A couple weeks back I made this cake for a birthday. It took me a couple weeks to decide whether or not I'd be up to the challenge but i did (by some miracle). However a cake on its own just seemed to be an incomplete dessert so in my stupid perfectionist fashion, I decided I'd make not only make one cake but two (due to the amount of people attending the party) and a home made ice cream, which I had never attempted before. Here are the two recipes and the tale of the unnecessarily complicated cakes.
8 oz white chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream
Put the chocolate pieces in a large bowl and and set a mesh strainer over the top.
Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. In a separate medium bowl whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer over the white chocolate. Stir until white chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth, then stir in the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.
Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
This was the picture that convinced me to make the cake
Ingredients:
175 g (6 oz) butter, soften, plus extra for greasing
100 g (4 oz) white chocolate
100 g (4 oz) dark chocolate
3 eggs
100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) milk
175 g (6 oz) caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
200 g (8 oz) self-raising flour
2 tbsp very strong coffee
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the ganache and to decorate:
285 ml double cream
200 g (8 oz) dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
50 g (2 oz) white chocolate, melted
12 x Ferrero Rochers or (I use 6 x Ferrero Rondnoirs and 6 x Ferrero Gardens)
* Ferrero Rondnoir - Crisp dark chocolate (30%) covered specialty, with a smooth filling and a dark chocolate (10.5%) centre.
* Ferrero Garden - Coconut (21%) covered wafer specialty with an almond (5%) filling.
Method:
1. Heat oven to 180C / 350F. Butter and bottom-line 2 x 20 cm cake tins.
2. For the cake, break the white and dark chocolate into two small bowls, then melt in the microwave on High for 1 minute or over a pan of simmering water.
3. Put everything else, except the coffee and vanilla, into a large bowl, then beat until creamy.
4. Divide the mixture in two, then add the coffee and melted dark chocolate to one bowl, and the vanilla and melted white chocolate to the other.
5. Stir until mixed through, then tip into the tins.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until rise and slightly shrunk from the sides of the tins.
7. Cool in the tins for a few minutes, then turn onto a wire rack.
8. For the ganache, heat the cream in a pan, then break the dark chocolate into a large bowl. once the cream is just boiling, pour it onto the chocolate, then leave for 5 minutes.
9. Stir until smooth, then leave until thickened and cool.
10. Split the cakes in two across the middle (a bread knife works well), layer up the pieces, alternating white and dark layers, and sandwiching, then topping them with the ganache.
11. To decorate, spoon the melted white chocolate into a piping bag with a fine nozzle (or use a sandwich bag and snip off the end instead).
12. Zig- zag the white chocolate over the cake, then finish with placing 12 Ferrero Rocher chocolates.
175 g (6 oz) butter, soften, plus extra for greasing
100 g (4 oz) white chocolate
100 g (4 oz) dark chocolate
3 eggs
100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) milk
175 g (6 oz) caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
200 g (8 oz) self-raising flour
2 tbsp very strong coffee
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the ganache and to decorate:
285 ml double cream
200 g (8 oz) dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
50 g (2 oz) white chocolate, melted
12 x Ferrero Rochers or (I use 6 x Ferrero Rondnoirs and 6 x Ferrero Gardens)
* Ferrero Rondnoir - Crisp dark chocolate (30%) covered specialty, with a smooth filling and a dark chocolate (10.5%) centre.
* Ferrero Garden - Coconut (21%) covered wafer specialty with an almond (5%) filling.
Method:
1. Heat oven to 180C / 350F. Butter and bottom-line 2 x 20 cm cake tins.
2. For the cake, break the white and dark chocolate into two small bowls, then melt in the microwave on High for 1 minute or over a pan of simmering water.
3. Put everything else, except the coffee and vanilla, into a large bowl, then beat until creamy.
4. Divide the mixture in two, then add the coffee and melted dark chocolate to one bowl, and the vanilla and melted white chocolate to the other.
5. Stir until mixed through, then tip into the tins.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until rise and slightly shrunk from the sides of the tins.
7. Cool in the tins for a few minutes, then turn onto a wire rack.
8. For the ganache, heat the cream in a pan, then break the dark chocolate into a large bowl. once the cream is just boiling, pour it onto the chocolate, then leave for 5 minutes.
9. Stir until smooth, then leave until thickened and cool.
10. Split the cakes in two across the middle (a bread knife works well), layer up the pieces, alternating white and dark layers, and sandwiching, then topping them with the ganache.
11. To decorate, spoon the melted white chocolate into a piping bag with a fine nozzle (or use a sandwich bag and snip off the end instead).
12. Zig- zag the white chocolate over the cake, then finish with placing 12 Ferrero Rocher chocolates.
* I made a Nutella Ganache for inbetween the layers, to enhance the hazelnutty flavour and so it wasn't too rich.
It was a lot of fun making the cakes but not without drama's. Going through the checkout at the supermarket with 9 blocks of chocolate isn't the nicest feeling when the man behind the counter looks you up and down, and you just know he's thinking. "wow. you must really like your chocolate". Mr checkout guy if you ever read this, IT WASN'T FOR EATING!!! (not that I didn't have a piece or two)
During production of the cake, It was messy to say the least but it almost didnt happen. I needed two spring-form tins and I was sure I had them both but then realized I'd misplaced one of them. So down the shops I went to get another only to find after I'd made the white-mud batter that I'd also misplaced the tray bottom of my first spring-form... so lucky me bought two new spring-form tins, this was one expensive cake :)
I was in a bit of a hurry so I didn't have time to let the white chocolate cool enough and the writing wasn't overly neat, O well it tasted good.
Next was the Ice cream. Ice cream is my absolute favourite thing to eat, I never call it food because well...it isn't really, it's more or less a cold, creamy, sweet fix for me but anyway I'd never attempted to make it from scratch before. If you've never read The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz, I strongly recommend it, his sweets are AMAZING, hence where I got the recipe, only It was a caramelized white chocolate that he used and I just used plain.
After borrowing a friends ice cream maker I didn't realize I couldn't use the freezer bowl of the machine for the straight away and I didn't have time to let it freeze for another 24hrs before I made the 2nd batch so unfortunately I had to wake up every couple hrs throughout the night to beat it, but it turned out perhaps even better than the machine-made batch.
8 oz white chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream
Put the chocolate pieces in a large bowl and and set a mesh strainer over the top.
Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. In a separate medium bowl whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer over the white chocolate. Stir until white chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth, then stir in the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.
Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
* I added white chocolate chunks just for the fun of it.
In the end it was all a huge success and definitely worth the dramas along the way. Not a single piece was left out of the 2 cakes nor the ice cream. My friends now all want me to make their birthday cakes, so be warned, there will be more baking dramas on the horizon.
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