During the weekend, I baked the layer cake that I had donated to the Hunger and Homelessness Auction. The buyer and I decided on chocolate layers with chocolate filling and whipped cream frosting. For the layers, I used the ever-reliable
Chocolate Dump-It Cake recipe from Amanda Hesser, multiplied by 1.5, with some extra dark chocolate (7 oz instead of 6 oz) and, as usual, slightly reduced sugar. For the filling, I made a dark chocolate ganache (3.5 oz chocolate and 0.25 cup cream) with some raspberry jam whisked in, plus some gelatin for more thickness. My chocolates of choice: German dark chocolate bars of between 70 and 80% cacao.
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| Base layer, with ganache filling |
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| Frosting in progress |
I had enough ganache to fill in between the two layers and also spread across the top, before covering the entire outside with freshly whipped cream (lightly sweetened, flavored with vanilla, and also stabilized with a little dissolved gelatin). Toasted almonds were the finishing touch. I handed the cake off to the buyer on Sunday afternoon; hopefully it made a delicious finish for her Easter dinner!
