Yesterday was apparently not the day for me to bake. Why? Keep reading, and you will find out.
I went to the grocery store yesterday with the intention of purchasing the raspberries. But seeing the price ($5 per pint) I changed my mind. Instead, I made 1/4 recipe of the raspberry sauce from The Cake Bible and folded it into the whipped cream. I have purchased the heart-shaped Wilton pan from Amazon for this special occasion, but since I vowed to make 1/2 recipes, I ended up using the round 6 inch pan.
Overall, this cake was very easy to make. The ganache was a breeze to make too, which was a relief considering my luck with ganache. I didn't have wooden skewer, so I poked the cake with metal skewer which was a tad bigger than the wooden one. At first I was afraid I'm gonna damage the cake too much, but it ended up okay and the bigger holes absorbed the ganache quickly.
I went to the grocery store yesterday with the intention of purchasing the raspberries. But seeing the price ($5 per pint) I changed my mind. Instead, I made 1/4 recipe of the raspberry sauce from The Cake Bible and folded it into the whipped cream. I have purchased the heart-shaped Wilton pan from Amazon for this special occasion, but since I vowed to make 1/2 recipes, I ended up using the round 6 inch pan.
Overall, this cake was very easy to make. The ganache was a breeze to make too, which was a relief considering my luck with ganache. I didn't have wooden skewer, so I poked the cake with metal skewer which was a tad bigger than the wooden one. At first I was afraid I'm gonna damage the cake too much, but it ended up okay and the bigger holes absorbed the ganache quickly.
So far so good....
Piping was fun as well. I love how pink the cream looks. The cake looks very different than if I had decorated with raspberries. I still think raspberries would have been prettier, but oh well. I made my decision and now gotta move on.
Now comes the tasting impression: I do not like this cake. It was too fudgy and not sweet enough. I'm trying to think back to see if maybe I messed up the sugar content in the batter - it's bound to happen since I make 1/2 recipe. Hm.. hang on, let me go re-read the recipe.
Flipping pages in RHC...
Scanning through the list of ingredients...
Sugar 200 grams, 1/2 recipe = 100 grams...
Reading the instructions, it said to combine flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar in the mixer.
Thinking...
Thinking...
Shoot, I can't remember if I added sugar! But considering that the cake taste strongly of unsweetened cocoa powder, I deduct that I most probably did not add the sugar!!!
CRYING!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously... how stupid can one be?!? Though I do have to admit I sorta have a habit of messing up the easy recipes. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't expect every cake I make to be perfect :). I will try this again though - someday. And I will double check everything!
Side note: how come the cake rose at all?
Ok, I'm not really crying, but I'm really sad that it taste bad. I was really looking forward to this cake. I even watched the videos that Rose has posted on her blog when she made it with Dede Wilson.
How can I fix the cake now? I'm thinking sprinkling a lot of powdered sugar on top? What do you all think?
It wasn't a very sweet cake, so it's possible that you did add the sugar. We liked it rather un-sweet. :)
ReplyDeleteBut as to how to add sweetness...how about playing with sweetened whipped cream?
ב''ה
ReplyDeleteLooks great!
Sorry it did not turn out sweet. Mine was very dry.
It is so disappointing to leave out an ingredient. All the effort and work.
ReplyDeleteMaybe make one of Rose's sugar syrups and drench
the heck out of it.
I too, split the recipe in half--good to know the 6-inch pan will work. Loved your re-cap of your baking experience (but sorry about the missing sugar)--I've had days like that too. :) Your raspberry cream looks beautiful. :)
ReplyDeleteaw, bummer! your rasp cream is very lovely, however.
ReplyDeleteoh..i'm sorry to hear you forgot sugar.. I think this happens to all of us once in a while.. it happened to me a while back too! LOL! But your cake does look so pretty with the raspberry whipped cream!
ReplyDeleteOh wow that piping on the top looks amazing! Gorgeous colour.
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere that reducing sugar would make a cake dry - was your cake dry as well as not sweet?
I vote with vicki - a healthy dose of sugar syrup will moisten it up and provide the sweetness. Otherwise, layer it with jam and make it into trifle!!
I just love it! I have days that I should not be in the kitchen..we all have them. The cake looks outstanding though.
ReplyDelete-Toni
Oh no! I remember the time I left all the sugar out of a pie filling -- and it had sour cherries in it.
ReplyDeleteFor now, sure, why not sprinkle lots of powdered sugar?
Nancy B - 2nd day of eating the cake. I'm quite positive sugar is missing now!
ReplyDeleteMendy - now that you mentioned it, mine was dry too. The texture reminds me of dry brownies.
Vicki - it is really sad. Really makes me wanna cry.
Jill - thank you! It's good to know that even the professionals forgot ingredients sometimes.
ECL - I love that you wrote "bummer."
Faithy - it did make me wanna cry at first but now I'm just grinning when thinking about it. A real LOL moment!
Nicola - I love the color as well, looks so bright and stands out against the dark chocolate. And yes it is dry!
Toni - thanks! It's nice to know that others have days like this as well.
Barbara - I doused it with powdered sugar, helped a little but not quite. Might have to try the sugar syrup route.
Too bad you forgot the sugar. The cake wasn't all that sweet to begin with (which is why hubby didn't like it too much but I'm more on the not-to-sweet spectrum of things). My comment is probably too late, but you could make "cake balls", which is cake + frosting, mashed together, made into small balls and then frozen. Then dipped in choc. Yum!
ReplyDelete