Ideas for the Ultimate Chocolate Cake

[CanadianBakin']

I've been asked to make a b-day cake for a friend's husband who LOVES chocolate so I'd like to do a chocolate cake with all chocolate fillings and frostings. I'm just wondering what would make it, oh my goodness, to die for, chocolate cake. I have a favourite cake recipe (not the Wooley one I'm afraid ;)) that I'll use but I'd like to do something different for the filling than just chocolate IMBC. It will have 4 layers. I haven't done much experimenting with combinations of fillings yet and wondered if you have suggestions or recipes. I imagine a layer of dark chocolate gananche would help but I'm totally open to ideas.

edited to add: This cake is quite moist and doesn't require soaking syrups unless you think that would help the flavour.

Edited June 30, 2005 by CanadianBakin' (log)

[Genny]

I made a cake from Death by Chocolate that was covered in chocolate ganach and had 2 kinds of buttercream. I think it had a mocha element to it. Wow was it good! I made it for my Dad, a self professed chocoholic. It took 2 days to make it but it was worth the effort! (This was before I cooked much so the recipe can't be terribly difficult!)

[chiantiglace]

things to think about:

Meringue: (Give it surprising texture in the center as a crunchy layer with a complementing flavor)

Chocolate meringue

Caramel Chocolate meringe

Chocolate Nut meringue

Chocolate Citrus Meringue

Fillings:

Chocolate Chibouste(or chocolate + otehr ingredient)

Chocolate Bavarian Cream (ditto)

Chocolate Mousse(Thousands of varieties)

Chocolate Buttercream (Swiss, Italian, or German. If you want a great tasting buttercream for a FILLING the german version is a great option)

----Frozen------

You can do fillings with:

Frozen Mousse

Frozen Souffle Glace

Parfait

Bombe

Ganache is great to use inbetween layers especially to lock things in and for a smooth mouth feel.

Coffee and espresso are highly recommended somewhere in the cake

Orange and Lemon have great accented flavors

Praline Pastes, if you can buy or make them, are one of my favorite flavors for subtlety and aroma.

Fresh fruit is often praised when placed in layers. I like to put whole stemmed strawberries in mine and cover it with a soft filling so that you have interesting red arches flowing through your cake when sliced.

An all chocolate way to have that look is bipe buttercream and hard ganache on the cake layers, freeze and then fill with desired filling.

Another trick your can poor ganache in the cake layer with a pan, tilt it slightly on its side and freeze. The fill with desired filling and set up. That way you have a slant. But i would only do that with a square or rectangle pan where the slices will be consistent.

there are many more fun things to do but i'll leave you with this.

[chiantiglace]

Yea Genny thats the Chocolate Fudge Espresso Cake. The sponge recipe is one of my favorites even though I dont care to use marcel stuff anymore.

[ludja]

I agree that coffee adds a great richness and nice slightlly bitter component to chocolate cake--especially when both the cake and frosting are chocolate. Perhaps just making a nice mocha frosting would suit what you are looking for.

[CanadianBakin']

Yea Genny thats the Chocolate Fudge Espresso Cake.  The sponge recipe is one of my favorites even though I dont care to use marcel stuff anymore.

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Is this the one? Chocolate Fudge Espresso Cake

[sugarbuzz]

I love a chocolate cherry combo but strangely enough do no like chocolate covered cherries..anyway I made a cake that was for a friend who wanted a black forest cake but whipped cream was out of the question on a humid chicago summer day. So I made a dark choc 4 layered cake. The middle layer was a dark chocolate mousse with tart dried cherries macerated in kirsch folded into it. The other 2 layers were a white chocolate mousse. I finished it in a thin layer of chocolte buttercream & glazed it with chocolate water. As for decoration I simply made some choc. dipped cherries for the top and some white,milk, and dark choc shavings.

[chiantiglace]

Thats EXACTLY it because I memorized the recipe. I dont see Marcels name on the site, hmm interesting. I might have to have a talk with him.

[sanrensho]

The raspberries are right in season now, so I would recommend using them as either a topping, mousse filling or jam layer on your cake base.

I just finished a cake with a choc. butter cake layer spread with homemade seedless raspberry jam, bittersweet choc. mousse layer, and white choc. mousse layer, dusted with cocoa powder.

I really like the idea of different choc. mousse layers (white/bittersweet/milk/mocha) separated by thin chocolate cake layers.

[*Deborah*]

This cake is just a chocolate cake (a good one, but no huge deal). BUT! the Milk Chocolate Icing is the bomb.

I can usually limit myself to one little bit of leftover icing whenI make a cake, but this stuff is just really delicious, I finish the bowl.

[CanadianBakin']

Thanks for all your ideas! Now I just have to figure out which will work best for this situation. The Chocolate Fudge Espresso Cake will definitely be on my "to try" list if I don't use it this time.

Chiantiglace - What combinations would you suggest? Like if I use a chocolate mousse, do I need to put it between all the layers, or would I use a buttercream or ganache somewhere in there too? And if I used a layer of meringue, would I use just one in the middle or should I use 2, or should I use less cake layers? I would love to use one or more coffee/espresso flavoured components but I think I'll stay away from any fruit/citrus accents. Anyone is welcome to offer their suggestions.

Edited June 30, 2005 by CanadianBakin' (log)

[chiantiglace]

um, meringue is totaly up to you. Just make sure you have two sponge layers top and bottom to keep the cake uniform.

Mousse is very stable filling throughout the cake, but can be quite modern/intuitive if just used one layer and specialty flavor components hidden in layers above. For example using a nice rich layer of chocolate mouse one and a half the size of the bottom cake layer, laid ontop with a disc of of hazelnut meringue. Then ontop of that a thin layer of a bitter/intense espresso hazelnut praline bavaroise, topped all with last cake layer. Then you could ice the sides with the mousse or buttercream if handy real smooth. And for the ulimate chocolate expression I like to pour on a mirro chocolate glaze with just a few accenting ornaments/decorations pilled in an offest middle.

Edited June 30, 2005 by chiantiglace (log)

[CanadianBakin']

um, meringue is totaly up to you.  Just make sure you have two sponge layers top and bottom to keep the cake uniform.

Mousse is very stable filling throughout the cake, but can be quite modern/intuitive if just used one layer and specialty flavor components hidden in layers above.  For example using a nice rich layer of chocolate mouse one and a half the size of the bottom cake layer, laid ontop with a disc of of hazelnut meringue.  Then ontop of that a thin layer of a bitter/intense espresso hazelnut praline bavaroise, topped all with last cake layer.  Then you could ice the sides with the mousse or buttercream if handy real smooth.  And for the ulimate chocolate expression I like to pour on a mirro chocolate glaze with just a few accenting ornaments/decorations pilled in an offest middle.

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Thanks so much! This is exactly what I was looking for. I don't have much experience in combining the different components except when following a recipe so I don't know what textures and filling combinations taste best together. I appreciate being able to make use of your experience.