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Saturday, September 10, 2011

HCB: Deep Chocolate Rosebuds


When you read a recipe, it sorta helps when you actually read it, instead of reading the title and a part of the instruction and then filling in the blanks yourself.

I blame this to tiredness. I didn't sleep well last night. Yet I woke up early, had breakfast, then proceeded to make this cake.


The part of the recipe I was talking about was about making the ganache puddle. I read the title (Dark Chocolate Ganache Puddles), and then the instruction title (Make the Dark Chocolate Ganache Puddles), and part of the instruction: "heat the chocolate until almost completely melted." And then skimmed through the recipe and somehow decided to dump the cream and chocolate into a saucepan and heat it over the stove. It was only until steam started appearing that I bothered to really read the recipe and saw that I was supposed to heat the chocolate and the cream separately and combine them off the stove. Thank goodness I didn't forget to stir the concoction I created on the stove, so it didn't burn, and by the time I took it off the chocolate was melting. So I continued stirring it in the pan (off the stove), poured it into a bowl.

It looked like this.


Since it doesn't look bad. And given this is 1/4 recipe the puddle started thickening already. I decided to proceed and take the risk.



It seems like the ganache puddle never really sank to the bottom of the cake. It just sat there at the top. I watched, in horror, as the cake almost finish baking, waiting for that moment (or smell) when the ganache would start burning.

Thankfully, it never did.

Instead it sat there at the top, kinda like a baked ganache imprint.


They looked kinda funny, don't they?


Tasting impressions:
This cake lives up to its name, in that it is deep! Very chocolate-y and dense, this little morsels packs a chocolate punch. A tad too sweet for me, but it's okay because it's so small. I do think it's missing some boozy flavor, perhaps in the ganache, or as a light syrup.

8 comments:

  1. They look great to me. I learned long ago not to bake until fully alert - oh the stories I could tell! When I'm in a hurry and need to make ganache, I throw it all together in a pan and heat it on the stove - no harm as long as it doesn't overheat. Btw, I'm so in love with that pink petal pan!

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  2. Sound yummy!! I will try these. The small size will probably be just enough to satisfy my sugar/chocolate craving without adding too many pounds.Seems like they would make a nice company dessert with a couple of other small goodies on a lovely platter. I love your photography - excellent and adds so much to your posts.

    http://www.mariscamera.blogspot.com/

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  3. ooo! booze in the ganache! that would be great. your little pan is pretty cute, too.

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  4. Once again, proving that Rose's recipes can withstand "mistakes" and come out looking and tasting just about perfect.

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  5. Jenn, I loved your story. I so often do that with recipes. I am either lazy or impatient and fail to really read before I get cooking. But the mistakes are often fun and sometimes even tastier than the original recipe, right? Your rosebuds looked really good. I bet that richness was awesome!
    -Erin

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  6. They look yummy. For the last few weeks I've been baking when tired, like you and it is horrid. It seems to take me three times as long. Sometimes I find myself reading the same instruction over and over...anyway...I'd still rather be a tired baker and have an imperfect Rose cake than no cake. And sometimes no matter how I try and organise my time, I'm still baking late at night or after a long tiring weekend. Might have to get a bit organised though for next week!

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  7. Thanks everyone for the comments.

    ButterYum, yes should not have baked when tired but sometimes I have no "choice", especially in the race to finish the book.

    Mari, thanks for visiting and liking the photograph.

    Marie, Rose is simply awesome, isn't she? I can't wait for her next book.

    Erin, mistakes are often fun, and I don't mind as long as they're still edible (which they are most of the time).

    Melissa, I agree it's better to have an imperfect cake than no cake. We need our desserts, don't we? :)

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