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| Chocolate is always needed! |
So I had the pleasure to be invited to a baby Blessing, for my super cute niece, and thought maybe a cake was in order. With only hours to go before the event, I thought maybe I could get lucky and whip something fun and creative up, I mean really I can't let all those hours watching Food Network go to waste can I?
I picked up some heavy cream earlier in the week, because you never know when you might need it for the holidays. Also by fluke I picked up raw hazelnuts, thank you bulk section of Winco. I also snagged some dark Chocolate chips there as well. Also of course cake mixes, cause they are cheap and easy to do in a pinch, and some canned frosting, cause that is how I roll, and I can admit there are some things I can do, frosting and quilt binding aren't one of them, neither is spelling or grammer. So I whipped this, with what I had on hand. I have to say it was pretty, and good at the same time, those don't always go hand in hand.
Cake ingredients,
1 chocolate cake mix, plus ingredients needed per instructions, water, eggs, oil. Or if you are good, a home made cake, but I am not that good.
I started with a Betty Crocker Chocolate Devils food cake mix, whipped up according to directions, cooked it in the oven and cooled, per directions as well. But I didn't start to make the filling or topping until the next morning, so it sat cooling covered in Aluminum ( oh yeah readers, spelled that one with out needing spell check, suck it) foil all night. But feel free to select the cake of your choice, sugar free, gluten free, or use yogurt instead of eggs and oil, whatever. Just make sure it is cooled completely before putting the cake together, does not need to be over night, just make sure it isn't still warm, cause it will melt the filling.
Cake nut topping,
1/3 cup raw hazelnuts, or other nuts of choice
I also chopped the raw hazelnuts, into small pieces, but not uniformed, about a 1/3 cup worth, and toasted them in the oven, at 400 degrees, just until they were a toasted brown color and you could smell them, you need to watch these closely, cause with anything you toast, burned is always right around the corner. I left them covered overnight as well.
Prepping the cake,
Bright and early the next day I cut the cake, I trimmed the hard sides, and used dental floss (yes clean floss), to cut the cake, down the middle, horizontally, to create two layers, because I didn't have a knife wide enough, and a knife would have torn it apart. I placed the top layer down on the tray I was going to serve it on. So the newly cut insides were now facing up.
Cake filling
1 tub of Chocolate frosting of your choice, you will have left overs
1 pint of heavy whipping cream
(or you could do another flavor of frosting, like butter cream, or cream cheese, or you can make some frosting, but in reality you end up using about a 1/4 of a tub, so you need to decide if making a whole batch of frosting is worth it. But if you are making some, just make a whipped cream frosting, it will give you the same effect.)
For the filling I used about half of the frosting, heated in the microwave for about 30 seconds, and stirred smooth, and here is where I messed up and please listen to me, don't do what I did next, I added heavy cream to whip about a cup, but it wouldn't come together, I also added about a 1/3 teaspoon of almond extract, to add to the nut flavor. But again, stiff peaks didn't form, so I placed it in the fridge for a few minutes to see if that would help. it didn't really.
So now you are wondering why I am taking so much time to explain a mistake, and I tell you not to do, well this is why;
I then started my whip cream over, I whipped up the last cup with a hand mixer, using a whisk attachment, until it was stiff and held its form and once that was whipped, I pulled out my mistake from the fridge, and added that to the fresh cream. I added about a cup of that mixture, and once it was firm again, I layered the cake with it. So I added the mistake info because I can't tell you just how much frosting I used. I would say it is personal choice, I would start with maybe a few tablespoons added to the whipped cream and go by taste, what you like, you may want a richer chocolate taste or something lighter, because of the dark chocolate topping. It is a very easy way of making a mousse like filling without any cooking or too much fussing.
Chocolate glaze.
1 cup of dark chocolate chips,
1/4 to 1/3 cup of butter
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup of whole milk
I must warn you, I didn't measure these, just estimates of what was used. Temperature, and humidity can play a part in this was well, so play it by ear, I guess.
I melted the chocolate chips in the microwave, in 30 sec increments, until soft and stirred smooth, I added some room temperature butter, I would say about two tablespoons and stirred until mixed in, I added cream, and mixed in, the cream was straight from the fridge, no need to heat it, the glass bowl and chocolate retains a lot of heat. I then added a more butter, maybe another tablespoon, and about a 1/2 cup of again cold whole milk, I stirred until incorporated and smooth, I thought it wasn't quite glossy enough looking and maybe a tad too thick and would be too hard when cooled, so I added about another two table spoons of butter. By this point, if it seems to have cooled to much to melt all the butter, pop it in the micro wave another ten seconds and it will be good to go. this glaze will get thicker as it cools, so if you want to test it, place a spoonful in the freezer, after several minutes, you will be able to tell how it will set up, and if you want it softer, add more cream and butter, if you want it thicker, add more chocolate.
Assembling the cake,
I did this all at once, I "frosted" the bottom layer with my filling, I smoothed about a 1/2 inch over the cake, I didn't quite go to the edge, I didn't want the filling to spill out the sides once the top layer was added. So I left about a 1/8 to a 1/4 inch bare from the sides. I then placed the bottom layer from the cake, with the crust side from the pan facing up, (this makes for the smoother looking top, but isn't completely necessary, if you think it might be too much work) on top of the filling, so the cut side is facing down. Mine cracked a bit, but the glaze covered that. I then poured the glaze on top, and smoothed it from the middle out, this I let drip over the sides, in places. I then topped the middle with the toasted nuts. You could cover the entire top, but I was going for drama. Hahahahahaha. I let the cake cool in the cold winter air, tented with Aluminum foil for several hours, because we were traveling and going to church, then lunch, so use the convenience of your fridge to cool, because any cake with whip cream taste so much better cold.
I hope this helps anyone looking to add a bit of flare to a cake. I also had left over glaze, good filling and flopped filling left over, I didn't let it go to waste, I mixed them all together, covered, and chilled in the fridge for hours, it ended up as a super rich chocolate mousse textured mix, which I plan on using some way tonight for New Years, probably on waffles. Yum!!
I know it is super wordy, sorry, I just feel like if I don't explain it all I am being a fraud, and it really is just written up for one person, so enjoy! I didn't think I would be blogging it, so I didn't take more photos.
