Things have been super exciting at our end for the last 32 days, since our Ian vaava was born.Yes, he turned a month old today. He is a very good baby and doesn't give his Amma a tough time. Touchwood, the term 'sleepless nights' don't seem to work in our household. So Jobin is 'Appan' and I am 'Amma'. My Appan and Amma are 'Appu' & 'Ammu', short form of Appoppan & Ammooma.Jobin's mom will be called 'Velliammachi',like how Ian vaava's cousin's call her.Ritchie is yet to be named :-)
Ian vaava was baptised on 12 August, at the Basilica here. It's the first Basilica in America and it's beautiful! I will share some photographs once we receive it. This cake was baked 2 days before his baptismal day as we were having guests over. It's been on Amma's list for a long time, so we thought of going ahead with it...a Black Forest Cake. The fruit that Appan & Amma has been munching ever since they landed in the US are Bing Cherries. To be honest, I keep buying pounds of it in their name...I love it too! So making a Black Forest Cake was another excuse to eat up those maroon Cherries.
The cake was a simple yet super spongy chocolate sponge cake which rose beautifully and gave us 4 layers. The cherry filling was made with basic ingredients and tasted just perfect.It was my first attempt at making the filling from scratch so the ingredients were thrown in at random measurements which worked perfectly well.
The cake was very well recieved but I wasn't awake to see it. I heard it from Amma, the next day that it was a success and I knew it the minute I opened the fridge as it had almost vanished! Amma also said that Appan usually says 'Eval enthu cake ondakkiyalum nallatha nallatha ennu parayum' . I don't think he would say that again :-) The gateau was loved by all.
RUM & VANILLA CHERRY GATEAUMy own recipe
Ingredients:
Fatless Chocolate Sponge:
6 eggs
1 c sugar
1/2 c flour
1/4 c cocoa powder
1/4 c cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla
Method: Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and line 2 x 8 inch round cake tins.
In a large spotlessly clean bowl , beat the eggs and sugar for 15 mins on high.It should be super foamy and mousse like.Add vanilla and beat for another 1 minute. Sift the flour, cocoa powder & cornstarch over it and fold it in gently.Divide the batter between the two tins and bake for 25-30 mins or until springy to touch. Let it cool completely. Split each cake into 2.Dust off the cake crumbs and reserve till needed.
Rum & Vanilla Cherry filling
2 c pitted fresh cherries
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp dark rum
2 tsp vanilla
1 c sugar
1 c water
Method: In a medium sized bowl, mix together cherries, 2 tbsp sugar, rum & vanilla. Mix well and leave it covered in the fridge overnight.
In a medium saucepan, add the macerated cherries (along with it's juices), 1 c sugar, 1 c water and bring it to a boil. Switch off the heat and let it cool completely. The syrup would have thickened by now.(You will need almost all of the syrup to soak the 4 layers to get a real moist gateau.)
For filling, frosting & decorating
2 c heavy cream, whipped with sugar to taste
8 whole cherries
150g dark chocolate,shaved
Assembly: Place a layer of the cake on a cake stand,drizzle with the cherry syrup uniformly,spread a thick layer of whipped cream and then scatter some of the rum-vanilla cherries over it. Repeat. The topmost layer should be the 4th layer of cake. Cover the top and sides with whipped cream . Decorate with grated/shaved chocolate & whole cherries. Refrigerate the assembled cake overnight for the flavours to blend . Serve chilled.
So the other day, we went to our favourite Italian restaurant for dinner & dessert, which of course had to be Tiramisu. After having a piece of it, we asked Appan about how he liked it. He said ,'Ethum nallatha pakshe aval ondakkiya aa cake thanneya ethinekkalum nallathu!' Wow! Now that Tiramisu has a competitor, I must say ;-)
Jokes apart, this is seriously good! The cake layers soaked in the syrup very well lending a melt in the mouth texture. The rum-vanilla cherries were mild yet flavourful. This gateau was so good that I really don't think I would even give another Black Forest Cake recipe a try.
