By jeni_hope

Re: The chocolate cake fell apart
05 May 2008 18:48

Just made it for son's birthday tomorrow - mixture in 2 x 8 inch silicon sandwich cases and left until cold. As I took one cake out of the 'tin' it cracked across the middle, I thought that the icing would stick it together, but quite the opposite. As I piled the icing on top the cake broke into 3 parts that slowly slid apart, and now it looks like the scene of an earthquake. We haven't tasted it yet and fortunately son is so chuffed that I made him a cake he doesn't mind a bit what it looks like. Did anyone else find the cakes fragile or was I too heavy handed ?

Replies

By Helen

Re: The chocolate cake fell apart
05 May 2008 21:01

no have not made the cake, but we have made the buns which were fab. my daughter took some in for her teacher who was so thrilled. i think she thought we were looking for good sats results!!!! But the buns were moist, easy to make and yummy. Have not made the cake yet but will watch out for your tips. A very good friend bought the jane asher pink buttons for me which really finished them off nicely.

By Sam, worthing west sussex, uk

Re: The chocolate cake fell apart
06 May 2008 18:42

I made this cake as a cake, rather than 'fairy cakes' in tins, which were well greased and lined..... neither of my cakes cracked, but the tops did have earthquake style runs in them...one didn't matter so much, so i used the worst for the base, smeared the 'icing' over the the bottom one and then sam=ndwiched together and that filled in the crater cracks on the top tier. could i be so bold as to suggest it was either the use of the silcone tins, or possible you was a bit too heavy handed in the turning out...cos mine just plopped out of the tin once i turned it over onto the cooling rack?????

I also only used half a tspn of the 5 spice, as something nagged at me that it wasn;t right to put that much in a CAKE, and i think either rob or gerry found it a bit too much and have both since adjusted the recipe accordingly...cos it does taste fab, and its acutally really quite moist (must be the potato???)

Sammy

ps, i couldn;t find pink buttons, but have decorated using cadburys mini eggs and smarties and left it plain ....oh and i have also made it using white choc drops.

By jeni_hope

Re: The chocolate cake fell apart
06 May 2008 19:03

Thanks Sam. I should have used the faulty cake for the bottom half, not the top! we've called it 'Climate Change Chocolate Cake' because it looked like a mud slide.
I found the uncooked mixture was very different from a normal raw cake mixture and didn't want to level itself off in the tin. I didn't have any unsalted butter so used common salted butter which I guess changed the flavour a bit - though it was rather nice even so. Other things I didn't have include SR flour so used 3 tsps baking powder, light muscavado sugar so used half dark muscavado half soft brown, pink buttons so used grated chocolate.
I remembered the discussion about the 5 spice powder so only used half teaspoon and you wouldn't have known it was there - I might be braver another time - my 5 spice doesn't have any garlic in it. I often make a spice cake with heaps of Ras el Hanout in it ( from Seasoned Pioneers web site) and we love it.
I'll certainly make it again, I've collected the correct ingredients now so I'll see how differently it turns out

By jeni_hope

Re: The chocolate cake fell apart
06 May 2008 19:05

And I'll be a bit more gentle with the next one!!

By cupcake

Re: The chocolate cake fell apart
07 May 2008 00:00

I made this receipe as cupcakes and put one teaspoon of 5-spice powder in. They were terrible, my 12-year old daughter said they were minging! Sorry Delia but they all went in the bin as we couldn't find anyone that liked them. I remade the cakes without the spice and they were lovely. This is the first receipe in the book (and I have made many) that we haven't liked. So if your making them for the first time beware of the 5-spice powder.

By Honey

Re: The chocolate cake fell apart
07 May 2008 17:25

Jeni, I made it as one cake. It rose rather a lot and I did have a crater a bit like the Grand Canyon on the top. But I filled the crater with the icing and as mine was for Easter, I was able to decorate mine with a birds nest on the top and no one was the wiser. Sounds like you perhaps over did the baking power if you didn't have self raising flour. It will be better next time.

Honey :-x

By jeni_hope

Re: The chocolate cake fell apart
07 May 2008 17:26

It's an awful lot of chocolate to have to bin it; that would break my heart!
I'm confused now - this isn't the cupcake we know is it? Another cupcake - I think we're going to be in trouble here. Is it possible that you could change your name to avoid problems?

By Melady

Re: The chocolate cake fell apart
10 May 2008 09:40

Hi all, having read these reviews I,ve come to the conclusion that I must be really really clever (I'm not really just think it was pure luck) as my chocolate cake turned out great, no craters or tram lines, and as for the taste and the texture it was brill. Chocolate Cake has always been dry when I made it before but not this one loved it.