When I got up this morning, I saw that Jim had bought me a Valentine's Day card. I felt guilty because I hadn't gotten one for him (we're going out for dinner, after all--how many V-Day things do you need to do when you've been married for practically 50 years?) Then I remembered: "No card," I said, "but I'm going to bake you a Valentine's Day cake." It was a nice card, but he definitely got the better part of that deal.
I bought another new pan, but this one was just a cheap-ish Wilton 9-inch heart pan, not another cast aluminum mold. (It was top-of-the-line Wilton, however). I told Jim not to take a picture of the pan with my first-graderish freehand parchment heart showing, but he ignored me. Really, sometimes I wonder how we've managed to stay married for all these years.
I loved making this cake--it was so easy! I do try to intersperse the easy ones with the ones that require multiple heart-stopping steps. This is an official Quick-and-Easy cake, of which we still have 17 left to do. Easy steps: Dissolve cocoa in boiling water. Stir dry ingredients together. Beat in butter and cocoa mixture.
The batter gets nice and thick and chocolatey. A mixture of egg yolks, vanilla, and a little water gets added in two installments.
And that's it! Into the pan goes the batter, and into the oven goes the pan.
Don't worry, I smoothed the top before I put it into the oven. I've just been encouraging Jim not to take so many boring pictures, so he didn't take the obligatory cake-smoothing photo.
While the cake is baking, a dark chocolate ganache is made using Rose's super-easy method of chopping up chocolate in the food processor and pouring scalded cream into the processor until the two ingredients are mixed.
Instead of immediately removing the cake from the pan, you poke holes in the top and brush about half the ganache over the top, letting it soak in.
I forgot to put the cake strip around the pan, and I thought I smelled a slight odor of burned chocolate, but it was all right. Nevertheless, don't forget the cake strip of you have one! Also, although I usually use my oven's convection setting, I suddenly began to wonder whether the convection setting might be more drying for a chocolate cake than the ordinary "bake" setting, so I decided to try that. Of course, unless you bake two cakes, which vary only in the oven setting and in no other way, you won't know. This cake was not at all dry (except a bit at the edges), but it probably took ten minutes longer to bake than it would have using the convection setting. So I'm still undecided. For those of you who have a convection option, what's your experience? Do you think it has a drying effect?
But back to the cake.... After about ten minutes, you flip the cake over and repeat the hole-poking and ganache-brushing routine on Side B.
Whoa! All was going so well, until suddenly the heart started to split. This led to many lame jokes about broken hearts.
The chasm in the cake made me very happy that I'd decided to spring for the out-of-season raspberries, because the fastidiously placed raspberries covered a multitude of sins, particularly a split-in-two chocolate cake.
I thought it was pretty after the raspberries had been placed on top, but the shine from the currant jelly glaze added another dimension of glamour.
And an easy cake to serve, too. You can ask people how many raspberries they want, and then you can just slice them a 12-raspberry piece, or whatever they've specified. Be warned that someone who chooses a dainty 8-raspberry slice may want seconds. Mentioning no names.
This was a thoroughly satisfying cake to put together, decorate, and serve. Except for the broken heart, which mended itself, there were no hoo-hahs, and it was both delicious and beautiful. The heart-shaped pan made it just right for Valentine's Day, but I think this cake is one you'll want to keep in mind for any time of the year.
TASTING PANEL:Karen: "It's really good and really beautiful, too. I can't remember all the cakes I've eaten, but this is one of my top choices. It's got a delicious flavor. It's fun to eat, too, because you can stick your fork down between the berries and get a column of cake."
Jim: "It's airy, delicious, and very pretty."
Laurel: "This is probably the best ever. It takes the honor away from the pretender cake which claims to be "better than sex."
The cake texture is delicate and the chocolate not bitter but more
than ample and the raspberries add a perfect but subtle tartness,
which would be unattainable by anything else that I can think of."
Jan: "Just delicious."
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