Chocolate Strawberry Mascarpone Cake … for Pinktober

I love October. The weather’s finally changing. There’s a nip in the morning air, ever so slight, but it’s there. It’s October, and with October comes DH’s birthday. DH, or Mr PAB, is the reason behind my blog, my biggest source of inspiration, my biggest admirer, and yet my biggest critic. He calls a spade a spade, and as much as I cringe to criticism, I have to be grateful that he doesn’t mince words. He is reserved, very much so, doesn’t have a runaway tongue like me, and talks as little as I do lots! Is the wind beneath my wings, my free spirited nature … this pink was for him!

I made a chocolate Sachertorte for his birthday 2 years ago, and frosted it with pale pinks … A Pinktober Cake for a blogging event in support of breast cancer. Mr PAB didn’t have an issue with a pink birthday cake, and was even happier to see pink back this year. I got distracted last year & fell back into my coffee mode. Made a Chocolate Coffee-Almond-Meringue Layer Cake for his birthday, and still regret not having gone pink in 2008. This year am firmly back on track. He noticed the pink comeback this year, and surprisingly, so did the daughter. She asked me why I made pink for Papa every year. The pink seems to make more sense to her now. Her friends’ mother is just recovering from a second bout of breast cancer, and a neighbour of mine has just been diagnosed with it.

These beautiful flowers of the Rangoon Creeper have something to do with my ‘this time of the year pink obsession’. The plant blooms 2-3 times a year, and happily always in the first week of October too, lending gorgeous shades of pink to our garden. (I virtually met Purple Foodie over a conversation about these flowers 2 years ago!). They are inspirational, and I spend many a morning just sitting looking at them. I picked the colours off the flowers to frost my cake this year.The RANGOON CREEPER (Quisqualis indica) is a large woody creeper which is a native of Malaysia, south-eastern Asia and tropical Africa but has become so popular as a cultivated plant that it is now one of the commonest creepers to be found in Indian gardens. The Circular Garden where the Mughal Gardens end has its share of this creeper. Popular Indian names for this creeper are Madhumalati and Radhamanohari. The outer surface of the flowers are slightly flushed with pink, the inner surface after the bud has opened is pure white, which slowly turns pink and finally a rich red. As the flowers open in succession there are to be found flowers of all ages on the plant, hence the effect of the numerous blossoms, some white, some pink and some red, is very striking. The flowers are beautifully scented in the evening. Back to the cake… The basic cake, a chocolate sponge, is a recipe from ‘Indulge – 100 Prefect Desserts’ by Claire Clark that I recently reviewed for an event for BloggerAid. I am eternally grateful to BloggerAid for getting this book to me, as it has everything dessert I can dream of. The chocolate sponge for this particular cake forms the base for the ‘Bitter Chocolate, Praline Brulee, Espresso Torte’ in her book, which I very nearly made. It was the espresso / coffee factor that nearly nudged me off the pink factor, but I caught myself just in time. The sponge turned out lovely & moist. However, it was nowhere near done in the suggested 20 minutes, and when I opened the door to check a couple of times, it deflated from a good height of 4 1/2″ to a rather uneven 3″! Well to salvage it for my base, I cooled it in the tin (as suggested), & placed a weight on it. Left it in the fridge overnight. I managed to get 2 even slices from it in the morning. Worked fine for me, and was decadent, chocolaty & moist!

The rest of the cake was made on a whim. Made mascarpone (yes, ‘again’) because it’s a firmer soft cream cheese, with a flavour we love. Got talking to Manggy on twitter, and took his expert advice on the filling, layering etc. He suggested that it was better to add some gelatin to stabilise the mascarpone, given our hot weather. Always err on the side of caution: maybe even 1 teaspoon in the cream would do. Never a better piece of advice, and I am GLAD I asked him! Worked perfectly! Also took on Hilda’s suggestion, which she gave me a while ago, on an alternative for acetate sheets. We don’t get acetate here, and in the middle of a twitconversation, I happened to mention it. She was quick on an alternative, suggested using transparencies instead from a stationery shop. I’ve stocked up on those, and it’s the best thing that happened to me. Loved the ease of working with them. Thank you Hilda, and thank you Manggy … ever grateful for your expert advice.

Pink for October 2009
In the month of October, the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month is recognized by survivors, family and friends of survivors and/or victims of the disease. A pink ribbon is worn to recognize the struggle that sufferers face when battling with the cancer. Pink for October is an initiative started by Matthew Oliphant, which asks that any blog and website owners willing to help make people aware of breast cancer, change their template or layout to include the color pink, so that when visitors view the site, they see that the majority of the site is pink. I went PINK for October to show my support for breast cancer awareness. Do stop by HERE if you want to learn more, or are game to go pink!

Chocolate & Strawberry Mascarpone Birthday Cake
Chocolate Sponge
adapted from Indulge by Claire Clark, page 156

100gm dark chocolate, chopped fine
100gms butter

4 medium eggs
185 gms (6 ½ oz sugar) sugar
60gms (2 ½ oz) plain flour
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease an 8” Spring form tin, and line the bottom with parchment.
Place the chopped chocolate & butter in a pan over boiling water & stir until melted. Don’t let the base of the pan touch the water. Remove from the bowl of water, and keep warm on side of stove.
Beat the eggs & sugar until light and fluffy, and the batter triples in volume. It should leave a trail when it falls back.
Gently fold in the chocolate butter mixture, keeping as much volume as possible.
Sift the flour over a piece of parchment & fold in very gently.
Turn batter into the prepared tin, even the surface, and bake for 20 minutes until the top springs back, or the tester comes out clean. (Mine took over 35 minutes)
Leave to cool in tin.

Filling
350gms mascarpone (home made recipe here)
100ml light cream (25% fat)
3-4 tbsps ground vanilla sugar / or castor sugar (adjust to taste)
1 tsp gelatin
Method:
Sprinkle the gelatin over 1/8 cup of cold water & leave to soften. Mix well.
Horizontally slice the sponge in two. Put the lower layer onto your serving platter, and encircle with acetate to form a snug ring mold.
Whip the mascrapone, cream & vanilla sugar until it forms stiff peaks. Sieve in the gelatin, and quickly whisk in well to mix uniformly. Pour over the base of cake, into the acetate mold.
Drop 5-6 tbsps of strawberry concentrate/conserve & marble with a wooden pick.
Leave in fridge to firm up for about an hour or so. Top with the second layer & leave to chill for another hour.

Frosting
250gms mascarpone
3 tbsps ground vanilla sugar (or castor sugar)
1/2 tsp strawberry essence (optional)
Food color for piping on top
Dark chocolate etc for garnishing
Method:
Beat the mascarpone, essence & sugar till firm peaks form.
Reserve 2-3 tbsps in a baggies for piping designs on top.

Frost just the top of the cake, within the acetate mold & leave to set ( within the acetate so it doesn’t flow off the sides), OR, if you want to frost the sides as well, remove the acetate gently, & frost all around. I left the cake covered in the fridge overnight for the flavours to mature.
Pipe designs gently on top as you like, grate dark chocolate with a microplane zester to cover the sides, and place a few chocolate shavings on top. Chill until ready to serve.

♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥

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This post found mention on

• Food Shots
• Refrigerator Soup Headlines 7th Oct ’09
• Dying for Chocolate

I am one of the 50 bloggers & chefs whose recipes have been included in the free STRAWBERRY mobile app for iPhone and iPod touch.

Watsonville, CA (January 13, 2009) – The California Strawberry Commission today announced the availability of the free “STRAWBERRIES” mobile app for iPhone and iPod Touch users featuring more than 50 mouth-watering strawberry recipes from some of the most popular food bloggers and chefs from around the web. Individually selected for that “wow” factor, these recipes will inspire families, foodies, cooks, the health conscious and strawberry lovers everywhere to get even more creative with strawberries.

iPhone and iPod touch users can now access different strawberry recipes complete with vivid food photography and step-by-step directions to create that special dish for those around you. The free app neatly categorizes recipes under Snacks & Appetizers, Breakfast, Cocktails, Main Courses, Salads and Sweets. Recipes range from traditional favorites, such as shortcakes and pies to more exotic dishes like strawberry dumplings, salsa and ceviche.

Individual recipes can be shared with friends, family and online networks by simply posting the recipe to Facebook or Twitter with the click of a button. Recipes can also be emailed to anyone for viewing or printing.

Availability

The Strawberries app for the iPhone and iPod touch is available immediately as a free download at the Apple iTunes Store. Click here to download: http://bit.ly/8LANJo

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