Last Cake, Next Cake

A slow week for the HCBer. 

Kristina, back from her vacation and baking hiatus, made the Black Chocolate Party Cake as a catch-up. One would hope that back after a hiatus, everything will go all smoothly. Not so. The cake-making process went without hiccup, until Kristina got to the part where she poured the chocolate syrup onto the cake. At this part, she use a plastic wrap to pull any chocolate syrup puddles back onto the cake. Sounds pretty straight forward, except that the syrup melted the plastic wrap. Adding to this calamity is the cake cracking when she tried to move it! Not dismayed by this, Kristina resolved "Oh well, if you take the first slice from the place where it’s cracked, nobody’ll notice." Tasting impressions was good: "It’s a good chocolatey cake, and the walnuts definitely add a little something. I like that they’re finely ground, so they add flavour, but no nut texture spoiling the nice soft cake."

Our FEATURED BAKER, ECL, made the most perfect Bernachon. She had been preparing for this cake all summer, anticipating it so by freezing a bunch of red currants. Her thinking-ahead paid off, the cake looks just like the photo on the cover of the book! Even though she doesn't use the edible gold freckles, the shiny glaze reflecting the light coming through the window looks shimmery enough that to me it might as well have been the edible gold. ECL had a lot of fun photographing the cake. As it gets dark around 4 PM in Portland, it provides for an interesting setting for photography. As for the taste, ECL wrote: "This is a wonderfully decadent cake. The cake itself melts in your mouth it is so tender, and the rich ganache and bittersweet ganache are excellent components. I think I will need a little vanilla ice cream and a cup of tea to accompany my slice of cake, which is never a bad idea. I like that it is pretty easy to put together and yet is a show-stopper of a dessert."

Our last cake, the FREE CHOICE Wedding Cake, is slotted for the weekend of Dec 3rd, in 1 1/2 weeks. You can bake anything from the wedding cake section of the book in any format. This means 9 inch, 6 inch, cupcake form, anything. I'm saying this because like me, you might not want to or have a gazillion people to feed.

And finally, Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it. Enjoy the long weekend with your loved ones and please please eat a lot of desserts :).