Enter the Unexpected: Life, Health, and Chocolate Cake

I’ve missed a few posts lately for my online bake-a-long group. Why? Life, really. A change of weather brought a never-ending headache with it, and when that finally went away (after a week!), my insomnia went rampant and left me completely sleepless for a night. After 36 hours without a wink of sleep during the busiest time of year for my work, I crashed hard the next night…followed by a headache for a couple of days. Anyway, what with one thing and another, I missed posting. So this is a make-up post!

A make-up post about what? “Betty’s Chocoholic Cake“, from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking Chez Moi. I looked at the picture that Dorie has in her cookbook and it looked a tad dry to me, but also super-duper chocolately and yummy! In order to eat a slice and not feel horribly unhealthy, my dinner tonight was made up of a kale smoothie. My lunch tomorrow? Kale salad.

Me being me, I used chocolate chips from my local Bulk Barn as opposed to 65 % Valhrona chocolate, because my grocery bill is big enough without buying (admittedly delicious) high-end chocolate.

Also, I don’t have three cake pans (I have two), so I just baked all the batter in two pans. Not a good idea, as you can see. When I took the cakes out, let them cool, and turned them out, there were little divots in my layers! Nooo! It looked like someone put their fingers in it very ham-fistedly. (“I’ll stick my thumb here, and here, and here, and oh look, here too!”)

Eh, I thought, the ganache will cover that up! And indeed, it did. I topped the cake with shavings/curls from a bar of chocolate that I took a vegetable peeler to, and let it sit for about 30 seconds before taking a knife to it. But before that….

When I finished the cake, I proudly brought it to the DH’s man-cave, where he was working away on his computer.

Me: Look, sweetheart! I made a fancy cake!

DH: Who is that for?

Me: Me!!!

DH *blows me a raspberry*

Ah, love’s young dream, n’est pas? *grin*

But enough witty banter (ha! ha! Banter! ha! *blows raspberry herself*), what was the verdict on the cake, you say?

Not my fave. I’m very disappointed. Too dense, too much like a flourless chocolate cake (avec divots) and super-duper rich and (I hardly knew this was possible) too sweet. Just overall too much. I plan to stick it in the freezer and sloooooowly eat it over the next year. Yes, it’s that intense that a teeny, tiny slice will do ya. And this is me we’re talking about! Chocolate Queen herself! So sadly, whether it’s my substitutions or just my taste, I wouldn’t recommend it.

What I’m actually craving? A kale smoothie. Mmm…I think I’ll have one for breakfast tomorrow!

Next Post: Bread! Buns! Le pain! An odyssey.