The Seventh Day & A Chocolate Layer Cake with Caramel Ganache

The seventh day of the Chinese New Year (CNY) is traditionally known as ren ri 人日 (meaning "Birthday of Man", "Day of Man", "Day of Humanity" or "Everyman's Birthday”).  It signifies the day when everyone grows one year older. It is the day when people in Malaysia and Singapore toss a colourful raw fish salad, yusheng, and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity.  I remember when I was young, one eats yusheng only from the seventh day of the CNY.  These days, yusheng has become so commercialised, and profiteers will take advantage and start selling it weeks before CNY.

Anyway, as the seventh day of the CNY is "everyman’s birthday", everyone is considered one year older as of that date. In traditional China, individual birthdays were not considered as important as this date. Everyone adds a year to his age from this date rather than on his actual birthday.  Gosh, I rather defer for as long as I can.

Every year, my aunt celebrates her birthday (according to Chinese calendar) on this day.  This year, I had the good fortune of serving my homemade cakes at the family dinner (read: making everyone my guinea pigs).  I took this opportunity to experiment on 2 different layer cakes, a Chocolate Layer Cake with Caramel Ganache, and a Fruity Orange Lemon Cream Cake.

Let’s start with the Chocolate Layer Cake with Caramel Ganache.  No surprise here, I love this cake, although I could really improve on the aesthetics.  I wanted to decorate the cake with white chocolate rings, but they ended up looking like onions rings.  From afar, I even managed to fool everyone into thinking that there were indeed onion rings.  Seriously, I really need to hone my piping skills.

The recipe for this cake is from Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum.  The resultant cake is soft with moist tender crumbs, due to the  substitution of a little bit of oil for butter.  Yummy.  I did make a little boo boo though – I used mocha chocolate instead of the requisite unsweetened chocolate for the ganache, but no harm done, the ganache was still yummy.

You will need:

For the cake:
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa, sifted before measuring
1/2 cup boiling water
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3 tbsp water
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp cake flour, sifted before measuring
1 cup castor sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
115 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp canola or safflower oil, at room temperature

For the caramel ganache:
142 g good quality unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp water
1 1/2 cup heavy cream, heated
20 g unsalted butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preparation:

To prepare the cake:
Grease two 8 inch round cake pans, line bottoms with parchment paper, then coat with baking spray and  flour. Preheat oven to 175 deg C.

In a medium bowl, whisk the cocoa and boiling water until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent evaporation and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. To speed cooling, place it in the refrigerator. Bring it to room temperature before proceeding.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs, the 3 tbsp of water, and the vanilla just until lightly combined.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter, oil and cocoa mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Starting on medium-low speed, gradually add the egg mixture in two parts, beating on medium speed for 30 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Using a silicone spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface evenly.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a wire cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center. The cake should start to shrink from the sides of the pan only after removal from the oven.

Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a small metal spatula between the sides of the pan and the cake, pressing firmly against the pan, and invert the cake onto a wire rack that has been coated lightly with nonstick cooking spray. To prevent splitting, reinvert the cake so that the top side is up. Cool completely.

To prepare the caramel ganache:
In a food processor, process chocolate until very fine.

In a saucepan, stir together the sugar and water until all the sugar is moistened.  Heat on medium high, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is bubbling.  Stop stirring completely and allow the syrup to boil undisturbed until it turns deep amber.  An instant-read thermometer will register 188 deg C or a few degrees lower as its temperature will continue to rise.  Remove it from the heat, and as as soon as it reaches temperature, slowly and carefully pour the hot cream into the caramel.  Be careful, it will bubble up furiously.

Use a silicon spatula or wooden spoon to stir the mixture gently, scraping the thicker part that settles on the bottom.  Return the pan to very low heat, continuing to stir gently for 1 minute, or until the mixture is uniform in color and the caramel is fully dissolved.  Remove it from the heat and gently stir in the butter until incorporated. 

With the motor of a food processor running, pour the hot caramel sauce onto the chocolate.  By the time all of the caramel is added, the chocolate will have melted and the mixture will be smooth and shiny.  Add the vanilla and pulse if a few times until evenly combined.

Scrape the ganache into a bowl, and allow to stand to room temperature for about 2 hours, or until firm enough to spread.  It should be a creamy consistency of softened butter.

To assemble the cake:
When the cake is completely cool, sandwich the 2 layers of cake with half the ganache, and use the remainder to frost the top and sides.  Decorate as you wish, but no onion rings, please.