Gâteau Chocolat au Fraises

hohoho.....i was bored and looking at cakes online, and I stumbled across a diagram of a cake.   it had labels of all the components of the cake.....and i decided to challenge my self.  I wanted to try to bake this cake without concrete instructions, or so help me, I would die trying....i also wanted to find a cake that incorporated strawberries because my mom bought me these gorgeous strawberries that were small and sweet....almost like Fraise des Bois, but not quite.  :P  i always take on big projects with my sister (in the past, we have done things like the Opera Cake~).  when baking, she always does all the creams and frostings,  while i do the cake and assembly. (our dream is to open a sweets shop one day!)  The cake was actually quite easy, and came out very delicious--the strawberries also gave off a slight fruity smell that made the cake appear to have been imbibed with liquer...'kirsch'....oh, but only in my dreams; i still need to finish my bottle of frangelico's!

this is what i followed, but you need to know french food terms and the such to execute this.  i watch a lot of foreign shows, and visit a lot of foreign websites, so i know how to read it. :) lucky me.

Gateau Chocolate au Fraises

Mousse Chocolat:

150 g. chocolate paste
150 g. milk
3 egg yolks
450 g. sour cream (35%)

(for meringue italienne)

3 egg whites
200 g. sugar
70 ml. water
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Genoise au Chocolate

150 g. egg yolks
40 g. sugar
40 g. cocoa powder
80 g. simple syrup (2 sugar: 1 water) 

100 g. egg whites
75 g. sugar
a little salt
50 g. flour
50 g. corn startch
a little cinnamon
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Imbibing Syrup

100 ml. simple syrup (1 sugar: 2 water)
50 g. Grande Marnier
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Glacage

for the glacage ( frosting) i used chocolate ganache with a 1:1 ratio, and chocolate buttercream for the dirty ice, and the piping under the strawberries.
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I used the sponge method of making this cake as opposed to genoise, because unlike most genoise recipes, it lacked a source of fat content. (i.e. butter)





* did you know that separating the eggs in a cake will cause the cake to be airier and lighter, but keeping the yolks and whites together produces a more tender cake?
 

Daring Bakers

ehehehe.......i joined a few months ago....and did one of the challenges, but couldn't figure out how to upload pictures on the internet.  >.<  wow.....i know, lame.  but then i did gain some knowledge, but was to busy for the end of the year exams...i thought that i was officially never going to have a chance again to participate, but, luckily, the rules have changed!   waiting for the new September Challenge!    FIGHTING!

my thoughts ♥

ahh....cakes. ♥

Personally, I think making cakes is the best! ...and no, not some old boxed cake from the market, but a cake that takes preparation and time. Those complicated cakes (or crazy cakes as me and my sister call them) make me the happiest when baking. Crazy as it sounds, I do enjoy using all my time and energy for the day just to complete a one single dessert. But i do enjoy those simple 1 hour cakes here and there.

cookies!!!

although I enjoy baking cakes more, I honestly think that cookies are the more perfect dessert. they are the epitome of my happiness. ahh yes. these bite sized, hand-sized, but not-so-small-in-flavor sized dessert that never gets old. it can fits anyone's taste; for the more mature palates, the deliciously (finicky) French Macarons! &lt;3 (i have yet to perfect a batch due to their ever-so finicky nature.....but i am trying!!!!!!!) &gt;.&lt; to the lovely classic, the chocolate-chip cookies (i still remember the first time I made those cookies... no the first time i ever baked; that was during the Christmas of 2008, and I baked a dozen batches that day with my sister.) I guess i am a bit biased since I most likely see cookies in a romanticized light--I love my grandmother, and she always baked cookies when I was young (I always looked forward to licking the cookie dough off the beaters! :P) hohoho. I might still be naive about the world of desserts, but my opinion now stands, that the best medicine on a sad day is a glass of cold milk and warm cookies. 

iya~! Pastries….

I haven't done pastries as much as I've done the others, but i can make a decent pie dough! ....but, I am still scarred by my one true experience with pastries. hehehe. I have attempted puff pastry once....twice. I just can't take a hint. :P it was a big, buttery mess--yes, even more so than an episode of Paula Deen's show on Food Network. In between folding, rolling, and panicking the butter block into the dough, I managed to produce a puff pastry.....sort of.... BUT that didn't stop me! i tried again, and it turned out all right!!!!! it took me 8 hours although......so i won't be trying that again, unless I am fully prepared for the buttery monster. Aside from that anecdote, I still do want to pursue recipes that involve pastry dough, but unfortunately cannot commence till I buy the awesome tart shells from Wilton! ^_^

oh my bread.

you know that feeling you get when you first hold a baby in your hands after giving birth? well i know... and haha. i've never been pregnant before (unlike some kids these days) and obviously never given birth--well not literally. I am talking about the feeling of holding dough after it rises. It is like a newborn baby that you have created yourself.....since you did feed the yeast, and knead the dough yourself. ^_^ it is so magical to me that from such a simple process, a whole myriad of breads are created...with different tastes and textures. ahh. i love bread. especially sweet Asian breads. but my favorite bread of all time is the french baguette. it is the perfect bread--crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, with both a sweet and slightly sour taste....almost like the smell of fermenting. hohoho. bread is a staple of life; it always was, and will always be. :D

yay! cake decorating basics.....FINISHED!

hohoho!!!   yeah!  I finally finished the Basic Cake Decorating Course!  this class had lasted for a whole month.....one class a week.  It taught us the basics of cake decorating, such as: hand pressures and hand positions (for icing bags)  and how to pipe starts, flowers, words, and dots.  This class is also awesome for teaching how to smoothly ice a cake.  :3  the final project was to make a fully decorated cake.....which I could've perfected IF I wasn't such a procrastinator.  hahaha.  yes.  I ended up icing the cake in the car while my mother was driving--that was a ......mess, but the flowers turned out well!   you can take this class in any Michael's craft store.....I think.  :)  2nd class is in royal icing flowers....ooooooo........fancy!   Wilton ROCKS!