Chocolate Caramelava Cake

Well I didn’t get the dream job with the big biotech company.  Someone with more lab experience got to move forward with my perfect-oh-my-god-this-place-is-awesome future and I’m left to be moody and sullen for a day or two.  I know the fact that I made it into the final round (4 people out of 150) is supposed to be a good thing but it doesn’t change the outcome anymore than if I’d never had my resume selected out of the stack.  In the end I didn’t get the job and nothing can keep the suckage of that fact from sucking.  Normally I keep my hopes in check but sometimes…well this sums it up just about right:

Marilla Cuthbert: You set your heart too much on frivolous things and then crash down into despair when you don’t get them.
Anne Shirley: I know. I can’t help flying up on the wings of anticipation. It’s as glorious as soaring through a sunset… almost pays for the thud.

Almost being the key word in that statement.  In any case it’s the perfect reason to move forward with the Chocolate Cake search.  Good old phenethylamine is exactly what I need.  It’s a mood elevator and why women who are PMSing, mad, sad, moody or just in any old general thunk like a big bite of chocolatey goodness.

The photography gods weren’t with me today though so I apologize for the less than stellar pics.  I made a ring of caramel (versus a soft caramel for the cake center) dotted it with black Hawaiian lava salt and topped the cake with it.  I tried to make a sort of ball out of whipped cream, I was thinking of making the top look planetary, but I didn’t whip the cream enough.  Instead of holding a ball shape it went kaplooey as these things tend to do.  Guess it was just a bad day all around.  Still the cake itself tasted chocolatey delicious.  The boys who work in the lab next to mine devoured it up quickly enough and it held up well to the caramel.  I think this isn’t the most flavorful on the chocolate scale but a great cake for layering.

Chocolate Cake-off Part 5

Perfect All-American Chocolate Butter Cake

Rose Levy Berenbaum “The Cake Bible”

• 1.5 cups unsweetened cocoa
• 1 cup boiling water
• 3 large eggs
• 2.25 tsp vanilla extract
• 2.25 cups cake flour
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 0.75 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Whisk the cocoa and boiling water in a bowl and let it cool to room temperature.  In another bowl mix the eggs, cocoa powder and vanilla.  In a THIRD bowl (I hope you have a lot of bowls) mix the remaining dry ingredients together.

Beat the butter in a stand mixer and then add in the dry goods mix on low speed.  Pour in the cocoa mixture. Increase the speed and aerate for a minute.  Scrape down the sides and gradually add in the egg mixture.

Pour the batter into two prepared round cake pans until halfway full.  Bake the cake at 350 for 35 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.  The cakes will pull away from the sides slightly.

Caramel Sauce for filling

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

But these are recipes for another day.