Monday, January 5, 2015

Chocolate Cuddle Cake



Truly a stunning trio of flavors come together in Rose's Chocolate Cuddle Cake.  The amazing thing is each could stand on their own; the cake would be fine left plain with a dusting of powdered sugar, the ganache rivals any chocolate truffle and the caramel whipped cream is to die for.  Isn't there something called a Fool in the British dessert repertoire? This caramel whipped cream would be the ultimate Fool with fruit gently folded in.

A fairly easy cake, however I remembered the rose nail but forgot the cake strips.  No matter, the entire thing flipped out of my hand as I was putting it in the oven and landed on the kitchen floor. I've never had such a peculiar thing like that happen before.


  
Remembered the cake strips for the second try but forgot the rose nail.  


I seriously expected a massive sunken crater in the middle but there wasn't one, only a minor crack. 




Part one finished, I took Faithy's advice and made the ganache in the microwave.  Easy Peasy.  Came upon a great Lindt chocolate sale and stocked up.  I used an 85% mixed with milk chocolate for the ganache. Not quite sure what that equals in chocolate math.



With these two components finished, it was time to call it a night and try the caramel in the morning lest I burn down the kitchen.


Making caramel takes patience. Lots and lots of patience.


Once cooled and added to the whipped cream, oooo lala, perfection! 


I felt better after reading Evil Cake Lady didn't use gelatin since I'm out of agar agar.  It set up fine.


Total curiosity to see how it measured up.  Anything not flattened on the floor was good in my book.  Since the cake was wrapped and spent the night in a chilly garage, it read 12 C.  The ganache warmed up in the microwave to 24C and went on easily with the back of a large spoon.  I figured when the warmer ganache hit the cooler cake it would set and it did.   I made a rim around the top for the "cuddling" of the caramel whipped cream and grated the rest of the milk chocolate over the top. 


Loads of compliments with this cake!  


Wonder why this is called a Fool?  It's really good!



16 comments:

  1. Lovely cake! I'm so impressed that you remade the cake (right then!) after the first batch fell on the floor. I made mine without the caramel whipped cream but it looks so delicious that I'll have to try the complete recipe sometime soon.

    http://bakedtoorder.blogspot.com/2015/01/roses-alpha-bakers-chocolate-cuddle-cake.html

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  2. Hi VickIi ,your chocolate caramel cake looks wonderful and high and big and fluffy beautiful pictures to.

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  3. I love reading your posts! I'm so sorry that your first cake fell off! I can feel your pain. I once made a 3D yacht cake and the entire cake fell off too after i finished decorating and all! Good thing you made it again. Your whipped cream looked great! We can be BFF..I too like to stock up all these Lindt chocolates.. hahahaha.. recently they had those round orange chocolate ones ..limited edition for christmas! I ate the entire pack by myself..and if it wasn't so expensive, i would have bought few more packets!

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  4. I'm hoping my Caramel Whip Cream comes out as beautiful as yours... crossing my fingers that Tuesday all goes well.

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  5. Poor cake!!! I'm glad it worked out the second time and forgetting the rose nail didn't have too bad of an impact. I also like to use agar2 usually but decided to keep with the recipe and use gelatin.

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  6. Oh do I have vivid memories of dropping things on the floor--important things. It's amazing what ganache covers up (like cement wink to Maire). All is well that ends well.

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  7. It flew out of your hands because it's so light! Glad you stuck with it and made another one. It's beautiful.

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  8. Vicki: What a heart breaker to drop it on the floor!! I have done that--and more--so many times, I know how you feel! I had my own tribulations on this cake, but I really love this recipe and will make it again many times, it was so delicious! You did a great job, and it looks wonderful. If you have time, stop by and take a look at my results.
    www.artfuloven.com

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  9. Gasp - my heart sank when I saw that cake batter on the floor. I'm so sorry, but I can speak from experience, better on the floor than all over the door hinge (nightmare memories from last Thanksgiving 2013). I used the gelatin for the whipped cream, but the cake didn't last long enough to justify the extra step so I think I'd omit it next time around. Have a great week.

    Patricia @ ButterYum
    http://www.butteryum.org/roses-alpha-bakers/2014/12/21/tbb-chocolate-cuddle-cake

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  10. ב''ה

    Your finished cake looks great. Glad to know about the fool. I'll have to try it sometime.

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  11. Great height!! I'm glad you remade the recipe. It's so good! I too skipped stabilizing the cream.

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  12. your baked cake is so tall! after dropping the first cake on the floor i probably would have closed up the kitchen for the night. good thing you didn't burn it down :) i just ate the leftover whipped cream with a spoon, but next time i'll try and remember some fruit :)

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    1. PS glad you also didn't have trouble skipping the gelatin

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  13. Kudo's for your persistence! I would have called it a day after that. Your cake looks great! Nice and tall. :)

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  14. Love the little tartlette -nI think I would like them better that whole. Thanks for sharing the ingenuity.

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