I've been hearing about it at my main client's office too: an endless litany of where's the cookies? Am I off your email list? When are you baking again? I'm hungry! And I just had no time to fill their requests.
But no matter what, when it's a friend's birthday, I must bake. This particular friend is a CHOCO-HOLIC. He doesn't like to mingle chocolate with fruit or coffee or spice. He just likes chocolate.
This presented a problem for me. I can make chocolate mousse in my sleep. I can make every kind of chocolate ganache. But I just hate making chocolate cake. I am always deceived by intriguing new chocolate cake recipes and consistently disappointed. Some are dry, some are grainy, some aren't really chocolate-y. I didn't have time to screw it up, so I went with the only cake I know is consistently good: devils food cake.
This double chocolate Boston cream pie is a sin of cake. It's dense, soft, rich, and has enough chocolate to please any chocolate fanatic.
Double Chocolate Boston Cream Pie (Kimmel's Cake)
Ingredients:
Mousse:
8 oz Ghiardelli bittersweet chocolate
4 Large egg yolks
2 tsp Cognac or rum or brandy or port
2 Large egg whites
1 cup Heavy cream
1 cup Ghiardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
Cake:
2 cups Flour
1 cup Dutch pressed cocoa powder (or a high quality cocoa powder)
1 Tbsp Baking powder
3/4 tsp Salt
1 cup Unsalted butter, softened
2 cups Sugar
3 to 4 Large eggs
2 tsp Vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup Hot, freshly brewed strong coffee
1 cup Whole milk
Chocolate Ganache:
7 oz Ghiardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 oz Ghiardelli bittersweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup Heavy cream
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Make your mousse first because it needs to chill and be firm enough to hold up to the cake. Start by heating the bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler until it's smooth. Remove from the heat and beat in the egg yolks and cognac.
2. Whisk the egg whites on high until stiff. Make sure they reach very stiff peaks. Gently, but thoroughly fold the egg whites in in two additions.
3. Whisk the heavy cream until it reaches stiff peaks. Gently but thoroughly fold in the whipped cream in two additions. Chill the mousse.
4. Now make your cake. Sift together your flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add your eggs in 1 at a time. You may only need 3 eggs. You don't want the mixture to be too runny. Then add in the vanilla and mix well.
5. Next, add in half of the flour mixture and beat well. Add in half of the coffee and milk and mix well. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula and then add half of the remaining flour mixture. Beat well. Add in the rest of the milk/coffee and beat, finishing with the remaining flour mixture. Split the batter evenly between three 9-in cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees F. Remove from oven and cool on racks. Meanwhile, mix the semi-sweet chocolate chips into the chilled mousse.
6. To assemble the cake- depan one cake onto a cake board or platter. Top it with half of the mousse. Depan the next cake onto the mousse and then top it with the remaining mousse. Depan the final cake and let it rest while you make the ganache.
7. Set the chocolate chips in a stainless steel or glass bowl while you heat the heavy cream on medium until it just begins to boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let rest for 30 seconds. Then, mix the chocolate and cream with a spatula until smooth. Pour the ganache over the very center point of the cake, letting it pool and spread down the sides naturally. You can use your spatula to spread the ganache evenly if its pooling on one side. Let the cake chill for 2 hours before serving.
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