Gracie
06-27-2005, 08:15 AM
Over the weekend I made the Claim Jumpers Motherlode chocolate cake posted by Misskitty100 on this thread (http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=74233&highlight=chocolate). We had company over so I really wanted to impress. All in all, I wish we had a waffling-hand smiley because there were things about this recipe I liked and things I didn't.
I cut the recipe in half so that it only made 3 8-in layers. I cannot imagine trying to construct a 6-layer cake and not have it fall over, or at the very least look like the leaning tower of Pisa! :)
I used my new Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa (thanks Jen) and Hershey's Special Dark chocolate chips (which amazingly enough were actually available in Massachusetts - but that's a different story). I loved the rich chocolate flavor.
The batter was really thin with the last-step addition of the boiling water. This meant that the outsides of the layers were pretty dry by the time the centers were cooked. You could taste the dryness around the edges, even with the ganache frosting.
I had some issues with removing my layers from the pan before they were cold (see my thread about cake layers (http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=75794)). Thank goodness I made the thicker ganache rather than my usual buttercream. However, if I had done everything right with my layers, I would have preferred a softer buttercream frosting - the ganache was like eating a candy bar with a cake center.
Also, the chocolate chips in the cake layers were hard - again due to the extreme heat and humidity of the day and having the cake in the fridge almost until it was time to serve. But I left the cake out at room temp after we'd eaten it and the chips never really got that soft so even tasting a bit later when the ganache was finally nice and soft, there was still the hardness of the chips. This is just personal preference but next time I'd leave them out.
All in all, despite learning a lesson about cake layers, I probably would not make this again. I wanted something really moist and the dryness of the layers' edges were what I was disappointed in the most. The cake itself had great flavor on the inside but my guests were not oohing and aahing as I'd hoped.
Loren
I cut the recipe in half so that it only made 3 8-in layers. I cannot imagine trying to construct a 6-layer cake and not have it fall over, or at the very least look like the leaning tower of Pisa! :)
I used my new Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa (thanks Jen) and Hershey's Special Dark chocolate chips (which amazingly enough were actually available in Massachusetts - but that's a different story). I loved the rich chocolate flavor.
The batter was really thin with the last-step addition of the boiling water. This meant that the outsides of the layers were pretty dry by the time the centers were cooked. You could taste the dryness around the edges, even with the ganache frosting.
I had some issues with removing my layers from the pan before they were cold (see my thread about cake layers (http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=75794)). Thank goodness I made the thicker ganache rather than my usual buttercream. However, if I had done everything right with my layers, I would have preferred a softer buttercream frosting - the ganache was like eating a candy bar with a cake center.
Also, the chocolate chips in the cake layers were hard - again due to the extreme heat and humidity of the day and having the cake in the fridge almost until it was time to serve. But I left the cake out at room temp after we'd eaten it and the chips never really got that soft so even tasting a bit later when the ganache was finally nice and soft, there was still the hardness of the chips. This is just personal preference but next time I'd leave them out.
All in all, despite learning a lesson about cake layers, I probably would not make this again. I wanted something really moist and the dryness of the layers' edges were what I was disappointed in the most. The cake itself had great flavor on the inside but my guests were not oohing and aahing as I'd hoped.
Loren