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.