Well, here we are... it's June, and that means that we are half-way through Martha's Cake of the Month project! I have a teensy confession to make: I didn't make the June cake in June. I hope you'll forgive me! I actually made this cake in May because Brynne really wanted a chocolate cake for her birthday. I scanned the recipes for the cakes of the month, found the recipe for the Cocoa Buttermilk Cake, and decided to make it a couple of weeks early. We've found this monthly cake project can be harmful to one's hips, so I figured one less cake this year might not be such a bad thing!
I also fear I'm going to sound like a broken record... Let me preface the description of this cake by saying that I love dessert! Unlike my grandmother, who can make 1 piece of See's candy sustain her for weeks, I would love to have dessert for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Now, genetics have played a mean game here, and I am apparently not able to live on cupcakes alone, so I try to show a modicum of restraint and feed myself healthy foods, interspersed with the occasional treat. So, what's the broken record all about? Well, this cake was too much! I know I've said this before in this challenge, but Martha must really like desserts that make folks like me (admitted dessert lovers) feel sick! You may start to think I have something against Martha (and god forbid she find these reviews!)... au contraire! I am nothing but a huge fan of hers, and I've basically worshipped her from afar - really! But, I think that her love of sugar and fat together must not agree with me. I need the ratio of fat to sugar in a recipe to remain balanced - as one goes up, the other must go down! Otherwise, my body seems to react very poorly - jittery, can't sleep, feel lethargic, etc. Well, enough of that - on to the cake!
I really liked the sound of this one - I thought that the "snap" of buttermilk would be really nice with a rich chocolate cake, and the flavors would be nicely balanced. I used good cocoa and a whopping 18 ounces of Scharffen Berger dark chocolate (that's 9 bars!) for the frosting. The cake recipe went perfectly and the finished cakes were beautiful. The frosting was also quite simple to make, and I was pleased that I didn't have to resort to any double boiler action - not that this is that hard, but I always get a bit nervous when I have to mix very hot things with cold things and not have some kind of disaster.
I prepared the cakes for the frosting and began to spread 1 cup of frosting on the bottom layer as instructed. Almost immediately I thought something was wrong... I had some crazy amount of frosting in my bowl, and 1 cup of it was pretty skimpy on a 13" x 9" bottom layer. But, I'm pretty faithful to instructions when I do something for the first time, so I just spread it thin. I placed the top layer on and then spread another 4.5 cups of frosting on the top and sides. Once it was chilled, it was ready to slice and eat!
Remember when I said the frosting amounts seemed off? Take a look at the picture of a piece of the cake... tiny layer of frosting in the middle, and then a good 1.5" of frosting on the outside! For those of you who haven't yet made this cake, may I recommend you spread 2 cups on the bottom layer instead? This was kind of crazy... it made it such that each bite was basically all cake or all frosting, but none had a nice balance of the two.
So, how was it? The cake was yummy - chocolatey and moist (thanks to the buttermilk) with an overall good texture. The frosting is what put us over the edge. Too much frosting that was too sweet and too rich. The funny thing is that the frosting is a cream cheese/sour cream base, so we really thought it would be good with the cake. The only thing I can suggest is that my use of ultra dark chocolate overpowered the cream cheese and sour cream - they just couldn't fight back!
As with the other cakes that didn't sit so well at chez buzzville, this one (minus a few pieces for Brynne's birthday celebration) went to work with Jerry where it was rapidly devoured. (As an aside, one of Jerry's colleagues who sampled this cake calls it "the brown cake" in a not-so-flattering way... just so you know we're not the only ones who were less than satisfied!)
You sticklers have probably already noticed that I didn't make the Scrolled Tuiles to decorate the top of the cake. Well, no one was graduating at our house, and I really didn't need to have another recipe to contend with, so we opted out of the tuiles. As for next month, I have high hopes! No buttercream and lots of berries... sounds fantastic to me!
I hope Martha has been reading your blog. Sometimes I think she needs some real-life feedback, and not from a bunch of toadies that work for her and are, therefore, required to kiss backside. ;)
Posted by: persephone | June 14, 2006 at 05:12 PM
Ohmygod, that frosting is HILARIOUS! It still looks really delicious, though. Buttermilk is always a good addition to baked treats! Now I should probably take your cue on the modicum of restraint ...
Posted by: Mariko | June 14, 2006 at 07:06 PM
Umm, is it just me, or is there like more frosting than cake.....
Having said that, I could probably just eat the frosting alone at the moment...
Posted by: Alison | June 14, 2006 at 07:59 PM
for some odd reason, I read these posts as if they were a page-turning mystery novel. I love them! and quickly read every detail to find out the bottom line (and the photos)! your cake commentary is wonderful. i hope, too, that martha could read it--not just for a 'dose of reality' but to hear your fun approach to her recipes. as a fellow martha-worshipper, I think she'd be proud!!
Posted by: molly | June 15, 2006 at 05:04 AM
hmm... i'd have to agree with you on the forsting overload. but it does look deliscious! i'm an all cake girl so frosting never does it for me, but it sure looks pretty, and brown. did you post this on purpose for brown wednesday? ;)
Posted by: laurie | June 15, 2006 at 07:10 AM
Well, that IS a lot of frosting on top, but man it looks delicious! It's a shame that it doesn't sit as easy on the palette as one would hope.
Posted by: Scribbles & Bits | June 15, 2006 at 09:59 AM
I am sorry to hear the cake didn't turn out as planned, however, I do think your commitment to the cause is wonderful. It does look a little bit dense and rich and although Martha is good at most things, maybe this one slipped by.
Posted by: Jessica | June 18, 2006 at 04:03 AM
Wow! That looks yummy though I agree about the cake to frosting ratio. My sister intentionally makes cake this way. She thinks cake is merely a vehicle for frosting and you have to peel half of the stuff off before you can even find the cake!
Posted by: mo | June 19, 2006 at 01:19 PM