Cake Tasting

 

I am making a baby shower cake for my sister next week and decided to try out some new flavors before the big event.  I have become a fan of the TLC show, Cake Boss, since I like cake decorating, and it comes on while I'm at the gym running.  (Hmmm, running and cake, maybe that's why I haven't lost any weight!)  I found a recipe for vanilla cake on TLC's website, here.  One of the ingredients in this cake is Italian custard cream.  I made homemade cream using the recipe here, which turned out really good!  The only thing I was disappointed in is that there are little lumps in mine, but it tastes amazing!  The overall verdict on the vanilla cake: just okay...  It was much denser than the normal boxed cake and had a different flavor.

The above cake is filled with homemade chocolate ganache, which was yummy.  After looking at several online recipes, I had to make my own recipe because I didn't have any heavy cream, so this is what I did:

Whole Milk Chocolate Ganache
1 cup whole milk
9 oz bittersweet chocolate chips
1 tsp flour
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp light corn syrup

I cooked the milk and flour in a saucepan until it just started to simmer, using a wire whisk frequently.  Then I added the chocolate chips and whisked until they melted, then added the butter and corn syrup and whisked until the butter was melted.  Take it off the burner and let cool, put it in the refrigerator until needed to fill the cake.

This cake is filled with homemade Italian custard cream.  This one was our least favorite.  The bottom one is filled with plain old Smucker's strawberry jam.  

And of course, we had to have one with chocolate cake.  This one is actually my favorite, it kinda tastes like a Ho Ho.  It's filled with chocolate ganache and covered with is as well.  I love how the chocolate looks dripping down the sides.

 

 Lastly, I made a few cupcakes!  I filled them with the Italian custard cream by filling a piping bag with cream, stabbing the top of the cupcake, and squeezing.