Currently baking out of Sky High, Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne
I wish this cake had tasted as good as it looked. As I was reading through the ingredient list, I started imaging how the cake would taste. A dense, moist chocolate cake filled with a smooth, luscious cream that tasted faintly of sweet almonds, all wrapped up in soft bittersweet chocolate frosting.
Well, I got part of it right.
The chocolate cake is a winner. Although the ingredient list is long, it results in a very moist, tender crumb that was dense enough to hold up as a layer cake. The recipe calls for both unsweetened chocolate and cocoa powder. On the liquid side, strong coffee, honey and buttermilk give it a real depth of flavor. The cakes baked up fairly evenly, only needing a little bit of trimming.
The almond cream, on the other hand, was not so successful. Thanks to 2 teaspoons of almond extract, the filling tasted harshly of almond booze. The cream was thick and smooth, but I just couldn’t get past the taste.
The frosting, sigh. There were no soft swirls of bittersweet goodness here. The frosting is made of bittersweet chocolate, cream and butter. Warm and at room temperature, the frosting was fine. But it hardened up quickly and became almost shell-like, especially straight out of the fridge. Allowing the cake to sit at room temperature before serving would help this. Also, I think this cake benefits from a thinner coat of frosting.
To finish off the cake, a thin layer of apricot preserves is spread across the top. I had no problem with this part, and in fact, thought the tartness of the preserves balanced everything quick nicely.
I will say that other people who tried the cake liked it. It just wasn’t what I imagined.
Looks yummy…. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
The icing wasn’t crunchy, just kind of hard. I’ve actually been experimenting with a filling made out of almond milk and just a little bit of extract. That has possibilities.
This looks so pretty. Very fancy. I was wondering if the icing would be bitter instead of the super sweet topping I would anticipate. I didn’t think the preserves sounded good but was pleasantly surprised to find you thought it was a nice addition. Would be interesting to try it and see what it’s like. By the picture, I would have expected the icing to be very creamy. Not that crunch is a bad thing, just surprising. For the almond problem, would you just add way less of the almond extract? Or a different flavoring all together?
Well the cake does look very expensive and good and I am sure it was good.