Cake #20 Black Forest Boule-de-Neige

I have to say, this Black Forest Boule-de-Neige cake caught my attention early on in this project.  Looked like a total ball to make.  Plus, I like Black Forest.  It seemed kind of "holiday", so we didn't do it right away.  Then there were so many actual holiday cakes, this one got lost, which is how I wound up making it on a hot day in August.

Part of my excitement was that I already had the requisit metal bowl - we use it all the time, so I was glad it did not get ruined after its stint in the oven.

Our friends Amy & Dave were coming to visit - not that I need an occasion to make a cake these days, but really, I was glad to have a deadline.  I thought I had to hit the store for key ingredients to get started, so I did not do it Friday night.  Turns out my pantry was stocked, with a couple exceptions - we even had dried cherries on hand!  How on earth did Ben let this slip by him? He usually eats them the moment we get them home.

The recipe calls for lining the bowl with tin foil.  I was supposed to melt the cherries in a cherry jam, but I used leftover strawberry jelly from the beach.  Not a big deal on the substitution scale.

 On Saturday we were out and about and decided to pick up some nosh for our friends at Formaggio Kitchen.  Now, faithful reader, in case you recall the marrons-glaces debacle from New Year's Eve, this is the same store that ALMOST had that elusive ingredient.  We were going for olives & cheese, but I thought they might have this garnish:  candied violets.  I was fully prepared to substitute with purple skittles or cake decorations,  since from the picture it just seemed like garnish.  But, it turns out, I saw upon the shelf, in a great glass bottle:  Candied Violets.  And then I saw:  $99.99 per lb.  Whaaaaaaaaaaaa???? Really?  You've got to be kidding me.  The candy counter girl saw my reaction and volunteered to count some out for me - "so, uh, yeah, how much would like 10 run me?  Am I in for $25?"  Luckily no.  I was able to buy 15 of them for $3.00.  Whew.  Wish they sold the marron-glaces like that.

The funny part was when I got them home, one of my "helpers" opened the box and dropped it at the same time scattering them across the kitchen.  No worries, the floor was recently cleaned, and we deemed the 3 second rule to be in play.  Sorry officemates, now you know.  But it was weeks ago, and you are fine, right?

The cake was fun to frost, fun to make, but really waaaaaayyyy to sludgey in the end.  It said it would be a little runny when a cake tester was inserted - but what is "a little"?  Mine was, and the interior was more like raw brownie fudge, and not really in a good way.

The top of it where it was nice and brownie like was awesome, but that was only about 1/4 inch of the whole cake.  Maybe baking it longer would have an impact.   I won't know 'cuz I am probably not going to make this beauty again.

And, it turns out that my friend Deb wins the prize for telling me what Boule de Neige means ... its French for snow ball.  Duh.