by brennycooks,
2/25/2013I made this cake for a family birthday celebration. It was a huge hit. I thought I would have lots left over - not a chance! They ate the whole thing! Everyone loved it and all wanted the recipe. It was easy to make and looked very impressive. My chocolate curls were small but they still looked good and added a nice texture to the cream. A great recipe - except for kids maybe. My 9 year old thought it was terrible!
by DesigningBaker,
2/8/2013I love this cake -- delicious and great presentation! The cake itself is one of my favorite chocolate cakes, and the cream is out of this world! It's a great balance of flavors. I made it for Christmas and again this week for a friend's birthday - everyone loved it on both occasions. I also had too much cream so cut the recipe by 1/3 for the birthday cake. I sell my cakes and often commute with them to deliver to my customers at work. I insert a couple of thin lollipop sticks in the center of my cakes, and I usually don't have a problem with slippage. Did the same with this cake - and it worked commuting on the bus into Manhattan and a 1/2 mi. walk to the office!
by dghousemother,
1/30/2013Made this cake several times and it is always a hit. When transporting, I place three size 1 or size 2, 10 inch wood doubled pointed knitting needles to keep the cake from sliding. They work well, are washable or lickable if you are so inclined. Also, for the chocolate curls I melt good chocolate and pour it into a small square plastic dish to get the correct width. However, I agree with others that the white choclate does not curl as well and the dark.
by debm59,
1/11/2013Absolutely amazing cake! I was nervous about tackling it as I'm not much of a baker but wanted to do something other than the rum cake this year. Never made a cake from scratch (always used Duncan Hines, but never again!!!). It was so easy! The cake was super moist and not too sweet. The cream was amazing. Again, not too sweet. Only thing....I had way too much cream. Made the recipe as noted but had so much left over. Will half the recipe the next time. It was a HUGE hit at our family party and looked simply amazing. Thanks Fine Cooking!
by winstonk,
12/29/2012This turned out nicely and reading the reviews beforehand helped in the assembly. It got rave reviews from those eating it. I baked the cake layers the day before and assembled it using almost all the frosting. The frosting wasn't as sweet as expected and I would use more brown sugar next time making sure there are no lumps. The white chocolate curls came out fine but I used a block of Callebaut bittersweet 60.3% cocoa for the dark curls and even heated it was too stiff and made small, tight curls. I would use a block of semisweet chocolate instead for those. The left-over cake stayed well in the refrigerator for several days.
by NectarOfTheNitwit,
12/27/2012Delicious. The cake itself is remarkably moist and flavorful, and the frosting is as good as it sounds. Two points to throw in:
1) we had a lot of leftover frosting after following the specs., which was not a problem because we just used it as the whipped cream for the Irish Coffee recipe on the adjoining page;
2) as someone else noted, the layers don't stick together all that well, so I'd recommend a long, sharp knife. (Maybe heating the knife a bit would help?)
by SunshineH,
11/23/2012The cake recipe was great - a really sweet and moist chocolate cake. The whip cream was awesome too, though I had quite a bit left over. My cake definitely did not look as pretty as the picture and the layers kept slipping on the whipped cream but I received rave reviews from my friends. The chocolate curls are very important and although I was unable to find a big enough block and my curls were tiny in comparison, they added a nice bit of texture and taste to the cake.
Edit: This cake held up a lot longer than 2 hours in the fridge. The whip cream can pick up some odors from the fridge (if there are any) and taste a little different but my left over cake was still standing the next day in good condition.
by mkruse,
12/18/2012This cake is really easy to make and looks like you've spent hours making it. I agree, that if you let the cake layers completely cool, they won't slide as much. I also had a lot of whip cream left over.
by CindiAnn,
12/18/2012Delicious. For transporting a short distance, perhaps 2-3 toothpicks between layers would work. You won't see them until the cake is sliced.
by sbreckenridge,
12/13/2012In response to the previous two reviewers, here are a few more tips from the test kitchen on preventing the layers from sliding or leaning: make sure the cake layers are absolutely, completely cooled before stacking them with the filling; if they're even slightly warm (often imperceptible to touch), they'll tend to slide when layered with the whipped cream. Also, if your cake layers bake up with a domed top (variations in oven heat may cause this), the assembled cake will be more stable if you level off those domed tops before stacking. That said, the cake is not the best traveler--probably a better way to bring it to a potluck is to assemble on site since assembly is pretty easy. Hope that helps!
by MandyPrenger,
12/12/2012Such a tasty (!!) cake but I also had difficulty with keeping my cake tower from leaning. It was not a good choice for transporting to a dinner party, so if anyone has any tips about keeping things together I would love to have some input.
