Chocolate Cream Cake

 'Its great to have a son, but to have a daughter is to be in heaven'.

I had read this somewhere, yeah at a maternity hospital.  This was firmly etched in my mind and I had actually believed this when I was carrying my daughter and was desperately hoping and praying that it should be a baby girl this time around. My son Anirudh was quite a handful for me when was a toddler and I had had a tough time with him. Back then, I was not working and I had all the time in the world to take him to the park every single evening. I would really enjoy meeting other mothers there, but would dread the moment when I would see a kid coming running towards me- for sure, with a complaint about my son!! "Aunty, Anirudh took away my ball', or' He poured sand on someone's head' were the common ones I recall.  In retrospect,  it was my inability as a first time mother, that had stressed me out:-))

But we had always wanted to have a daughter too, a sweet cutie pie, who would be easy to look after, not climb windows or pour sand on others' heads. A docile daughter, like my niece and my cousin's daughters. We were so happy when Aditi was born, sweet, chubby and angelic. By the time, she turned one, the halo around her head had started disappearing.... and I now have one feisty, extremely naughty, totally unrestrained daughter who is anything but docile...lol!

Sorry, I got a little carried away!! I meant to write a post about the birthday cake I had made for her birthday in May. Well, I had not posted it so far as I thought it did not look good enough, though it had tasted good. Witnessing sibling rivalry in its nascent stages, am sure Aditi will not forgive me later if I don't post her birthday cake ,as I have posted Anirudh's birthday cakes, Helicopter Cake and Mocha Chocolate Gateaux. So here comes Aditi's Chocolate Cream Cake.

She had actually wanted a Dora cake and I did try to make it with my home-made piping gel. But I had not realized that drawing a human face was much different from drawing things. My Dora looked like she had been crying:-))) And I had very little time to do a repeat. My chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse was ready and frosted. I could think of only doing something with fondant. I remembered seeing a cheerful cake on the Wilton site and tried something similar. Though not a great looking one, it was indeed yummy and  made my daughter very happy. A chocolate sponge, soaked in simple sugar syrup, filled and frosted with gooey chocolate cream.

Here comes the recipe.

Chocolate Sponge, from Deeba.
Ingredients:
Eggs -3
Powdered Sugar - 1/2 cup
Flour - 1/2 cup minus 2 tbsps
Cocoa powder- 2 tbspns
Method:

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Line and grease a 9 inch round cake tin
• Sift flour and cocoa.
• Beat eggs with sugar till thick mousse like, for about 10 minutes. Fold in flour, gently, so that the beaten air is not released.
• Pour batter into a lined, greased and  floured tin. Bake for 35-40 minutes till done; lightly colored.
• Turn out to cool on rack, immediately removing the lining.
• Slice the cake horizontally into 2 slices.

Sugar Syrup
 1 Cup water
 1 1/4 tablespoon powdered sugar(adjust to taste)
 Mix both together and refrigerate till needed .
 For the Chocolate Cream: I serve this as a dessert sometimes - Mock Chocolate Mousse, recipe adapted from a Tarla Dalal book.

1 Cup dark chocolate chips
1 Cup whipping cream(I use sweetened whipping cream,Rich's)
1 tablespoon milk

Whip the cream till it reaches the soft peak stage. Keep aside, let the whipped cream come to room temperature. Do not refrigerate as the cream will become cold.  Melt the chocolate with the milk in a double boiler or in a microwave. Cool . Fold the melted chocolate into the whipped cream, making sure the air in the cream is retained.

Please Note: When melted chocolate is mixed into something cold, it will seize up and become lumpy. So ensure the whipped cream is not cold when you fold in the chocolate. Same thing when hot chocolate is mixed into cream. Right temperature of the two ingredients is imperative.

To assemble:

Place one cake slice on the cake platter and soak well with the syrup using a spoon. (Do not over do this as the cake will become soggy). Use the bottom layer (with the parchment) for the top of the cake as it will be smooth and gives a neat and flat finish to the cake.
Spread some of the chocolate cream evenly using an offset spatula. Place the second layer on the cream and soak with sugar syrup. Frost with the cream. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.

I have used fondant cut into shapes and some licorice to make the "party' picture. With this one posted, I now feel less guilty:-)).

This cake is on its way to Champa's weekly  Bake Off .