Valentine's Day Cake Adventure
Whew. Totally behind in postings. I think it has something to do with the mini crisis that hit me when I turned 29, that, and the hangover that followed. So now that I've recovered (at least physically if not mentally), I wanted to share my Valentine's Day adventure. On Sunday and Monday I attempted, for the first time ever, to make a cake--and not one from the box. Of course, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided to make what seemed like the most complicated recipe ever: the Black Pearl Layer Cake from Epicurious.com. It involves a ginger-wasabi ganache, a homemade vanilla-ginger syrup, three layers of chocolate goodness, plus a ginger whipped cream frosting.
I wanted to make this cake for two reasons. The first could be construed as selfish: I wanted my cooking whiz of a husband to respect my creativity and talent in the kitchen. The second was, of course, that I wanted to make him something--instead of buying something--to counter the overly commercial nature of the manufactured holiday. I hadn't considered that to make the cake I'd have to buy a few things, actually a lot of things, more than $60 worth of things in all. Yes, the pressure heated up a bit after my trip to Whole Foods. Would you believe that all $60 worth of ingredients fit into one bag? This is not a cake I wanted to mess up.
In all the mixing, whipping, stirring, slopping, baking and waiting, I discovered that making this cake wasn't quite as intimidating as the two-page recipe would have me believe. Sure, I dirtied umpteen dishes (maybe this bowl is big enough ... O wait, I have to add more ingredients ... How about this bowl ... O wait). And I almost added an entire stick of butter instead of the required two tablespoons for the ginger-wasabi ganache, which for some reason hardened to the point where it had to be microwaved for application. But I managed to tolerate--even enjoy--the whole experience. The syrup turned out to be my favorite element (despite the presence of the cake's most expensive ingredient by volume, the vanilla bean), as the vanilla and ginger root infused the sauce with a spicy sweet fragrance and imparted a taste that played an essential role in the finished flavor of the cake. The easiest part of the whole experience was baking the cakes themselves. I even managed to level the layers in a pleasing manner.
I think I may be ready for my next culinary adventure. Happy post Valentine's Day.
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It was a very tasty cake.. I'm quite impressed and amazed by you cake making skills.
Is there any cake left for a tasting?
oh, i had a cake tasting last night. full of subtle flavors and moist rich cake-goodness. so goodness. cake. yum.
Adam & Marsha.. too bad you weren't around last night. Erin was going to bring you some cake. Now there's barely 1/4 of it left..