Yesterday K was very keen to bake. It had to be chocolate cake and it had to be just the right one, the cake of her dreams.
She decided upon this one. Brooklyn Blackout cake from the hummingbird Bakery.
The cake went well, very well and I would certainly make it again. BUT I'm not so sure about the chocolate custard filling. The recipe says to add 200g of cornflour to the cocoa, sugar, syrup and water mix and then to cook until very thick. We got to very, very thick almost immediately and I hadn't added all of the cornflour. It tastes just a little bit bland as if it needs a little something.....
We only used about 1/2 of the custard mix but the cake still went down really well both at home and at work where a lot of my 'testing" takes place. It looks good but, I think needs some more work. Watch this space....
Oh my goodness Helen - you may not know this but that book is RENOWNED for mistakes. Huge ones. I can't bear it, I think it's sloppy & a bit arrogant too. Bought 'Cake Days' recently & cross to find that about half a dozen recipes on different pages were all the same bar flavourings...fillers for the book I think. You didn't do anything wrong, I'm sure. Try 'Baked' instead...their cakes are amazing (although US measurements) Cake looks great though!! Love to you xx
ReplyDeleteThank you Rachel. At least it's not just me! Will have a look at "Baked". It's good to have recommendations.
ReplyDeleteThe cake looks wonderful, even if the filling needs something else. It does annoy me when the recipes aren't right, it seems to happen a lot in cake books!
ReplyDeleteShirl x
The hummingbird website gives tips on the custard for that cake. It is an annoying book at times, wondering if the recipes are correct or not. At least the website gives the corrections. I too am wee bitty disappointed with the new one, shame!
ReplyDeleteDo you have 'Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery'? It has wonderful recipes.
Ali x
Am I glad I read this post - cookery books with errors and I always thought it was me! rather dashing looking cake though all the same.
ReplyDeleteHelen. I hope that you don't mind, but I have left a little award on my Blog for you.
ReplyDeleteI made this cake for the mr's birthday last year and had great frustations with the filling and the cornflour bit. Although everyone ate it and said it was lovely I was not happy! I don't think the cornflour was mixed in properly and yes, in hindsight I wondered if it was even necessary! I'm not overly convinced with said book and have been giving it a wide berth. I am however in love with a peggy porschen book I picked up recently and can highly recommend her cake recipes as THE BEST!
ReplyDelete