I started learning how to bake last April and it is expected of me to bake my husband's birthday cake since I have been posting a lot of photos of my baked goods on social media. I don't always achieve the desired result each time I bake. Sometimes it would be awesome, some are epic fails. Haha! It's a good thing my family devours even those that I consider as "rejects". My husband requested for a chocolate cake on his 30th birthday. His party is scheduled on November 8 and I plan to make him a better looking cake. For his real birthday tomorrow, I baked a simple chocolate cake with a design coming to mind just as I was spreading the icing. My creative ideas come when I least expect it.
I got the chocolate cake recipe from this link http://bakehappy.net/2011/05/how-to-bake-a-perfectly-moist-chocolate-cake.html#.u2cubogszng and it had a lot of good reviews so I decided to use it. The blogger used an 8 inch round pan but what I had at home was an 8x8 inch square pan which I also use for my cinnamon rolls and special ensaymada. The entire batter fit in my pan to my surprise. I am still adjusting my baking temp and time with my new electric oven. I have been using a big gas oven since April and just recently, my husband bought me an electric oven for small orders and family consumption.
I like baking with the electric oven but the temp is very hard to monitor. If I set it at 150 degrees, the thermostat which I bought separately reads past 200 degrees. I'm going crazy with the temp and all. With my gas oven, once it reaches the desired temp, I place what needs to be baked inside and the temp will go down a bit and will slowly go up again but will never really exceed the desired temp in the beginning before I even place the pastries inside.
Anyway, last night, I watched my oven carefully to make sure I don't burn my precious cake as I have done with my first attempt of baking chocolate chip cookies last month. The cake looked done at around 50 minutes so I took it out and let it cool and designed it just this morning. I still haven't tasted it because my husband's birthday is not until tomorrow. I'll have to wait a few more hours to make a review of the actual taste of the recipe I used.
Here's a photo grid of my cake which I call Triple Chocolate Cake because it has cocoa on the actual cake batter, chocolate ganache and chocolate chips for the toppings to cover up my imperfect and obviously unskilled icing spreading technique. I improvised and used a fork to make horizontal lines on the icing. I wasn't sure if the ganache is pipeable so I decided to make it simple. I don't even have a cake board so I just placed it on some parchment paper and used the only box I had which was too big for the cake since I use it as packaging for my custard macaroons. It looks promising though. Hahaha. I will update this post tomorrow once I've had a slice. :)
November 2 *update*
I had to wait the whole day for us to finally eat the cake I made. We woke up late and Ryan said to have lunch first and have the cake in the evening. Finally, we gathered around the dining table and sang him a birthday song. Right after the blowing of the candle, I eagerly sliced the cake and gave each family member their portion. Everyone said it tasted great and my mother in law said that I could add it to my list of baked goods to sell. I was so happy that finally, I actually appreciated my work. Most of the time, I would feel sad about not achieving my desired outcome. But this cake recipe is fool proof. This one is a classic moist chocolate cake that my family will enjoy for decades to come. I'll make sure that this recipe gets passed on to the next generation. Thanks to the person who shared this family recipe on her blog.:)
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