Ingredients
White Cake:
- 3 large eggs
- 5 large egg whites (reserve yolks for the pastry cream)
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 2 tablespoons vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 1/2 cups pastry flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
Chocolate Ganache:
- 1 pound bittersweet chocolate
- 1 pound semisweet chocolate
- 1 pound unsalted butter
- 2 cups heavy cream
- Pastry Cream, chilled, recipe follows
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line 2 (8-inch) cake pans.
For the cake: Whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk, and vanilla and set aside.
Place the sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add in the softened butter and half of the egg mixture to the mixer and beat on medium speed until batter is very smooth, about 4 minutes.
Add the remaining egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the bowl after each addition, and beating for 2 minutes afterwards.
Portion out the batter evenly into the prepared pans. Bake until the cake springs back when lightly touched in center, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pan for 10 minutes, and then turn out to cool completely. Can be made a day ahead.
For the ganache: Place the ingredients into a heatproof bowl and place over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Whisk until melted and smooth.
Place the cooled cake on a cake round. Trim the top of the cake and hollow out the middle to hold the pastry cream. Cut the trimmed cake into big chunks and set aside. Place the lightened pastry cream into the cake, creating a small mound in the middle. Pile the cake pieces on top of the pastry cream. Pour warm ganache over the entire surface until covered. Let the cake rest for 2 to 3 hours before serving.
This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation as to the results.
Pastry Cream:
- 4 cups whole milk, infused with thyme and orange zest, strained
- 1 cup sugar, divided
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 5 large egg yolks
- 6 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, cold
Place most of the milk, half of the sugar, and vanilla into a saucepan and bring to a low simmer. Meanwhile, whisk together the rest of the milk, eggs, yolks, the remaining sugar, and cornstarch. Temper the egg mixture with 1/3 of the hot milk, whisk well, and pour back into the saucepan. Over medium heat, continue to cook and whisk until the custard is thick and starts to bubble. Continue whisking and cooking for 10 more seconds. Strain the pastry cream through a sieve, pushing through with a spatula, into a clean mixing bowl. Immediately cover the entire custard surface with plastic wrap and cool before using.
When the pastry cream is cool, remove the plastic wrap, insert the beater attachment into the stand mixer, and beat the pastry cream on medium speed until smooth. Remove the cream to a mixing bowl. Whisk the heavy cream to stiff peaks and fold into the pastry cream in 2 additions
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By lisa.lisa.7_1958
San Diego, CA
on January 02, 2012
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Very difficult to rate this cake. Its a 5-star for taste, but only a 1-star for recipe portions and following. I had at least half the pastry creme left over and at least half the chocolate ganache left over. Perhaps if there were actually 2 separate cakes, making 4 of the 8" rounds the portions would have been correct.
THE BIGGEST PROBLEM, was that I carved out too much of the center cake to make as much room possible for the creme and as a result the thin walls of the cake eventually broke apart from the weight of the creme, the cake cubes and the ganache. So, the gorgeous style of the cake eventually became a trifle, sort of. WATCH THE SIZE OF THE CAKE WALLS!! It was deliciously fantastic, but turned into a mess.
By LittleCakeBaker
on October 10, 2011
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Beautifully and wonderfully made!
By holidaily_2409523
Simi Valley, CA
on July 09, 2011
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A terrible rendition of the recipe. The proportions were all off; way too much chocolate , we only used about a quarter of what we made same with the pastry cream. The cake was like a sweet corn cake, very heavy and rich, not at all cake like, more like bread. Also, the recipe was poorly written not telling you what order to add the ingredients or what part of the recipe should be prepared first or last etc... We ended up throwing out the cake , and what a waste of money!!! It took about 4 1/2 hours to make it and it is pretty comprehensive. Do not prepare it on a cake stand, prepare it on a cookie sheet like the woman did on the show because it is a total mess. I would use regular white cake recipe and call for only a quarter of pastry cream and a quarter of the ganache. All in all don't use this recipe!
Read all 28 reviews