I received a book from a friend today much to my pleasant surprise. Its a book I wanted to get but do not have much luck finding it =] Yay! This would make a nice addition to my mini-library of books.



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)

Nutella Cream Layer Cake

After reading Jess's post on her red pitaya yoghurt mousse cake from My Birthday Cake by Kevin Chai, I decided that I will be using the same book soon to make a layered cake. Since I have bought the book, I would have to make an effort to use it. The recipe that came to mind was the hazelnut cream cake.

Since there were leftover cream from my recent truffles making, I thought I would put it to good use. Afterall, heavy cream does not store very well and has to be consumed quickly once the pack is opened. All that is left is the hazelnut chocolate spread. Naturally, Nutella was the wise pick here. When it comes to cream frosting, I do not like plain whipped cream. At the very least, I would prefer cream chantilly - vanilla flavoured whipped cream with icing sugar added. In this case, Nutella would lend a rich chocolatey taste to the otherwise plain dairy whipped cream.  

I took out my Wilton cake leveller and my plastic turntable, both obtained from Phoon Huat. These are the baking toys that will come into good use for any layered cakes.

Instead of using the sponge cake recipe as stated, I used a chocolate sponge recipe from another book, similar to the sponge used in my strawberry yoghurt mousse cake, since I did not have any chocolate sponge mix on hand.

Cutting the sponge cake is quite straightforward when using the cake leveller. Simple hold the handle, adjust the height of the cutting wire and cut through the cake in a smooth sawing motion.

 

Notice the grooves on the sides of the cake leveller. The height of the cutting wire can be adjusted by moving the ring attaching the wire up and down and resting on the grooves. The cutting wire may look thin but it is actually taut and strong.

Using the cake leveller to cut sponge layers will result in uniformly sliced layers with smooth flat tops.

Due to the warm humid weather (as always), I had to firm up the cake (with the cream frosting) in the refrigerator so that it will be easier to smoothen the hazelnut cream icing. If the cream is too soft, It will slide down the sides easily.With the help of the plastic turntable, it was so much easier to smoothen the hazelnut chocolate cream. I recall watching a pastry chef working with a turntable at Jurong Point. Back then, I stood aside and watched carefully how the cream frosting was spreaded around the cake, learning some nifty tips and techniques which I applied to my own cream cake.

Overall, I feel that I could have done better with the layering and coating with cream. I should have sliced off the slightly domed top of the sponge and ensured the layers are of equal height. The cream layer is abit too thin to be noticeable towards the edges. Perhaps I will increase the amount of cream next time. I also forgot to do the crumb coat first, resulting in some stray crumbs making their way to the frosting. Nevertheless, it served as a good practice for preparing a layered cake. Since I regarded this as a practice, I did not decorate the top and sides. I will probable use chocolate love letters (wafer sticks) to surround the sides and top the cake with some unskinned hazelnuts next time as suggested.

Tastewise, I like the richness of the hazelnut chocolate cream. It reminds me of melted chocolate ice cream! The sponge is soft and moist but much more springy compared to the one used in the strawberry yoghurt mousse cake even though the recipes are very similar. Maybe this is due to the addition of cocoa powder.  

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Cake project 2 - Puffy Strawberry Napolean Shortcake

My friend came over my place on 2 consecutive days this week to bake a cake for her mum's birthday.  She suggested baking a napolean cake. This is the first time I had heard of this cake.

The traditional Napolean cake is made of 3 layers of puff pastry sandwiched with layers of  pastry cream or sometimes whipped cream. However, that was not what we planned. She suggested including sponge cake layers along with the puff pastry. I felt confident doing the sponge layers but was unsure about working with puff pastry as it was something I have not tried working with. So, we decided to get ready made puff pastry.

So the grand plan was born. The idea is to construct a cake consisting of 3 layers of puffy pastry coupled with 2 sponge cake layers. In between the sponge cake layers and puff pastry layers will be vanilla whipped cream with fresh strawberries. 

On the first day, things went smoothly with the sponge cake. When it came to preparing the puff pastry, things seemed a little out place. It was difficult to roll the puff pastry to a uniform thickness and into a square. When the pastry was baked, it was a mix of flaky and doughy texture. As it was getting late, we had to carry on with the remaining tasks the next day. As for the baked puff pastry, I did not dump it into the bin but matched it with ice cream. The combination proved to be a good one - an ice-cream strudel, puffy and ice cold creamy.

The next day, we tried out a different brand of puff pastry. On the second attempt, the puff pastry is butter based as compared to the first which is made of margarine. The butter puff pastries were shaped nicely into squares of uniform thickness, saving us the time to roll them. After baking, the butter puff pastries turned out better in terms of texture and appearance - crispy and golden brown.

With the barrier overcame, assembling the cake was the final hurdle. First step of assembling involved trimming the 3 puff pastries layer to the same shape as the sponge cake. The sponge cake was evenly sliced into 2 layers with the aid of a wilton cake leveller,a trusty cake tool I keep around for assembling layered cakes. To make the vanilla cream, we simply added icing sugar and vanilla extract and whipped the cream till it peaked. Lastly, freshly bought dark red strawberries were sliced and set aside.

To complete the cake project, a layer of puff pastry was laid on the cake board. Strawberries were added and a layer of cream was spreaded evenly over the puff pastry. A sponge layer was adhered onto the layer of cream. Another layer of cream and strawberries was then added to the top of the sponge layer. The layering of cream and strawberries continued whenever a puff pastry layer or sponge layer was added. In total, the cake consists of 3 puff pastry layers, 2 sponge cake layers and 4 vanilla cream and strawberries layers.

I was pretty eager to know the verdict of the taste and texture of the cake. My friend commented that the puff pastry layer was not as crunchy as it was when we first baked it. Her mum enjoyed the cake though. Perhaps we were too generous with the cream, resulting in the puff pastry turning soggy. Looking at the pictures, the sponge layer looked somewhat a little thick. A shortcake that is nowhere short.

Puffy Strawberry Napolean Shortcake
Equipement: 8 inch square cake tin, cake leveller or large serrated knife longer than 8 inches, baking/cookie tray, 9 inch square cake board

Sponge Cake:
5 egg yolks
55g caster sugar
60g vegetable oil
60g water
110g cake flour
1/2 + 1/8 tsp baking powder
5 egg whites
55 sugar

Preparing Sponge cake:
1) Preheat oven to 160 degrees C
2) Place egg yolks, 55g caster sugar, oil and water in a large bowl. Beat with electric mixer on medium high speed until thickened and fluffy (ribbon stage), about 10 minutes. The batter should increase in volume about 4 times and when the beater is lifted, the falling batter will leave a visible trail on the rest of the batter. The falling batter will not level with the rest of the batter immediately.
3) Whisk flour and baking powder in a large bowl to combine. Sift the flour mixture into beaten egg yolks in 3 batches and fold each batch gently using a ballon whisk. The volume will decrease due to inflating of egg yolk batter. Be sure to fold gently to prevent excessive deflating. Use a spatula to scrape sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure flour mixture is evenly incorporated.
4) In a clean metal bowl, whisk egg whites on low speed. Increase speed slowly to medium and beat untill egg whites are foamy. Gradually increase speed to high and add the other 55g of sugar gradually. Beat untill egg whites are stiff but moist looking. This is when the beaters are lifted, the egg whites will form peaks that are upright and not drooping slightly. Egg whites will resemble whipped cream.The entire bowl of whites will not drop out when the bowl is overturned.
5) Using a ballon whisk, fold one third of beaten egg whites into egg yolk batter gently to lighten and combine. Fold in the rest of the beaten whites to combine in another 2 batches. Final batter should be foamy and uniform in colour with no streaks of egg white present. Folding egg whites gently using balloon whisk will prevent egg whites from deflating too much.
6) Pour batter into a greased and lined 8 inch square pan and bake at 160 degrees C for 30 - 35 minutes. Test doneness using a skewer or toothpick.
7) Unmould sponge cake and leave to cool on wire rack.
8) Slice of the part that has domed. Slice cake into 2 layers.

Puff pastry
3 square sheets of puff pastry larger than 8 x 8 inches
1 egg mixed with 1 tbs caster sugar

Preparing Puff Pastry:
1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
2) Brush egg wash over the surface of a puff pastry sheet.
3) Bake puff pastry on a lined cookie/baking tray for 15 -18 minutes until top is puffy and golden.
4) Remove puff pastry and allow to cool. The bottom will be oily and soggy
5) Flip the baked puff pastry and bake the bottom (now facing up) for another 15-18 minutes. Both sides should be crispy when properly baked. Leave to cool.
6) Repeat steps 2) to 5) for the other 2 puff pastries.
7) Place the 8 inch square baking tray on top of a puff pastry. Trim puff pastry to 8 x 8 inches following the outline of the tin using a sharp knife. Repeat for the other 2 puff pastry sheets.

Cream layer:
400ml chilled whipping cream (we used dairy whipping cream)
2 tbs icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
350g ripe strawberries

Preparing Cream Layer:
1) Place chilled whipping cream in a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla extract.
2) Beat on low speed to combine sugar, whipping cream and vanilla extract. Add more sugar and/or vanilla if desired.
3) Continue beating on medium high speed till creamy and stiff. The cream should hold its shape well and the cream will not budge much when bowl is overturned. Do not overbeat else the cream will separate into butter and water.
4) Wash and remove leaves and stems from strawberries. Cut 2/3 of the strawberries into thin slices. Set aside the rest for decorations.

Assembly:
1) Place a layer of square puff pastry on a 9 inch square cake board.
2) Arrange a layer of strawberry slices on top of the puff pastry, leaving a small border at the edges.
3) Apply a thin layer of cream evenly over the strawberries, enough to cover them and filling the entire square.
4) Place a sponge cake layer over the strawberries and cream.
5) Repeat steps 2) and 3) on the 1st sponge cake layer.
6) Next, place a 2nd  layer of puff pastry over the cream layer.
7) Repeat steps 2) and 3) on the 2nd puff pastry layer.
8) Next, place a 2nd sponge cake layer over the strawberries and cream.
9) Repeat steps 2) and 3) on the 2nd sponge cake layer.
10) Next, place a 3rd layer of puff pastry over the cream layer. Cake is fully assembled.
11) Dust top of assembled cake with icing sugar and decorate with remaining strawberries.

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