I think this beauty might be a candidate for Cake Wrecks. At least I'm not charging anyone money for it. I know, you're wondering what's with the balls/knobs/wheel spokes.
I had extra cake left from when I trimmed the layers and it seemed a shame to toss them out, so I mixed the crumbs with some extra ganache and then coated them in even more ganache and made a sort of truffle. My mistake was in affixing them to the cake. Can you imagine the reaction you'd get serving this thing to someone for Valentine's.
Looks aside, this is a wonderful cake. Chocolate, orange, buttermilk-what's not to like? (except of course the absurd look of the thing?). The recipe for the cake went well, the frosting did not. Rather than give it a second try to see what went wrong, I made my tried and true chocolate ganache that I knew everyone would like. I also went ahead and filled the cake with some of the blood orange marmalade because chocolate and orange is God's gift. Really, if there's a better taste combination I've yet to discover it. Besides, I had the extra marmalade in the fridge that wasn't quite enough for canning another half pint and it needed to get used. The pink decoration is the end of a bag of not-very-interesting candy melts that I added a bit of colour to. Good enough for detailing, but not something you'd want to eat much of (fake vanilla, mmmm).
The cake recipe comes from the Country cakes book I've already raved about at length (though I was kind of dissapointed at how the suggested frosting failed so horribly). The ganache recipe is mine and I leave a lot of room for improvisation depending on how rich you like your coating. You'll have extra for making truffles...just don't stick them on the sides of the cake, Einstein!
For The Cake:
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter softened at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 extra large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups buttermilk at room temperature
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Lightly butter and flour the inside of two 9 inch baking pans. Place a piece of waxed paper (I used parchment) inside and grease and flour it as well. Set aside.
Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together and set aside.
Cream the butter in a mixing bowl until light-about three minutes. Add the sugar in two additions slowly and beat until light. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix well. Blend in the vanilla and chocolate and beat on low speed until it is incorporated. Alternately, add the flour in three additions and the milk in two starting and ending with the flour. Pour into pans and smooth. Place on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Bake 25-30 minutes or until the centre comes out clean and sides begin to pull away. Cool in pans on rack five minutes. Run a thin knife around edge and empty onto rack. Cool completely before frosting. Chill cake layers and filling before coating.
Filling: Marmalade or jam of your choice
To Make Ganache:
13 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla( liquor, or other extract)
Heat the cream and syrup until steaming. Pour over chocolate in a large bowl and let sit five minutes. Add vanilla and whisk until smooth. Position cake on a rack over a baking sheet. Pour and spread the ganache quickly, smoothing as you go. Let harden in fridge and chill several hours before serving.
Use extra ganache to make truffles by forming hardened ganache into balls and rolling in cocoa powder.
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