Having recently acquired a few cake rings, I now think that they are just the coolest. Who knew that a relatively inexpensive metal ring can turn some cream and cake into an impressive special occasion dessert? Last week I used a cake ring to make Nick Malgieri's "Chocolate Raspberry Bavarian Cake," a elegant confection assembled from chocolate genoise, raspberry simple syrup, chocolate ganache, raspberry Bavarian cream, whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and fresh raspberries.
I love Malgieri's chocolate genoise recipe. You whisk together eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a bowl set over simmering water until the mixture reaches 100 degrees. Then you whip the mixture until it is cool and increased in volume, and fold in the sifted dry ingredients (cake flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder). My cake rose beautifully and had a perfect sponge texture.
After the cake is cooled, you split it into two layers, and place one of the layers in the bottom of a cake ring. The cake is nine inches in diameter and you use a 10-inch diameter cake ring, so there is a small band of empty space between the outer edge of the cake and the ring. You moisten the cake with raspberry syrup (water, sugar, and Chambord), spread on chocolate ganache (whipping cream, chocolate, and butter), and the pour over some raspberry Bavarian cream (frozen raspberries, sugar, Chambord, gelatin, and whipping cream). The raspberry cream fills the empty space between the perimeter of the cake and the cake ring. Then you add the remaining cake layer, and again follow with more raspberry syrup, chocolate ganache, and the remaining Bavarian cream.
After you refrigerate the cake to set it, you unmold it from the ring, spread whipped cream around the outside, and then decorate with chocolate shavings and fresh raspberries.
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The Bavarian cream has a gorgeous pink color (apparently, the exact same shade as one of my tablecloths, as you can see above). The cake is quite large. Not only is it ten inches in diameter, but my cake came right up to the top of my 3-inch tall cake ring; it can easily serve at least 16 people. My half-pint of raspberries was barely enough to make the a single ring of berries around the perimeter.
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The cake sliced beautifully, and even the day after it was baked, the cake was very moist from being soaked in the raspberry syrup. The genoise had a mild chocolate flavor that was reinforced by the layers of chocolate ganache. The flavorful Bavarian cream was incredibly light; the dessert overall was not heavy at all. I love this cake. Its exquisite good looks and lovely refined flavors are exceptional.
Recipe: "Chocolate Raspberry Bavarian Cake" and "Chocolate Genoise" from Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers, by Nick Malgieri. Recipe available here.
Previous Posts:
I love Malgieri's chocolate genoise recipe. You whisk together eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a bowl set over simmering water until the mixture reaches 100 degrees. Then you whip the mixture until it is cool and increased in volume, and fold in the sifted dry ingredients (cake flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder). My cake rose beautifully and had a perfect sponge texture.
After the cake is cooled, you split it into two layers, and place one of the layers in the bottom of a cake ring. The cake is nine inches in diameter and you use a 10-inch diameter cake ring, so there is a small band of empty space between the outer edge of the cake and the ring. You moisten the cake with raspberry syrup (water, sugar, and Chambord), spread on chocolate ganache (whipping cream, chocolate, and butter), and the pour over some raspberry Bavarian cream (frozen raspberries, sugar, Chambord, gelatin, and whipping cream). The raspberry cream fills the empty space between the perimeter of the cake and the cake ring. Then you add the remaining cake layer, and again follow with more raspberry syrup, chocolate ganache, and the remaining Bavarian cream.
After you refrigerate the cake to set it, you unmold it from the ring, spread whipped cream around the outside, and then decorate with chocolate shavings and fresh raspberries.
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Recipe: "Chocolate Raspberry Bavarian Cake" and "Chocolate Genoise" from Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers, by Nick Malgieri. Recipe available here.
Previous Posts:
- "I Liked It and I Put a Ring on It: Chocolate Bavarian Torte," January 18, 2012.
- "Mind the Gaps: Fraisier," February 18, 2012.
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