Sunday, February 15, 2015

Chocolate Pavarotti with Wicked Good Ganache


Happy Birthday to me!



Rose's Alpha Bakers are baking the delicious Chocolate Pavarotti cake with Wicked Good Ganache, which is her tribute to the great tenor, Luciano Pavarotti.  I went in search of Pavarotti singing Happy Birthday to hear what a tenor who can reach the E above high C sounds like.  No clue what E or high C is but if Rose is impressed, it must be spectacular

I found many people singing Happy Birthday to Pavarotti but not he himself singing the jingle.  I did find a nice surprise; Pavarotti singing one of my all time favorite songs, Volare .. I was just a little kid when Dean Martin came on the radio with this catchy tune and instantly loved it.  Volare means "to fly" in Italian.  I think that is what all great tenors do, they open the soul to depths that daily life makes us forget. 

Pavarotti would have loved this cake.



A fairly simple chocolate cake covered in ganache with chili for something extra, it did not disappoint.  Out of complete curiosity I tried Lindt dark chocolate with chili for the two part ganache.  First corn syrup is brought to the boil, then mixed with unsweetened chocolate.  After pulverizing the chili chocolate,  simmered cream was added and then the corn syrup/chocolate mixture plus a smidgeon of cayenne pepper.  Not quite certain why it is then strained through a fine wire mesh except to give me something else to lick wash.  Left to cool, it turns into a smooth ganache with just a hint of heat to accentuate the chocolate.


Forget the baking soda, that's not in the recipe.

The cake batter was easy peasy to put together.  The divine Lindt white coconut chocolate sat patiently in the cupboard so that's what I used.  Melted, cooled and stirred into the ingredients a fluffy batter soon appeared.
 The only thing which caused me confusion were the directions on a new Fat Daddio 9x2 inch pan to lower the temperature and shorten the baking time.  Lots of testing with a toothpick and it finally came out of the oven nice and high.  Once again the most difficult thing about a Baking Bible recipe was waiting for it to cool.



And Voila!  One wicked birthday cake.



                Rose's Raspberry sauce unstrained by request           
  Delizioso!       
                                       

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14 comments:

  1. faithyFebruary 16, 2015 at 12:15 AM

    Happy Birthday Vicki!! That's A LOT of raspberry sauce!! Looks so delicious with your chocolate cake! The opera clip made me sleep..hahahaha.. I get bored easily and fall asleep easily too.... I like everything to be quick paced...

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  2. UnknownFebruary 16, 2015 at 7:12 AM

    Happy Birthday to you. A perfect cake for the occasion. I like having more chocolate things to lick too. Can't test the taste too much.

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  3. Rosa V.February 16, 2015 at 10:25 AM

    Happy Birthday Viciki , and what a lovely cake for your birthday too and with raspberry sauce , great chose...

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  4. Michele at The Artful OvenFebruary 16, 2015 at 11:50 AM

    Hope it was a great birthday, Vicki!! I bet the raspberry sauce was fantastic with it! Your cake looks great. I love this ganache!

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  5. JennFebruary 16, 2015 at 12:08 PM

    Happy Birthday Vicki!!! I just cut myself a slice of cake to warm to room temperature for afternoon snack. Will toast the cake to you! Your cake looks beautiful and yummy with all the raspberry sauce. Looks like a lot of folks paired this with raspberry stuff.

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  6. UnknownFebruary 16, 2015 at 12:20 PM

    Happy birthday Vicki! Your chocolate cake looks wonderful. The ganache looks so soft and creamy.

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  7. MendyFebruary 16, 2015 at 5:01 PM

    ב''ה

    Happy Birthday!

    Did you use the chilli dark chocolate in the recipe? How was it?

    Your cake looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownFebruary 16, 2015 at 8:33 PM

    Buon Compleanno Vicki! I should have added some type of sauce, and I would have not notice the texture. Confirming everyone's comments, your cake looks pretty great.

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  9. evil cake ladyFebruary 16, 2015 at 10:04 PM

    Happy birthday! I am loving the chocolate discussion you have started on FB and can't wait for your daughter's dissertation! I'm curious: did you strain out the coconut in the white chocolate before using it in the cake?

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  10. orins goodiesFebruary 17, 2015 at 11:24 AM

    Happy be- late Birthday wishing you all your wishes to come true...!!

    your cake look delicious with that sauce...

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  11. Patricia @ ButterYumFebruary 17, 2015 at 5:25 PM

    Happy Birthday!! Wish I would have drown my cake in a pool of wonderful raspberry sauce. I might have liked it better ;).

    Patricia @ ButterYum
    http://www.butteryum.org/roses-alpha-bakers/2015/1/29/tbb-chocolate-pavarotti-with-wicked-good-ganache

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  12. UnknownFebruary 18, 2015 at 2:40 AM

    Happy Birthday! I hope you had a great day. I laughed so much at your wash lick comment. Chocolate does tend to get all over the place don't you find, especially on your chin :)

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  13. Alpha Baker JoanFebruary 20, 2015 at 12:16 PM

    Mmm - love your raspberry sauce.!

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  14. inthekitchenFebruary 21, 2015 at 3:19 PM

    Happy Birthday! Hope it was a wonderful one!!

    I love Rose's raspberry sauce...it's so delicious. Have you tried it with prosecco? It's so good! Hmmm...now I'm craving some.

    ReplyDelete

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