Free Choice week always presents a problem. (Not a real problem, I hasten to add). I sometimes bake a different version of something I've baked before. This time, however, I pair something I didn't bake at all with a frosting from
The Cake Bible that I'd never tried.
A few weeks ago, Woody dropped by on his way to tai chi, or broomball, or one of his esoteric activities, and invited Jim and me to sample the cake he was taking along for his buddies. Honestly, I don't even remember what the cake was, so taken was I with the frosting. He showed me the recipe (p. 268 in
The Cake Bible), and problem of Free Choice week was solved! I didn't even have to bake a cake to put under the frosting because Woody had also given me several sample cakes a while ago when he and Rose were testing flours.
You can see the test slices in the cake. I just covered them over with frosting and no one was the wiser.
In case you're wondering, yes, I do know how lucky I am to know someone like Woody, who drops by the house with delicious treats, a big hug, and an even bigger grin. I just don't want him to develop a big ego to go along with the grin.
The whipped ganache begins with melting bittersweet chocolate with part of the whipping cream. (In TCB, Rose doesn't specify the cacao %. I felt giddy with freedom, and chose a 70%).
I healted the chocolate and the cream in the microwave, and let the hot cream gradually melt the rest of the chocolate.
This mixture is lovely, and you almost feel like stopping right there. But you don't. I used the "quick" variation, which Rose describes as involving a little more work. It actually seemed pretty easy to me.
After this chocolate mixture cools, you whip the rest of the cream (I halved the recipe and used 4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate and a cup of whipping cream), and then add the chocolate mixture. In retrospect, I see that this picture shows the whipped chocolate to be just about right.
Did I stop when it was just about right? No, I did not. I continued beating, and guess what? It didn't become thicker, it became thinner and somewhat grainy. I had a deadline, however, so it was going to have to be good enough.
And it was. Like so many of Rose's recipes, although the directions and amounts are completely precise, there is still room for user error.
Piling the ganache on the cake--the piece that was cut out will no longer be visible.
I had refrigerated the ganache briefly to make it more spreadable, but it was still pretty soft. Usually the strips of waxed paper I put under the cake while I'm frosting it will slide out easily, leaving a clean bottom line.
But in this case, some of the frosting came off each time I pulled the waxed paper out, no matter I gently I tried to slide it. I would have avoided this problem entirely if I'd used it to frost cupcakes, which was my initial plan. However, there was really no contest when I weighed the cupcake plan against the getting-a-cake-out-of-the-freezer plan.
You can see the imperfections in the frosted cake, but I didn't hear anyone complaining. I loved this frosting as much as I did when I first tasted it. It's so chocolatey, and yet, even with all that chocolate and cream, it seems light, rather than rich.
The cake was fine, but the frosting was so much the star of the show that one of my tasters carefully ate all the ganache and left the cake.
TASTING PANEL:
Jim: "This is delicious. I like the cake too, but I really like the frosting."
Liz: "I'd give the ganache an A, but I'm not even going to bother with the cake."
Sarah: "I usually don't want dessert after a big meal, but who can resist this?"
James: "Very good, especially the frosting."
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