Gooey Goodness Tuesday: Love, Chocolate

Happy Tuesday everyone! I'm excited to kick off what may be a semi-regular occurrence here on Tuesdays: Gooey Goodness! Each week or so, I'll show you all some form of baking goodness (and maybe, if Topher is lucky, some cooking shiz in there too) that I've been working on!

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours baking up what I have deemed "Love, Chocolate" as I find that I think of this particular cake as chocolate's gift to us humans.   I've made this cake once before without the almond additions and got some good reviews.

I have some variations up my sleeve, which I'll show you in the future, but for now, here's a chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache with chocolate buttercream that will leave you, and Aunt Flo if she's visiting, happy and satiated (and that's saying a lot, coming from a girl who'd rather eat icing than cake any day, hee hee.)

Love, Chocolate: Devil's Food Cake with Ganache, Buttercream Icing and a Touch of Almond. Recipe at the end of this post.

Let's start with most of the ingredients. You need more butter, chocolate and eggs than pictured, and some salt, and that glass canister is the sugar.

Then, let me mention that I forgot to take pictures of the first steps of the Devils' Food Cake, where you melt the chocolate, butter and sour cream together over simmering water.  Needless to say, it melted. 

Combine the chocolate mixture with the mixed eggs and sugar, and whisk until combined.

Fold the flour and baking powders mixture into the chocolate and sugar, a little at a time.

It will be smooth and shiny when mixed well.  

You can do this step very first, but either way, it's easiest to get cake out of a pan when you butter and flour or butter and wax paper the pan.  The easiest way to line with wax paper? Trace it and cut it out.

After you've lined, evenly distribute the cake batter into the two 9 inch round pans.  Wiggle to ensure equal distribution, and don't hesitate to slam the pans against the counter to get the air bubbles out and prevent uneven cooking.  This part always terrifies Boomer. :)

Bake these at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until they spring back in the middle or a toothpick is inserted and returns clean.  Set them aside and let them cool. When they're cool, transfer them to wire racks (it's easiest to place the rack on top then gently tip over.)

Begin your buttercream.  First, warm the eight eggs by putting them in hot water for five to ten minutes.

Separate the egg yolks and the whites.  I usually mess up at least one, so I warmed nine just in case.  

This buttercream is pretty labor intensive, but delicious.  If you'd like an easier buttercream, you should absolutely use the frosting at the end of this recipe from kevinandamanda, here. 

Chop your chocolate and prepare to melt those suckers down.

Now the tricky part. Your going to want to time your creation of the simply syrup (sugar and water) with the whisking of the egg yolks.

 

My camera doesn't like yellow things. These are egg yolks, slowly building up and lightening in color.

While your syrup is coming to the soft ball stage and your eggs are whipping, chop up your cold butter into cubes.

And if you're really lucky, you're husband and you will both choose the same day to tackle kitchen intensive projects.  Here, Topher brews some beer while my sugar becomes a syrup.

After your eggs have grown in size (about 4 times the size of their original state) and became a very light yellow, and the syrup has reached the soft ball stage (238 degrees), pour the syrup into the egg mixture while the mixer is on high.  It's tricky but try to pour in a way that the syrup doesn't touch the whisk or side of the bowl first, or else it will form little balls.  Go slowly and steady. :)

The eggs and syrup, now combined.

Keep whisking on high until...

The mixture is room temperature and your bowl is neither warm nor cold to the touch.

Grab that cold, cubed butter and add a handful at a time.  Wait until the butter is completely absorbed before adding the next handful.

Melt the chocolate over simmering water.

Then add the chocolate and almond extract to the buttercream. 

Buttercream, all yum. It's okay if you're icing isn't perfect yet- I often have to let my sit out for a few minutes for it to set up- or stick in the fridge for an even faster set up! Just don't let it get too cold, or else it will begin to separate or be too difficult to spread on the cake.

The next step is to prepare your cakes. I suck at this, but cut your cakes into two pieces each with a serrated knife.

Now get ready for the final preparation- the ganache!

Simmer the heavy cream.

Chop that chocolate.

Pour the cream over the chocolate, add the dash of almond extract, and let sit for ten minutes.

Mix the chocolate and cream until thick like sour cream.

Slowly begin to layer your cake.  Place one layer of cake on your plate/cake stand, and dollop ganache in between each layer. A spatula works best to disperse the ganache.  If you can, try to separate the ganache into three equal-ish piles in your bowl first.

Blurry, but you get the idea.

Now the cake is ready for the final touches- buttercream!

Spread a crumb coat and then refrigerate for ten minutes to set.

It's a long process, but slowly frost the sides and tops, allowing spill overs to help cover the sides and tops.  

Finally, add some chocolate and almond shavings.

Serve to your husband and his uncle and enjoy the love.

Stay tuned, because next time, I'm going to switch the devil's food for a more fudgey, chocolatey cake, and perhaps white chocolate ganache.

This cake has just a hint of almond, but if you're allergic or don't like it, you can easily leave that out!

Happy baking!