Double Damage Oblivion chocolate cake Rose's Alpha Bakers

            Double Damage Oblivion chocolate cake 'The Baking Bible'

Join me on Facebook

Renowned chocolate cake lovers, the single dad with his eight year old autistic son picked up the Double Damage Oblivion cake that I baked from Rose Levy Beranbaum's 'The Baking Bible' today ... I just got the review back "You've got a good cake here".

The guys review contradicts my opinion of the cake and once again illustrates different people have different likes and dislikes and it all comes down to personal preference and knowing your audience. 

Today's bake calls for baking two different cakes, starting with the Chocolate Oblivion by first melting chocolate and butter together over a pot of hot water.

Then with a long handled whisk, eggs were beaten over a pan of simmering until warm, before being beaten in a mixer until light and billowy. 

The whipped eggs are folded into the chocolate mixture. 

The tin was a springform, greased a third of the way up and base lined with baking paper. 

The sides and base of tin were double wrapped in aluminum foil and the cake baked in a water bath until set but still wobbly in the centre. Then the cake was covered and popped in the refrigerator overnight.

Cake two is the Deep Chocolate Passion. You can tell we are up to the second part of a recipe because I forgot to take photos :P

A cake tin with greased bottom only, is then lined with baking paper. Cocoa and boiling water is beaten until smooth the cooled. Oil and eggs are added to the cooled mixture and beaten until smooth and shiny. Flour is added an resulting batter spread evenly into the tin and baked.

Oh my... this next part made me nervous, after running a flat knife around the edge of the hot baked cake you have to turn out the hot cake!! Yep, nervous for no reason the cake came out easily and it was time to peel the away the baking paper and reverse cake so the top is ummm, on the "top".  

Dang, don't take photos of the paper liner when your hot cake is the wrong way around on the rack... you will get this effect "a cross hatch cake".

There is ganache; yes you make ganache and spread it on your chocolate oblivion, which is topped with the bottom layer of deep chocolate passion cake... then reversed... more ganache on the now top of oblivion and then the final layer of cake is laid on top.  

Now you will see your chocolate oblivion layer needs trimming to be the same size as your cake... once you have trimmed, a hot knife is run around cake until you have a smooth and shiny finish. 

Sprinkle sifted cocoa powder and eat!

Here is the inside texture of cake, all the layers look super moist but what I found was it ate "dry", after a mouthful you felt like you needed a drink, second mouthful more drink, third mouthful maybe I'll just drink my coffee. The chocolate oblivion layer tasted like a ganache truffle but doesn't have the melt in mouth truffle feel.  

Would I bake again? Not sure, there is other Rose's chocolate cakes I like more. 

Would I change anything?  There was an option to use jam rather than ganache to join the layers but either way if I baked again I would have preferred the cake to be syruped. A coffee liqueur syrup, or orange or perhaps chambord would have been nice. A thin water gel or berry gel layer would be good too. 

How it works... now I've joined the fabulous existing alpha bakers, once a week I will post about what I have baked from Rose Levy Beranbaum's 'The Baking Bible'. This won't include the recipe due to copyright and publisher restrictions however, I will be posting how it went and photos of making/baking the gorgeous baked goods.

Happy Baking :) 

Award winning author Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Baking Bible is available from Amazon and other good book stores worldwide.  

You might also be interested in Baci chocolate Ice-cream recipe

Dutch Process Cocoa Powder

neapolitan cupcake, dark cocoa cupcake, strawberry ice-cream butter cream, *freeze dried ice-cream 

Join me on Facebook or view my Flickr Gallery 

There is something about dark, dark chocolate cake that evokes a sense of "decadence" the promise of "rich flavour" before you even take that first bite isn't there? 

It's all in the cocoa powder, dutch process cocoa powder in fact. What is dutch process cocoa/chocolate? Well, to start with in Australia you are probably already using it as the most popular brands are dutch processed.

Dutch processed cocoa has been treated with an alkali to neutralize its natural acidity resulting in a cocoa powder with increased solubility, lower acidity, milder/smoother flavour and enhanced colour; the more heavily Dutched the cocoa, the darker the resulting colour. 

Dutch processed cocoa powder cannot be used with recipes that contain baking soda (bi carb) where the cocoa is the only form of acid and you usually find it used in recipes that contain baking powder instead. *Explained more fully at the end of todays post.

I prefer the milder flavour this type of cocoa offers, however some cooks such as Alice Medrich author of 'Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy' prefer the full flavour of unadulterated natural cocoa. Natural cocoa also contains higher levels of flavonols (antioxidants).

Six popular Dutch processed cocoa powders:

top to bottom 1.Rexim 2.Droste 3.Valrhona 4.Cadbury 5.E. Guittard 6.Nestle

All these cocoas have distinct individual flavours, with Cadbury probably being the most well known cocoa in Australia containing an artificial flavouring agent to give it the unique "Cadbury" taste.

My favourites to bake with are Valrhona, Rexim, Droste.... and Cadbury when I'm after a retro Australian flavour. 

Back in a couple of days with an old school Aussie classic, until then happy Baking :)

*freeze dried ice-cream or astronaut ice-cream is freeze dried ice-cream slices... mine came from The Professors an Australian online lolly shop. When using it on cakes it's an "eat and serve" product... you have around 30 minutes until the product softens... but worth it for a fun talking point value... tastes like ice-cream with a malteser/whopper like texture. I broke mine into pieces and dipped them in dark chocolate.

In the US? Think Geek has astronaut ice-cream in assorted flavours.

UK Amazon has a range of freeze dried ice-creams. 

*cocoa's such as Cadbury and Nestle Baking cocoa were not marked dutch process, however when I rang the companies they confirmed they were. 

Update on Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 11:22PM by The Lone Baker

A "what on earth is she on about??" correction; there has been some confusion about what I meant when I said .... "Dutch processed cocoa powder cannot be used with recipes that contain baking soda (bi carb) where the cocoa is the only form of acid and you usually find it used in recipes that contain baking powder instead."

Please let me try again; 

Natural cocoa powder is acidic.

Dutch process cocoa powder is not acidic.

Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) reacts with acid, it's this reaction that makes your cakes rise.  An example of an acid would be lemon juice, buttermilk, vinegar, yoghurt or natural cocoa powder.

Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) + natural cocoa = the cake rising (because an acid in the form of natural cocoa has been added)

Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) + dutch process cocoa = the cake *not rising (no acid, because the acid has been neutralised in the dutching process)

Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) + dutch process cocoa + buttermilk = the cake rising (because an acid in the form of buttermilk has been added)

Baking powder on the other hand can be used with both dutch processed and natural cocoa powders.

*eggs also act as a raising agent in your baking unrelated to what cococa you are using

Dreams of Chocolate Cream

'dreams of chocolate cream cupcake' featuring chocolate shells with three chocolate creams

Often overlooked for more complex frostings & fillings, Chocolate cream is versatile & easy, whether it's beaten to stiff peaks, piped or plopped, flavoured or boozy. Try topping your next pavlova with clouds of chocolate cream & chocolate dipped strawberries, as a filling for your layer cakes, a plop of chocolate liqueur cream in your cup of hot chocolate or just as a quick piped topping on your favourite chocolate cupcake. 

All the chocolate creams start with chilling your large mixing bowl and beaters for 15 minutes prior to commencing. I use caster sugar to sweeten the cream, but by all means just use regular granulated sugar if you prefer. Whipping cream in Australia is sold in 300ml (approx. 10 fluid oz) bottles as "thickened cream". 

1. CHOCOLATE CREAM with grated chocolate

300ml (10 fluid oz) thickened/whipping cream 

1/2 tsp pure vanilla essence/extract

1 tablespoon of caster sugar (or to taste)

50g (1.7oz) Milk or Dark eating chocolate, grated

Place cream, vanilla & sugar into your mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Whip until soft peaks form, add grated chocolate and continue beating to desired stiffness.

2. CHOCOLATE CREAM with cocoa

300ml (10 fluid oz) thickened/whipping cream

1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder (preferably dutch processed cocoa)

2 1/2 tablespoons caster sugar (superfine)

1/2 tsp pure vanilla essence/extract

boiling water

In a small bowl mix cocoa powder and enough boiling water to create a smooth paste, set aside. Place cream, vanilla & sugar into your mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Whip until soft peaks form, add cooled cocoa paste and continue beating to desired stiffness.

3. CHOCOLATE CREAM with melted chocolate (my favourite for piping)

300ml (10 fluid oz) thickened whipping cream

60 grams (2oz) dark, milk or white eating chocolate, melted

1 tablespoon caster sugar or to taste

1/2 tsp pure vanilla essence/extract

Place cream, vanilla & sugar into your mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Whip until soft peaks form, add cooled melted chocolate and continue beating to desired stiffness.

Variations;

For boozy chocolate cream omit vanilla from recipe add one to two tablespoon of chocolate, mint or orange liqueur, rum or brandy to the above recipes... beating in after the cream reaches the soft peak stage.  

Flavours... omit vanilla from recipe,  replace with essence/extract flavour of choice or replace melted plain melted chocolate with a flavoured variety.

So fill those cupcakes, pipe those pastries, top those strawberries, layer it up or make that sundae and start dreaming up more ideas for your chocolate cream. 

Happy baking :)

Now your thinking of chocolate you might also like...

 Baci Chocolate ice-cream