Cake #22 - 12 Layer Mocha

This was supposed to be our "graduation" cake.  And it was supposed to happen over Labor Day Weekend to mark the end of the 30 cakes in 52 weeks.  It is the creme de la creme of all cakes.  It has 12 layers for pete's sake.  Mocha, chocolate, frosting, yum!  But, as the delinquency post pointed out, not so much for the timing or order of these cakes.  

Turns out I was visiting my mom over Labor Day Weekend and she likes herself a cake project too, so we set out to do this one together.  I figured the more help, the merrier, plus with all the effort involved, we really needed a group around to appreciate.  

What I wound up appreciating was my mom.  Who had to clean up my mess and who had the time and energy to re-do the merengue layer from what I originally screwed up.  

See, we wanted to get to the Wonder Lake Water Ski Show in time to see the opening act, which left me with no time to re-do the layer that was royally messed up.  

The merengue layer was a problem.  I believe I had the oven too high and the timing all wrong.  As you can see below, I burnt it to a crisp, and thought it was supposed to be like that.  

Another part I messed up was the mocha filling.  I did this in 2 stages as well, and the filling did not benefit.  By the time we were back from the ski show, I thought I'd whip up the frosting and assemble.  But from the show came my teenage nephews and their teenage girlfriends who saddled up to the island and watched.  Finally I got to cook all Batali style and show my stuff.  But what I showed was how to make mocha look like oatmeal soup.  Oooof.  It required a LOT of blending to thicken that up.  And one of the emo girlfriends piped in with a suggestion, so I looked at her incredulously, until it sunk in that she knew how to cook and was right.  Only then did I let her have a go at the beaters, and it worked.  We finally got this baby assembled.  

And it . was . good.

I do want to make this one again in my kitchen while I am focused on it.  It wasn't sooooo amazing that everyone will remember it, but it could be one of those cakes that I make for every X holiday and becomes a go to cake.  For the effort though, I am not likely to make this for just Ben & me on a Tuesday night.  

And, I have to say, doing the "graduation" cake early, made me lose a little steam for the remaining 8 cakes.  

Hey, maybe my occasion for this one will be "graduations".  

The uber-burned merengue.

Cake # 21 - White chocolate layer cake with Apricot Filling and White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

That's right, 4 layers...but only 2 cakes.

This is a middle layer.

Good gravy, this is not supposed to end like this.  Clumpy and not melty.  Again.

White. Chocolate. Is. My. Arch. Nemesis.  I have had troubles with white chocolate before, so I knew to handle it with extra caution.  It didn't help.  White chocolate is just evil.  In fact, it is not even chocolate - so it should not get the same love.

You may have noticed that the chronological order of these pictures is backwards.  That is because I wanted to show that the end result was good, even if we had to go about this the hard way.  I mean really, what is the deal with white chocolate?  Kind of like accounting, it is something many people understand, but I will never get it right.  After 2 attempts on the double boiler to get it to a smooth melty consistency, it was finally there.  But then cooling it, I went too far and it became solid as a rock with the knife standing straight up in it.  Gross.

This cake was not my cup of tea from the beginning.  But, like a couple of the others, it really surprised me.  The cake itself was delicious and moist.  The frosting was very good - though if blind taste testing, would I ever have guessed it was white chocolate?  No.  The fresh apricots were fun to use, but mainly because I could easily buy them in a tiny crate from Trader Joes.  

My household is not a huge fan of nuts on dessert.  We like nuts.  We like dessert.  We don't turn down dessert with nuts, but we just don't prefer to make them, which is why this cake only had half of its circumference covered in the requisite walnuts.  

Overall, this cake turned out to be a) a lot of work and b) totally delicious.  Not sure I am gunning to make it again, but several months after the fact, I am still craving it in a good way.  

Happy Baking!