Cakewalk was supposed to be the test kitchen for Courtney's wedding cake, but none of the chocolate cake recipes we tried were up to our standards. Beatty's Chocolate Cake, held accross the internet to be the chocolatiest, moistest chocolate cake of them all, tasted to us only mildly chocolately with a nice but unremarkable texture. it seems that to maintain the structural integretity of a chocolate cake, there's only so much pure chocolate you can pack in (a flourless cake would not hold up as a layer cake). Unwilling to settle, we scrapped the pure chocolate cake plan and turned to an alternative: the chocolate stout cake. a friend made a delicious version for cakewalk, and we have made it in cupcake form in the past. the guinness adds a depth of flavor that makes up for the lack of chocolate intensity, and keeps the crumb airy and moist. we added another layer of flavor complexity by adding chai spices to the cake and upped the chocolate with a layer of ganache. finally, i decided to avoid the Buttercream Problem altogether by option for a mousse topping, which both holds its shape better and created a nice light contrast to the heavy chocolate base. i was quite proud of the final flavor combination.
the most important and trying part of this cake, however, was the decoration. there are stunning examples of henna-decorated cakes online, masterpieces that i cannot believe were made by human hands. i decided to keep it simple and to use a paintbrush, as i have never developed any piping skills. the final result was pretty lumpy and unprofessional up-close, but quite lovely at a distance and in the dim light of courtney's evening wedding. despite the hours of cramping wrists and sugar-tongue, it made me want to do it all over again. i will surely be dedicating a good deal of time to researching more effective techniques in preparation for my brother's wedding this august!
Chocolate Chai Cake
CAKE:
4 cups all purpose flour
4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
~1 tbs cinnamon
~1 tbs cardamom
~1 tbs ginger
2 cups unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder
2 cups stout (such as Guinness)
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sour cream
Preheat to 350°. Line and grease two 8" cake pans.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl to blend.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, then whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Cool slightly, then stir in the stout.
Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and fold in, being careful to get all of the streaks of flour incorporated. Divide batter equally between the pans and bake about 30 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. cool in pans for a bit, then invert to a rack and cool completely.
My strategy for stacking the cake was to line a 9" springform pan with tall pieces of parchment so that they stuck up a few inches above the top of the pan to make walls, taping them to make a smooth circle shape. This also left a bit of space around the edges for the mousse to fill in.
GANACHE:
8 oz chocolate
1/2 cup cream
Heat the cream (don't boil), add the chopped chocolate, let sit for a minute, then stir.
Spread over the first layer of cake, put in the freezer for a while to harden a bit, then place the second layer on top.
WHITE CHOCOLATE CHAI MOUSSE:
2 cups prepared strong chai, sans sugar
8 oz White chocolate
½ c milk
2 1/2 teaspoon gelatin powder
5 tablespoons milk
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
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