Friday, April 29, 2011

And Then There Was Cake

Growing up we would have leftover cake or pie for breakfast.  I continued this with my children.  The highlight of a holiday was the next morning eating chocolate pecan pie, apple pie or ooey gooey cake for breakfast.

When I was told about the blog Desserts For Breakfast I knew it was a marriage made in heaven.
Cathie sent me a link recently about the Oreo Olalleiberry Chocolate Layer Cake suggesting the cake shots would be delicious.  I replied back, in order to make the cake shots one needed to make the cake. And the challenge was accepted but a learning curve needed to follow.  I was not familiar with olalleiberries.  Olalleberries are genetically 2/3 blackberry and 1/3 raspberry and have a short growing season.  I didn't think this time of year that was going to happen so I decided to substitute the raspberry as it is on the sweeter side.  Then the next query was what was black cocoa? 

Turns out when a recipe calls for Dutch cocoa the cocoa does not need to come from Holland, although mine does.  According to David Lebovitz Dutch-processed cocoa powder is made from cocoa (cacao) beans that have been washed with a potassium solution, to neutralize their acidity. Black cocoa is cocoa powder that has been heavily-Dutched.

Onward I went with the recipe.  Although I was able to find black cocoa online I did not find it locally and I did not want to wait so moving forward I used a full cup of my Droste cocoa which seemed to be acceptable in the cocoa world..  That was last week.   Unfortunately I did not read the part about needing 8" pans.
Nine inch  pans do not cut it when making a cake that requires cutting each layer in half.  My 9" cake pans made a very low and puffy cake. Off I went on the search for 8" cake pans.  I did not own any, Raley's did not have any and either did Rite Aid.  So I called my friend Cheryl.  She did not have any either.
  Jo-Ann Fabrics is a vendor for Wilton cake supplies so with my coupon on Monday off I went to buy cake pans.  Some fabric and two 8 inch cake pans later I was in business.

Wednesday I started baking my cake. Other then using a cup of my Droste cocoa I followed the cake recipe from the blog. After that I diverged a little.  I used the buttercream icing recipe that Kelsey and I learned when we took our cake decorating class. 

2 cups Crisco
2 tsp butter flavor
3/8 cup water
2 lb. confectioner sugar
2 tbl meringue powder
7/8 cup raspberry puree
4 tbs. cocoa

To make the raspberry puree I defrosted one l0 oz package of frozen unsweetened raspberries in a sift.  Force the thawed berries through the sift using the back of a spoon.  Add to this 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp lemon juice.

For the dark chocolate ganache I also did not change up the recipe.

After splitting the layers of your cake, spread a layer of buttercream frosting and coarsely chopped oreo cookies.  I used four per layer.  Frost your entire cake and then spread the cooled ganache over your cake.


         This next step is my favorite - eat some cake - for breakfast, lunch, dinner or anytime of the day.
The only thing I would do different next cake is using the leftover puree between each layer of cake giving an even more berry flavor.

I also did not have any cake to make the shots but I do have leftover buttercream and puree.  Hmmm -I  need to figure out what to do with those.

3 comments:

  1. Yummmmm! I love chocolate cake, especially when it is made with Dutch processed cocoa, because you get all the rich chocolate flavor, but do not have to use all that good chocolate you can just nibble on. This cake looks yummy, breakfast, lunch, AND dinner!

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  2. This was an outstanding cake. I just had some yesterday at work. LOVED IT!!

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  3. So glad to know I'm not the only one who eats pie and cake for breakfast. Yum! Thanks for a great recipe.

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