Trying out posting from my phone, tonight, because I don’t think I’ll have enough time in front of a computer tonight to get this posted. This week’s selection from the alpha bakers group is a chocolate cake with a spicy ganache.
It’s a butter cake, madr with Rose’s familiar by now method, but with the addition of melted white chocolate.
You mix the dry ingredients, including the sugar, then add the butter, cocoa (that has been mixed with hot water), and, if I remember right, the melted white chocolate. Mix that up and beat it to strengthen the structure. Then add the eggs and vanilla.
After it’s all nicely mixed up, you pour it into the prepared pan.
The day I baked this cake, I started out by making the ganache, and I had to make it by hand, because my food processor (kitchen aid) had recently killed itself refusing to make bread crumbs out of stale bread. I used the full 3/4 teaspoon of cayenne in the ganache. I forgot to take any pictures of it, but basically, you mix hot corn syrup with unsweetened chocolate, then mix hot cream with bittersweet chocolate, then mix the two together. I let it sit and come to room temperature while my husband and I ran out and picked up a brand new food processor. This one doesn’t suck. It’s a breville sous chef. Watch this space for a review.
Anyway, after the cake had cooked, I covered it with ganache, and the result is the picture at the top of this post. 🙂
We had a slice of cake each for dessert last night. A lot of my baking buddies commented that they found this cake dry. Hubby and I discussed that, and decided that it had the same texture as dry cake, but without the dryness. Hard to describe, really. He also thought it could stand a little more heat in the ganache. As he said – it’s spicy on its own, but with the cake, the spice fades into the background.
On another note, having grown up in New Brunswick, with many New England connections, I love the name of the ganache. It reminds me of home, and the ganache is, indeed, ‘wicked good.’ For those who aren’t familiar with that vernacular, in this context, ‘wicked’ has nothing to do with evil or naughty, and is just a modifier on good, to express just how good it is. See also ‘awfully good’ or ‘terribly good,’ both of which were also common phrases in the area where I grew up. 🙂
eatsndrinks.ca 
Sorry to hear that your KA food processor died. Hate it when that happens doesn’t it? But also gives you a chance to buy a new one! 😀 I like shopping..lol! Your batter looks runny like mine. I too like more heat in ganache too!
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You describe the cake texture perfectly.. dry, without the dryness.. I just could not get onboard with it.
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so do you love the breville sous chef? i had never heard about it before this week! your finished cake looks very fancy on its gold cardboard round 🙂
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I do like this cake, but it sure is messy to eat, given the way it doesn’t hold together.
I really like the breville so far, though the only thing I’ve made with it is pie dough (chicken pot pie for supper last night). I’ll put up a post about it when I get a chance.
Oh, and… No fancy cake plate, just pottery with a ‘prairie’ glaze and bad photography. 😉
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I know what you mean, my cake turned out very crumbly, but it wasn’t really dry. Hoping next week’s recipe will be better.
Patricia @ ButterYum
http://www.butteryum.org/roses-alpha-bakers/2015/1/29/tbb-chocolate-pavarotti-with-wicked-good-ganache
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Is that 2 Alpha Bakers who bought a Breville Sous Chef this week or am I seeing double? I didn’t mind this cake but it’s not my favourite either.
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You aren’t seeing double, Catherine!
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