Chocolate Covered Blueberry Cake

This weekend we went to a friend's place for a small dinner party of sorts. I volunteered to make dessert because, that's what I do.

And then, on Thursday night I panicked because I had no idea what to bake. I didn't want to make cookies (I made enough of those in December) and *gasp* I didn't feel like making cupcakes. What in the heck was I going to do?

My husband suggested I make a cake. Being the chocolate lover that I am, I responded with "a chocolate one, obviously." Then I proceeded to mull over filling options out loud.

"What about blueberry," asked my husband. Hmm, chocolate and blueberries? I wasn't sure about that combination. But, then I remembered that when we visited Ghirardelli in CA we ate some delicious chocolate covered blueberries.

So, on Saturday I put together a chocolate layer cake using my go-to chocolate recipe (Martha's 1-bowl chocolate cake). Because I'm not a huge fan of fruit jam layers in my cake (personal preference), I decided to make a fresh blueberry whipped cream for the filling.

I don't really use a recipe anymore when I make whipped cream, I kind of wing it. For this particular whipped cream, I put two containers of fresh blueberries (approx 2 cups-ish) into my food processor and pureed them. Then I put the puree into my kitchenaid with a pint of heavy cream, a tablespoon of sugar, and about a teaspoon of vanilla and using the whisk attachment beat the mixture on high until peaks formed.

To top it all off, I used a dark chocolate frosting recipe, which I think is too rich/sweet to not be a ganache (though, technically, it isn't as it does not use cream at all). This is another recipe from Martha. I halved the recipe though, because it makes 5 cups which is just about always way too much.

I would recommend refrigerating cake until serving, and storing any left overs in the fridge as well.

Enjoy!

Reece's Cup Cake

No, not cupcakes- a Reece's Cup cake.

Sunday was my husband's birthday and I asked him what kind of cake he wanted. He said "surprise me." That is...kind of dangerous because it allows me to do whatever I want, meaning not necessarily what he would want.

However, it being his birthday I went with one of his favorite things: peanut butter. And who doesn't immediately think of chocolate when peanut butter desserts are on the table?

I started with a yellow cake recipe from my Sur La Table baking book (another recipe towards my resolution!). I read their whole primer on cakes, even though I've been baking cakes (and cupcakes) for quite some time now. I didn't learn a whole lot of new information, except that pre-beating your eggs (just enough to mix the whites and yolks) can help keep your cake light and fluffy. The other stuff was mostly information about bringing cold ingredients up to room temperature before adding and the importance of sifting.

The yellow cake recipe yeilded much less cake than I had anticipated, so I used one 9 inch round pan, instead of two. Since I only had one 9 inch round of cake, I decided to section it into three pieces, instead of two.

I found a quick and easy peanut butter frosting recipe in my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book. I was a little surprised to see that it called for cream cheese, but it was delicious. The peanut butter frosting was put between the layers of cake and I should have been a little more generous with the frosting.

To top the cake I used a chocolate ganache recipe (from Sur La Table, again). I was beyond pleased that my crumb coating worked like a charm. (Crumb coating, in case you don't know, means that you coat the cake with a thin layer of frosting/ganache and then let it set. Once the layer is set, you add a more generous layer of frosting/ganache so that the crumbs do not show.)

As a final touch, I added some mini Reece's cups and peanut butter frosting accents. This cake should be kept chilled until about fifteen or twenty minutes before serving.

Mmm, don't you want a piece?