Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Mint Chocolate 'Aero' Cake

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A gigantic chocolate cake is a really nice thing to come home to. Even if it's one that's been thrown together quickly, or one that's taken a days preparation, it's so good when you can dig into a big slice of that gooey, rich homemade goodness. I'd been playing with the idea of making a Mint Chocolate themed dessert for a while, something that reminded me of one of my favourite candy bars; mint Aero. Ever since I saw this great idea for a 'bubble-wrap mousse' from Taste, I knew I wanted to adapt it for my mint Aero dessert. I experiment a little-had a slight failure with small cups of green mint & white chocolate mousse topped with maltesers, and decided it wasn't pretty enough. Eventually I decided it needed to be a giant, four-layered chocolate cake, reminiscent of the triple-triple chocolate cake which was an undeniable hit.
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So it seemed simple enough, I baked up my usual chocolate cake recipe, and used the Taste recipe for the white chocolate mousse and added a bit of peppermint. After a day of chilling, I was ready to put everything together. The cakes were neatly sliced up into 4 layers, and I started to sandwich the mousse in between them. And then all hell broke loose. In hindsight, I really should have known better. The mousse recipe was never really meant to be used inside a cake. It started turning into mint chocolate SOUP, and started oozing out the sides and soaking into the cake, making the layers collapse around the edges. I really should have used a much more well-set mousse that used gelatine or something. So much fail was going on in my kitchen. I was certain if I waited any longer to do something the top half of the cake was going to slide right off the stand.
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It was tempting to throw the towel in, as I frantically scooped up the leaky mint chocolate soup of the cake by the handful. At this point I said, "F*** it, I did a night's worth of prep baking and used up all these ingredients, I'm going to turn this into an edible cake even if it friggin' kills me!". So I whipped up a batch of dark chocolate ganache. It's a good philosophy for the kitchen; if there's a problem, throw some ganache at it. And so my ugly fail cake was hidden under a thick layer of luscious chocolate ganache.
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Somehow, the cake did not collapse under it's own weight. By the time I was putting the ganache on, I was extremely cranky and swearing loud enough for my neighbours to hear, so I didn't even bother trying to make it smooth. And then while topping it off with Lindt chocolate balls (as inspired by the Taste recipe) I realised I didn't have enough of the chocolates and had to run down to Coles for more. I hate when that happens. And when I woke up this morning to take photos, it was pitch black. I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS. So my day was deprived of chocolate cake, but at least I had something to look forward to when I got home. I cut a slice out of the cake, dreading the mess that was hidden inside...yeah...the lovely flavoured bright green filling had pretty much disappeared and the cake was a little denser than usual, but it still tasted great. And I still love the idea, which is why I'm posting the recipe. I will just never ever use that mousse as the filling again, EVER.
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Mint Chocolate 'Aero' Cake
(adapted from Ina Garten's Beatty's Chocolate Cake recipe, serves 10-12)
Butter, for greasing the pans
275g (1 3/4 US cups) plain flour, plus more for pans
500g (2 US cups) sugar
75g (3/4 US cups) good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
240ml buttermilk, shaken
120ml vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

For the mint chocolate mousse filling:
I am not including the recipe I used because it was completely inappropriate for this cake. I'd recommend a gelatine based mousse (maybe like this one), a mint buttercream or adapt the dark chocolate ganache recipe below using white chocolate + peppermint essence & green food colouring

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Butter 2 19cm round cake tins. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry.

With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared tins and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 3 hours or overnight. If making a mint chocolate mousse for the filling, prepare this and chill for at least 3 hours or overnight.
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For the chocolate ganache:
450g (approx 1 pound) dark chocolate (I used 70% cocoa Lindt)
600ml (2 1/2 cups) pouring cream
Optional: 3x150g boxes of Lindt chocolates to decorate

Break up chocolate into small pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Slowly bring cream to just to the boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from the heat and cool for a couple minutes. Pour hot cream over chocolate and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Mix cream and chocolate together until smooth using a whisk, then cool until it reaches room temperature. Using an electric mixer, beat mixture until it is shiny, fluffy and just holds its shape (take care not to overmix or mixture will split, remelt and rebeat mixture if this happens).

When ready to assemble, use a long serrated knife to slice your two cakes into half (or leave them as two thicker layers if you wish). Sandwich cake layers with a layer of green mint chocolate filling. Crumb coat the outside of your cake with dark chocolate ganache, then use the rest of the ganache to ice your cake. Make sure to work quickly or ganache will set. Decorate top of cake with Lindt chocolates. Chill for at least an hour before serving, run a knife under hot water before slicing up.
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49 comments:

  1. I hate when natural light works against me too!!

    gorgeous looking cake, i'm glad it managed to stay upright for photos :)

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  2. for all the problems it came out looking like a pretty awesome cake.

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  3. I love peppermint..cake looks sooo good!
    Best regards, Nada!

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  4. Great cake, looks realy fantastic and irresistible.

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  5. I can onyl say, it was worth! The cake looks delicious! kisses

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  6. Just wondering... why was the mousse not good for this cake? It looks so pretty and delicious!

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  7. Jecka - as I mentioned in the post, the mousse didn't set hard enough and started melting, oozing out of the sides of the cake and making the whole thing collapse!

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  8. I rarely get chocolate craving pangs, but this post did just that.

    I totally agree that ganache fixes everything - but dammit i screw up making ganache just as much! I have to say, your cake ganaching skills are perfection steph!

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  9. I love the vibrant green mousse against the chocolate! Too bad the mousse didn't work out but it still looks great and I'm sure it tasted fabulous as well!

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  10. dude your cakes looks perfect! haha if you hadn't said anything i would've thought it was a complete success in both the making and of the eating lol but it looks great!

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  11. This doesn't look like a disaster at all! Consider it not a failure, but a triumph of resourcefulness and expertise!

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  12. Seriously Steph, you are waaaaaayyyyyyy too hard on yourself. How you get your ganache so darn smooth is beyond me. The cake is freaking awesome, I don't care what you say!

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  13. Oh my gosh. I have SO been there! I feel for you!

    I never would have guessed that there had been any issues, though. The cake looks wonderful!

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  14. o my.. mouth-watering!! the chocolate so rich, can't wait to bake my self :)

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  15. This is a gorgeous cake. I can't even being to imagine how delicious it must be!

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  16. That looks absolutely delicious!! ... love mint and chocolate! cant wait to try the choc mint mousse!

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  17. Oh man! I can totally sympathize with your cake disaster, but you saved it so well! It came out beautifully, and the pictures are great! And I love the idea of putting lindt balls on top. Yummm!

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  18. OMG I LOVE you, Thanks for sharing your trials too! I hate it when stuff like this happens! Lovely pictures...I am so in LOVe with your blog.

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  19. This is absolutely gorgeous! I love the all out liberty with chocolates. I normally do not make such a big cake so I am thinking the Lindt balls may be too big for a smaller cake -I may need to make my own truffles for this...:)

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  20. Shirley @ Kokken69 - Your own truffles would be AMAZING for this! I toyed with the idea but laziness prevailed :)

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  21. Wow this cake looks DELICIOUS! You'd never know that you had some challenges with it. I've never had a mint Aero chocolate bar, but it sounds delicious!

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  22. That would have to be the most delicious looking cake I have ever laid eyes on. OH MY!

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  23. Well, one wouldn't have knew it was a disaster if you didn't mention it. I love mint Aero chocolate bar but can't really find it here in MY.

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  24. this is utterly gorgeous, very flawlessly done.

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  25. This looks amazing! Mint aero is so freakin awesome! Yay for ganache saving the day! Although, I'm sure it would've still been amazing with runny mousse and all ;)

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  26. If you hadn't told us about all the problems I don't think anyone would have known that the mousse had been a fail, your cake looks gorgeous, even though the mousse layers aren't the way you wanted them.

    I love the concept of a Mint Aero cake :D To take the theme one step further, you could use Mint Aero Bubbles to top the cake instead of the Lindt balls :)

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  27. Even I don't like mint, but this still makes me drool like hell!!

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  28. Oh wow - it's picture pefect! Aero is such a throwback to the 90s... or is it 80s? Showing my age...

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  29. A labour of love that was certainly well worth the effort, what an amazing looking cake ... and its based on my fave chocolate bar too!!! I'll be popping round shortly for a slice lol

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  30. You are definately way too hard on yourself, but then again I think we are our own worse critics =) Looks gorgeous! Just call it an edible delicious disaster turned success.

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  31. You turned a "failure" into something magnificent, well done! (And you now have a great story to tell!) :D

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  32. Wow.

    You know, this cake looks so awesome you could have easily just said "la la la, I made this fabulous cake and it was a breeze, you can too!" and we all would have eaten it up. The words, I mean, not the cake. I'd like to eat up the cake but it's just not physically possible when you insist on baking your cakes so very far awy from me :( Shame on you!

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  33. that looks awesome! always love peppermint chocolate cake!

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  34. Wow this is gorgeous cake looks amazingly Delicious!!!

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  35. Gorgeous cake!!!! I would really love a slice of this soon!!;)

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  36. I'm going to say it:

    the Lindt chocolates look like assberries.

    but awesome assberies and not fail ones so chin up soldier because we have to fall to learn to pick ourselves up again and yes I just shameless quoted Thomas Wayne again

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  37. Haha, love the story...thanks for sharing! I have had a similar experience when using a delicious mousse to fill a cake!

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  38. this looks amazing! you should start doing cake orders haha :)

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  39. Wow, this looks georgous! Great!

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  40. yowza!! gorgeous photos and the cake looks super scrumptious!!!

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  41. I love to find a blog that has beautiful 'Martha Stewart' looking pictures & then read it & it says things like 'F*** it!' I always try to imagine Martha saying the same thing. LOL! Just the typical all American home. Everything is pretty & sweet from the outside but inside we are all swearing like sailors! LOL!

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  42. steph, you're a baking goddess. wow! this is truly a beautiful work of "Steph" :-)

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  43. OMG I HAVE DIED AND GONE TO AERO HEAVEN... baddd badddddd person to put this online!!!

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  44. Hello! I'm Spanish. I don't write English well. I like your blog. The green colour that you use in your food is beautiful. What kind of green is? Thank you.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I just used regular green liquid food colouring, adding drop by drop until I got the desired colour. Hope that helps!

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  45. Excellent cake, used buttercream in the middle. I warn anyone who tries this that this is a cake that you should make the day before especially with only one cake tin.

    On the day my brothers party was going in and 9 o clock came around and I still wasn't finished so I just poured over the unfinished ganache. The guests were still happy though but many had left due to my lateness.

    I love your blog as its got some really good recipes that I'm always able to trust when asked to make cake and massive +1 it has METRIC measurements which next to no food blogs gave. That you for your recipe

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