A Spotty ''Fling'' Cake

Yes, I bought another cookbook. I just couldn't resist. I got The Whimsical Bakehouse: Fun-to-Make Cakes That Taste as Good as They Look from Book Depository, because there was a discount if you paid with Paypal. And because they have free shipping.

This book is packed with ideas. The authors believe that the whole cake should taste good, so they don't use fondant, but buttercream instead. There are pictures of cakes and then the instructions with the recommended recipes for the design. I'm not going to make a list of recipes I want to make from this book, because I don't think I'll be using it for the recipes, but mainly for the designs and instructions. There are a few recipes that I don't like and I almost definitely won't be making them. But the ideas are really wonderful and the book is way too short.

I simply had to try one of the recipes as soon as I got home. I had an exam on Friday and got home a few hours later in the afternoon. Of course, I started baking right away. I chose the Chocolate Chip Pound Cake and a design called Fling.

On Sunday, I went to Munich to see the 30 Seconds to Mars concert, which was the highlight of the last few months (I paid for the ticket in November already). So I had to leave home on Saturday afternoon already and get back to Ljubljana because the bus was leaving from there. I packed almost a quarter of the cake so I would have something to eat in the next few days (and because it tasted so good). The concert was definitely the best one I have ever been to. I took a lot of photos at first but because Jared was moving all the time, none of them were good, so I just started filming everything.

This is one of the few good pictures I took at the concert. I call it ''My god Tanja, this cake is delicious!''. :D

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake (serves up to 18)

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter
8 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 1/4 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Grease two 9 inch round cake pans, preheat the oven to 350 F and have all ingredients at room temperature.

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter at high speed until light and fluffy. 
2. Add the cream cheese and beat well at high speed. 
3. Add sugar and cream the mixture at high speed until light and fluffy. 
4. Add sour cream and vanilla extract and mix well at medium speed. 
5. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 
6. Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the other mixture and beat on low speed until smooth. 
7. Fold in the chopped chocolate/ chocolate chips.
8. Divide the batter into two pans and bake for 25-35 minutes.

Whipped Chocolate Ganache (makes 3 cups)

7 ounces dark chocolate
2 1/2 cups heavy cream

1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water.
2. Boil the heavy cream in a saucepan and whisk one third of it into the melted chocolate.
3. Slowly whisk in the rest of the cream and refrigerate overnight or freeze for a few hours.
4. Whip until stiff.

This cake was actually meant to be filled with the chocolate filling and covered with chocolate glaze, but I only realized that when I got home from the store. So since I didn't have enough dark chocolate at home and I had already poured all of the cream in the pan to boil,  I decided it would be best to just cover the cake with the filling too. It didn't end up looking as pretty and dark as in the pictures, but it was still cute.

I made the spots with white chocolate, which I melted and then added different colors of food coloring. I took a spoonful of chocolate and made a spot of it on parchment paper. (In the book, they recommend piping the chocolate, but I don't have the piping bags or tips, and they also recommend wafer chocolate, which I can't get anywhere.) Then I put the spots in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. I used gel paste food colorings, which resulted in pastel colors. I wanted more neon-like colors but I had never worked with these colors before so I didn't know what was going to come out. The colors were all a bit more yellow than expected, because white chocolate has a strong yellow color.

I wanted to make a smaller cake, so I only used 3/4 of the recipe and baked the cakes in an 8 inch pan. I made only 3/4 of the recipe for filling too, but it was still too much and there was enough to cover the cake with it too! So I think that the quantities I used in the filling recipe are probably enough to fill a 9-inch cake, so I modified it a little. 

This cake tastes good and it's really moist because of the cream cheese. I don't usually do white cakes because I don't like their taste, but this one has pieces of chocolate in it, so that's enough chocolate even for me. 

Look: 5/5
Taste: 5/5

Approximate cost: 8.70 €

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