Recipes

[wagirl]

Beautiful work of delicious art !!! But I agree with GCR--the directions would do me in---my cakes are made from scratch but only have 5 or 6 ingredients. Not into all the baking and prep anymore.

[JasoninBoston]

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@IamMrsG wrote:

Last month I made the 3D chess board cake for our grandson's birthday, and today this one layer chocolate cake for our daughter-in-law.  This is an old recipe from my files, one I make only for special people.

If you are looking for a dessert for either Easter or Mother's Day, this might be worth consideration.  If interested, please don't let the length of the recipe scare you off. There is more instruction than baking steps, and can be done in stages.

 Bittersweet Royale Cake

by Rose Levy Beranbaum | The COOK’S Magazine; Nov/Dec 1982

The Bittersweet Royale Cake 

3/4 cup boiling water

3/4 cup cocoa (2 1/4 ounces)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (7 3/4 ounces)

1 ½ cups sugar (10 ½ ounces)

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter (6 ounces)

In a small bowl, whisk boiling water and cocoa until smooth.  Cool to room temperature.

In another small bowl, stir vanilla into eggs.  Lightly whisk in one-quarter of the cooled cocoa mixture.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix on low speed for about 1 minute, until well mixed.

Add butter and remaining cooled cocoa mixture to dry ingredients.  Beat at medium-high speed for 1½ minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl.

Add egg/cocoa mixture to batter in three parts, beating at medium-high speed for 20 seconds after each addition.  Scrape down sides of bowl.

Prepare 10-inch springform pan by greasing and flouring bottom and sides well, or line the bottom with greased parchment or waxed paper and grease and flour sides of pan.  Pour batter into pan.  Tap once or twice on countertop to release air.  Smooth top.

Place pan in the center of a preheated 350ºF oven and bake for 45 minutes*.  Halfway through baking, turn pan around for even baking.  Cover top with foil for last 15 minutes to prevent burning.  Test for doneness by inserting a cake tester into center–it should come out clean.  Cake also will retract slightly from sides of pan when done. 

Allow cake to cool in pan, sitting on a rack, for 10 minutes.  Release springform sides, invert onto a lightly greased rack, remove bottom of pan, and let cool.  Glaze and decorate.

Yield: 1 10-inch by 2-inch cake

Note:  For accurate measure, sift cake flour over a measuring cup sitting on counter.  Do not tap down.  Level off flour with a metal spatula or knife.  You may substitute 1 ½ cups (6.2 ounces) unsifted all-purpose flour mixed with 6 tablespoons (1 ½ ounces) unsifted cornstarch for cake flour.  Sift mixture and proceed with recipe.  Measure flour by dipping cup into the flour sack or cannister and then leveling it off.  Spooning flour into the cup results in too much for the recipe.

* Mrs. G's note:  I start checking the cake after around 25 minutes in the

oven.  Today's cake was done after around 30 minutes baking time.

The Bittersweet Glaze

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup light corn syrup

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (preferably Lindt or Tobler), finely chopped

1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

In a small, heavy saucepan, combine cream and corn syrup.   Bring to a boil and immediately remove from heat.  Stir in chopped chocolate, cover, and let stand for 5 minutes.

Stir gently in a figure eight motion until mixture is smooth and chocolate is completely melted.  You may have to heat mixture a little to melt chocolate fully, but be careful not to stir up air bubbles.

Allow glaze to cool until tepid.  To test for readiness, drop a small amount back into the pan; it should mound a little before disappearing into mixture.

Pour glaze over cake by emptying saucepan over center of cake and smoothing cascading liquid down sides with a metal spatula, if necessary.  Set cake on a rack suspended over a pan to catch dripping glaze.  Before glaze sets, deflate any air bubbles with a needle.  

Yield: about 2 cups

Chocolate for Roses

3 ounces summer coating or high-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Tobler)

3/4 teaspoon powdered red food coloring (½ teaspoon if using red summer coating) Few specks blue powdered food coloring, optional.

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Place chocolate in a double boiler and melt over very hot tap water (110º to 115ºF).  Do not let water simmer.  Any moisture in the chocolate at this stage will alter its modeling ability.   

Remove pan from hot water, or oven, and stir in food coloring until color is uniform.  Mix in a few specks of blue coloring to tone down brightness, if necessary.  Stir in full amount of corn syrup (push it off the spoon with your finger).  At this point, chocolate will begin to harden and form a ball.

Scrape mixture onto plastic wrap and cover securely.  Wrap again in foil and let chocolate rest for 6, or up to 24, hours at room temperature.  It should be firm.

Chocolate will have to be kneaded for a minute or two before it is ready to shape into rose petals.  Keep any chocolate you are not working with covered with plastic so it won’t dry out.  Let finished roses dry before placing them on cake.  

Yield: enough for 4 to 5 roses

Note: If you don’t add powdered food coloring to chocolate, reduce corn syrup to a scant tablespoon.

To make leaves, melt 3 ounces of chocolate summer coating.  Brush the chocolate over large rose leaves (about two and a half inches long), on the (under) side with the protruding veins.  Lay the leaves on waxed paper to dry and then chill in the freezer until chocolate is firm, one to two minutes.  Carefully peel the leaves off the chocolate.  Keep in mind that chocolate melts with even the slightest contact, so handle the leaves as little as possible and don’t work in a hot kitchen.

To make roses, make a small pear-shaped core for rose center by rolling chocolate in palm of hand.

For petals, flatten a small ball of chocolate between waxed paper.  Using a guide, such as a metal pastry tip, cut out a perfect circle.  Pry circle off waxed paper with a knife.

Roll circle in one direction between plastic wrap.  Make one end narrow.  

Tuck wide end of petal under core and press together to attach.  Attach subsequent petals in same way.  

Push petals away from each other and core with a blunt instrument.  With tips of fingers, softly curl back edges of each petal.

Position roses onto cake by setting them in slightly hollowed indentations in the cake (use the back of a spoon to make the indentations).  

Slightly slant chocolate rose leaves against the sides of the cake, overlapping just a little. 

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So lovely!!

[tiny 2]

Oh my! That is stunning. I am very sure your daughter-in-law did feel very special being presented with that.