You will never be able to escape from your heart.
So it’s better to listen to what it has to say.
—Paul Coelho, The Alchemist
Happy Valentine’s Day!…
… or happy Lunar New Year, happy day-of-regret after Mardi Gras (yeah, I know it’s Ash Wednesday).
I hope you received a sweet treat or flowers or a kiss/hug/smile to your hearts’ desire.
I received the most beautiful, delicate box of Louis Sherry chocolates in a tin patterned with Monet’s Water Lilies.
To be honest, I don’t care all that much for chocolate, mostly because when I eat any dark chocolate, it makes me sneeze. However, I have grand plans to retrofit this beautiful box into a jewelry case. Thus I am happily undertaking the arduous task of eating all of the chocolates. So far, my favorite is the milk chocolate with passionfruit and kumquat.
Well, that and the box.
Any combination of milk chocolate and fruit is my favorite. This triple chocolate cake fits the ticket.
This cake is made with both butter and oil and strong coffee, so it creates a very moist, milk chocolate mocha base. A generous smear of white chocolate ganache is topped with raspberry preserves and the whole thing is frosted in the fluffiest, dreamiest, salty sweet nutella buttercream.
The white chocolate provides a smooth milkiness to the cake, rounding out the acidity from the jam.
This is the kind of chocolate cake I can get behind.
A brief note on making and using tempered white chocolate, because it can be a real pain.
Special tools and equipment you need:
digital thermometer
bain-marie/double boiler
acetate sheets or parchment paper
6 inch stainless steel cake ring
stainless steel cookie cutters
large offset spatula
To temper white chocolate, you need finely chopped white chocolate, separated out in a measure of 4 parts to 1 part by weight.
Place the 4 parts over a bain-marie over low-medium heat and stir constantly with a silicone spatula while measuring the temperature constantly.
Once the chocolate reaches 105 degrees F, remove from the heat and continue stirring constantly while adding in the reserved one part of chopped chocolate.
Stir constantly until the temperature reaches 90 degrees F, then spread onto a piece of parchment in an even layer.
Allow to cool/harden completely.
To cut shapes out, heat a metal cutter by placing on a hot baking pan for about 30 seconds.
Gently press onto the tempered sheet of chocolate using even pressure—allow the heat and melting chocolate to give way rather than forcing the cutter down.
Allow it to re-harden, then pop the shapes out very gently.
Valentine’s Day, previously:
2023:
Mini nutella Paris-Brest
2022:
Bite-sized beet and grapefruit tarts
2021:
Rose-covered white and dark chocolate ganache cake
2020:
Frilly and vintage chocolate, cherry, and cacao butter cake
2019:
Funfetti cake with marzipan and salted tahini frosting
2017:
Fluffy, ruffled princess layer cake with a cascade of marzipan roses
Thick, soft M&M cookies
Mocha cupcakes topped with fluffy swirls of vanilla bean Italian meringue buttercream
2016:
Ginger, Malted Vanilla, and Hibiscus layer cake
Baby pink XO salty sugar cookies
Raspberry white chocolate and Nutella éclairs
Brown butter and vanilla bean teacakes
2015:
Fluffy, buttery copycat Lofthouse cookies
Chocolate covered strawberry cake with goat cheese frosting
Dolled-up red velvet cake
Mini pink princesstårta
2014:
Pink grapefruit possets with Ritz crunch and pistachios
Dark and white chocolate French mendiants
Strawberry pocky cake
Salty dark chocolate tarts
Triple Chocolate Cake
makes 2 layer 6″ cake
cake recipe adapted from King Arthur Baking Company
ingredients:
200 grams (1 2/3 cup) AP flour
1 1/8 teaspoons baking powder
3/8 teaspoon baking soda
48 grams (9 tablespoons) cocoa powder
90 grams (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
55 grams (1/4 cup) vegetable oil
265 grams (1 1/3 cup) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
180 grams (3/4 cup) milk
90 grams (1/2 cup) brewed coffee
3 eggs
for the buttercream:
168 grams (1.5 sticks, 6 ounces) butter, soft
generous 1/2 teaspoon salt
140 grams (1/2 cup) nutella
56 grams (2 ounces) chocolate, melted and cooled
310 grams (2.5 cups) powdered sugar, or as needed
to assemble:
raspberry preserves
115 grams (4 ounces) white chocolate
45 grams (3 tablespoons) butter, softened
directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour 3 6×2 inch pans.
Beat butter, oil, sugar, and salt together on medium speed until fluffy and shiny, about 3 minutes.
Whisk vanilla bean paste, milk, and coffee together with eggs.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa powder together.
Alternate adding dry and wet ingredients while mixing on slow-medium speed.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix until batter is homogeneous.
Portion evenly into pans.
Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the tops of the cakes are springy but set.
Allow to cool completely, then crumble one layer to use as decoration.
Meanwhile, make the white chocolate
To make the buttercream, whip the butter with the salt for 5 full minutes (set a timer!).
Add in the Nutella and whip for 2 more minutes.
Scrape the bowl and while whipping on high speed, stream in the melted but cool chocolate.
On low speed, begin adding in the powdered sugar a little at a time.
Once the powdered sugar has been added, whip on high for 3 minutes and add heavy cream a tablespoon at a time if the frosting is still a little thick (if it is too thin, add powdered sugar as needed).
Scrape the bowl to ensure homogeneity.
To assemble, tort the cakes as needed to make sure the tops are flat.
Gently melt the white chocolate just until 3/4 melted; stir to fully melt.
Stirring constantly, add in the butter—make sure the butter is softened but slightly cool so that it doesn’t melt but rather emulsifies in the chocolate.
Spread the white chocolate ganache on the first layer, then top with 1/3 cup raspberry preserves.
Top with the second cake layer, then frost generously with the chocolate frosting.
Refrigerate for 10 minutes until the frosting is slightly firmed, then cover fully with the crumbs.
Use moderate pressure while pressing the crumbs into the frosting to ensure they fully stick and coat the cake.
Top with white chocolate topper as desired.