Chocolate Bird’s Nest Cake!

So I guess that Easter Monday is the best time to wrap up the holiday baking, and here goes the best for last.  The vanilla egg cake was last week’s project, and this one I made for the real deal, Easter dinner.  Beneath it’s themed decor is a mixture of various cake recipes that I threw together; the chocolate cake layers are simply marvelous, sandwiched with an Amaretto-whipped cream-mascarpone filling, and finished with dark chocolate ganache.  I will definitely be making this again, for a birthday or other event!  The cake layers are extraordinarily soft and fluffy; the whipped filling has a delicately sweet flavor; and the dense ganache brings it all together by off-setting the sweetness and grounding each bite with the fabulous richness of good dark chocolate.  It’s kind of perfect.

A decorative bird’s nest is always an easy way to finish a cake or cupcakes for spring; we used shaved milk chocolate for the nest, and the scraps from the cake leveling for cake truffle eggs, covered in robin’s-egg-blue dyed white chocolate.  In retrospect, so that they’d have been smooth, I should have a) used vanilla candy coating bark or b) made a white chocolate ganache.  Not really a big deal, though, and I actually ended up liking the textured egg…a bit rustic, and from a food standpoint, I think it definitely looks more appealing to sink your teeth into.  And the Kit-Kats!  I remembered seeing that idea awhile ago on one or two other blogs, and thought it’d be perfect for a woodsy theme.

Chocolate Bird’s Nest Cake

(cake & ganache from marthastewart.com; filling from epicurious.com)

– Ingredients –

For cake:

1 1/2 c (3 sticks) butter, plus more for pans

3/4 c Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus more for pans

1/2 c boiling water (or hot, freshly brewed coffee!)

2 1/4 c sugar

1 T vanilla

4 eggs, lightly beaten

3 c sifted cake flour

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 c milk

For filling:

1 1/2 8-oz. containers mascarpone cheese (12 oz)

1 1/2 c chilled heavy whipping cream

3 T sugar

1 T vanilla

1 T Amaretto

For ganache:

8 oz. semi- or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

3/4 c heavy cream

2 T corn syrup

For decorations:

8 oz. milk chocolate bars (I used Cadbury–absolutely delicious)

8 oz. white chocolate, finely chopped (or vanilla candy-coating bark)

– Directions –

1) Make cakes: Preheat oven to 350 F.  Arrange two racks in center of oven.  Butter three 8×2″ (I used three 9×2″ pans–); line bottoms with parchment.  Dust bottoms and sides of pans with cocoa powder; tap out any excess.  Sift cocoa into a medium bowl, and whisk in boiling water.  Set aside to cool.

2) Cream butter until light and fluffy.  Gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy; beat in vanilla.  Drizzle in eggs, a little at a time, beating between each addition until the batter is no longer slick, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed.

3) In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.  Whisk milk into reserved cocoa mixture.  With mixer on low speed, alternately add flour and cocoa mixtures to the batter, a little of each at a time, starting and ending with flour mixture.

4) Divide batter evenly among the three prepared pans.  Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of each layer comes out clean, 35-40 minutes (about 25-30 if in 9″ pans).  Transfer layers to wire racks; let cool 15 minutes before turning them out onto the racks to cool completely.

5) Make mascarpone filling: beat together all ingredients just until soft peaks form (do not over-beat or else the mixture will curdle).  Refrigerate until using.

6) Level the cake layers and put the scraps into a bowl.  Place the base cake layer onto a platter.  Spread about a third of the mascarpone mixture on top before adding the middle cake layer.  Repeat with the middle/top layer addition.  Next, thinly coat the entire cake with the remaining mascarpone frosting; make sure that the top isn’t too crumby since the ganache won’t hide bumps, but don’t worry about the sides if you plan on using the Kit-Kat idea.  After this step I refrigerated it, so that it would stand up to the pouring of ganache well.

7) Cut apart the Kit-Kat bars so that you’ll be able to place them onto the cake immediately after the ganache.  Make the ganache:  put the chocolate, cream, and corn syrup into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, and stir until smooth.  Let stand 5 minutes, then pour over the cake, reserving about 1/3 cup to use for the cake truffle eggs.  Refrigerate cake until firm, about 15 minutes.

8 ) Make the nest decorations: Using a chef’s knife, scrape milk chocolate bar at a 90-degree angle, forming enough curls and shards to measure 1 1/2 cups (I hereby learned that shaving chocolate is actually Will’s secret superpower-).  Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet or plate, and refrigerate until ready to place atop the cake.

9) Make the cake truffle eggs: add the 1/3 cup of ganache to the cake scraps and mash with a fork until you have an even consistency.  Form egg sized balls and refrigerate for half an hour or until firm enough to shape into an egg.  When ready, either melt/dye vanilla candy-coating bark or white chocolate; roll the egg in it to cover before spooning it onto a parchment lined plate to set.

10) Finally, set the milk chocolate shards/curls on top of the cake, followed by the eggs.  Take a picture before enjoying a slice!