Cake #11 - Chocolate Chestnut Torte with Cognac Mousse

yield: Makes 8 servings

active time: 1 3/4 hr

total time: 5 hr

That bit of information is from the recipe.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ah ah hah. Total time: 5 hr, my ass!

This cake ate up two days of my time. This cake should have been dinner party-worthy. This cake was such a visual mess in the end that I threw up my hands and gave up. Oh, I wish for all those hours of time back!

Here were my major problems:

1. Couldn't find whole roasted chestnuts. Apparently the sun goes down on Christmas Day and then chestnuts are pulled from the shelves of all the Whole Foods in Chicago. My solution: I substituted pecans.

2. Couldn't find candied chestnuts. My solution: I substituted pecans.

3. Both of my ganaches were nightmares. The main one I made on New Year's Eve and then chilled. Even after sitting out on the counter for OVER FIVE HOURS on New Year's Day, it never thoroughly softened. The cognac ganache, once chilled and then brought to room temperature separated and then never set up again.

4. Wow, that's a whole lot of cognac! No thank you to the cognac mousse that looked disgusting and reeks of alcohol.

Let's take it step by step because there were points when I thought this cake was going to be awesome.

DAY ONE:

First up: Chocolate. How can you go wrong with six bars of chocolate?

Suck it, chestnuts. Pecans roasted in the oven and then ground saved the day.

The cakes (I had to buy a 3rd 8" pan...buying bakeware is getting old) come out of the oven and they are beautiful and fragrant, and I want to eat them immediately. But, they and the ganache are put in the fridge to be used the following day.

DAY TWO:

It feels wrong to be opening a bottle of cognac at 9:30 a.m. When I add the cognac to its ganache, I am bowled over by how much it tastes like cognac. Worry that I should not have let Charlie lick the spatula, it's that strong.

I take the ganache from the day before out of the fridge when starting the cognac ganache so it can come to room temp. The recipe says that it may take 2-3 hours. No problem! I have all day. After at least four hours, I am able to smear some on the bottom layer of the cake mainly because the cake has spent time in the freezer, so I can apply some pressure.

Apply a layer of candied pecans. I am whistling, smiling, feeling good.

I make the cognac mousse (whipped cream and whipped egg whites added to the cognac ganache), and it's all wrong. It's grainy and weird. And so very cognac-reeking. I have hopes that as part of the bigger cake it won't be so strong.

I apply the third cake layer and put it in the fridge for it to chill an hour and set up. Friends stop by, we hang out and chat. I lament that I don't have my sure-to-be-awesome cake ready to share.

HOURS later, I return to the cake to put the ganache all around the cake. The ganache that has been sitting on the counter ALL FREAKIN' DAY, and it's still stiff and solid. The cognac mousse has not set up and so when I try to put on the ganache with pressure, the mousse oozes out, and the ganache will not spread. All cheer is gone. All is frustration and annoyance. I peel the ganache off the cake, and it takes a layer of cake with it.

I decide that this point that I will skip the ganache layer and just pour the melted ganache over the top. I am still remembering how awesome it was on the gingerbread cake (see cake #10). And, in theory it works. But I don't have enough ganache not studded with cake crumbs to pour on the cake to cover the whole thing. And my cake is now lopsided from the pressure I had to apply to get the ganache on. The result is some parts of the cake with ganache, others without it.

Failed, defeated. OVER IT. The cake goes in the fridge to set up YET AGAIN.

Finally, we can taste the cake. And the verdict? The cake itself is awesome. Moist, nutty but not overwhelming. The ganache and nuts are great. The cognac mousse is too strong. Even combined with other bites, it's too strong for my taste. I will continue to eat this, but I'll skip that layer.

Will I ever make this cake again? Hells no.