Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Chocolate Oreo Cake, Best Seller for the Week

Considering I make this quite often, I never actually get to try it, coz it's hard to do test cakes for these layered cakes. However, yesterday, I had an order, as well as a freebie, for my bro in law's birthday, so I actually got to eat the cake. I was surprised actually, at how it tastes rather good, if I may masuk bakul angkat sendiri. It was moist...I'm not sure where the moistness comes from, as the sponge looks rather dry to me, and not too sweet.


One of the areas that I reckon vastly needs improvement is the icing on the cake, ie, the chocolate ganache. I dunno how the commercial ones get such a perfect surface. Does anyone or can anyone enlighten me on the process? I want a finish like secret recipes chocolate banana cake. Smooth chocolate. Mine looks like a teenager with bad skin, all pock marked. I tried using the spatula dipped in boiling water, which I learnt from my Wilton ICCA course, but that applies for buttercream icing.

Ah, more about the Wilton ICCA Level 1 cake decorating course. I've attended one class so far; it's very interesting, but I have to say, Wilton is to cake baking what Roman Catholicism is to Christianity. Very concerned about externalities, and very by the book kinda thing. Oh, and the ingredients prescribed, are of course, from Wilton. Our "homework" for the next class is to bring an iced cake, using the method and icing we learnt in Lesson 1. Frankly, I think between us floggers, people like Boolicious, snowdrop and spot, we could probably start our own denomination in the baking/decoration world.

Last Sunday, for my wife's niece's birthday, we revisited an old haunt I haven't been to since our courting days. ie, circa 10 years ago. Hard Rock Cafe. Being lunch time, I couldn't eat anything heavy, so I had the spaghetti marinara, which I found a tad sour/salty. For RM30, they could have been a bit more generous with the seafood, and not bombard the plate with squid. Unless marinara is italian for calamari. Oh, hangon, marinara probably IS italian, what am I talking about.

I managed to catch a shot of the fajitas that the group of lady guests ordered to share. Reason I wanted a record of this is so I know what I missed out when I serve mine. Well, I think I forgot the shredded cheddar, and shredded lettuce. But mine usually has sauteed onions. Ah well, now I know.





Imagine, those days, when we "frequented" Hard Rock, I barely stepped into the kitchen. Now, I am virtually a slave. Heck, the maid quickly retreated to bed and turned off all the lights before I could ask them to do any further washing up, on Monday night, as I was slaving away at 10.30pm. Let's see, I had to make a Lemon Meringue Pie, A Sticky toffee date pudding, 12 cups of tiramisu, 2 sponge cakes, and 15 scones. Was slaving from 6.15 to 7.30pm, and again from 10-11pm. Actually, quite efficient la hor. Oh, did a stupid thing. Was lazy to chop the chocolate, so tried using the food processor....which little did I know, is fragile as ....
I heard something go PIAK, and that was the end of the food processor. When I opened it the next day, I saw that the "fan belt" had snapped. So, children, do not put hard chocolate in your food processor, unless it's industrial strength.

I have to make 40 cupcakes this weekend for a birthday. Help, any icing recipes that can keep overnight without refrigeration? (Dont want refrigeration coz the cupcakes will be hard, and pickup time is 10am on saturday morning, so I can't do it on Sat morning itself)

11 comments:

boo_licious said...

I still remember those days of hanging out in HRC and partying! One of my friends actually met her hubby there.

Choc Oreo Cake sounds heavenly - sorry no idea abt the keep in fridge icing but maybe u make a simple one with just icing sugar and lemon juice. However I suspect people rather have sinful buttercream instead.

Anonymous said...

use the ganache immediately when it's still pourable n pour over the cake on a wire rack with a tray beneath it to catch the ganache then quickly use a palette knife to spread it out over the top and sides...always works for me =)

as for the icing if ur willing to wake up a bit early on sat morning i have a very simple n quick buttercream recipe that tastes good too hehe...

250g butter at room temp
120g castor sugar
75ml hot water

beat butter with paddle beater til soften. then add in sugar and beat well to combine. then gradually add in the hot water while beating til the sugar is dissolved. then change to whisk beater and beat til pale and fluffy.

adapted from 'a piece of cake' by kevin chai

hope it helps!

ps oh i usually refrigerate the buttercream for a while before using to make it more manageable =)

Anonymous said...

If I am not wrong, both are italian words - calamari for squid & marinara for seafood. And looks like u are running a mini cakeshop from home. Great stuff! KSL

Karen said...

wow, cant get over how fast you are at making the stuff! i think i'm about 4x slower... :(

yeah, the smooth chocolate thing is like lariest said, just pour it on whilst ganache is still runny. the other thing about smooth ganache, i find it only works when i use good chocolate, the regular bakeshop and supermarket baking chocolate variety will seize up, hence the pockmarks. MY problem is i cannot get the ganache to set hard enough... last week i experimented with a 2:1 choc - cream ratio, and it was better.

thanks for tip about hot spatula on buttercream - i hate bc because i can never get it smooth! must be metal spatula, or plastic also can?

as for the cupcakes requiring overnight icing, had that very same problem yesterday for 72 mini ones. i usually just use a ganache, but this friend wanted white coloured icing. intended to make buttercream, but i hate that right, so resolved problem by using straight melted white chocolate! nice, easy, fast, and smooth. only problem is it is a little too sweet for my tastes, but for a tiny cupcake, i think still ok lah.

chopping chocolate and nuts - put in plastic bag, whack in lesung, if you have one!

Karen said...

p/s: does wilton have snowflake cookie cutters? or do you know anywhere that does?

Anonymous said...

Hey, what are the chances of posting your maid’s mee siam recipe? The one we had at FCI’s house warming.

Anonymous said...

Hey, mine is a non-cake related topic but what are the chances of posting your maid’s mee siam recipe? The one we had at FCI’s house warming.

Casey Galatos said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Casey Galatos said...

Thanks for dropping by my blog. Read your recent post on cakes. Maybe your choc cake isn't perfect in yr eyes. Never the less-it looks delicious to me.Just wanted to share one of my personal fav choc cake recipe n trivia with u(I'm no pro like u but still what the hell). Hope u enjoy the read.

fatboybakes said...

lariest, thanks for the buttercream recipe. wow, first time i've seen one using castor sugar. sounds divine, coz even for butter cakes, its at this point that i love licking the bowl...ie, butter and sugar. but no lah, i am too lazy to wake up early, and do...coz i gotta be at the wilton icca cake deco course at 10.30, with homework in tow. (iced cake). probably stick to the usual buttercream with icing sugar, and do it the night before. i think butter icing can last a day without fridge.

luv ur carrot cake, i dunno the maid's recipe lah. will ask wife to ask and see.

ksl, give me more business and the mini bakery will be a reality.

snowdrop, saturday i go and check for snowflake cookie cutter. wont it be terribly fragile?

boo, u oso hang out at HRC ah?

bossacafez said...

your choc oreo cake looks good fatboy!

i had problem with the chocolate ganache too (what i used was donna hay's dark choc truffle frosting), and mine looked uneven too. it was supposed to flow down to cover the cake but it didnt :( and it wasnt even "runny" to start with. here's my attempt, if you havent seen it :

http://bossacafez.blogspot.com/2006/10/chocolate-banana-cake.html

maybe what we need is a really watery ganache. haha!