My Son Henri’s Valentine Vision!

This cake was designed by my 9 year old son. He even instructed me on how I should put it together. His plan was to bake a sheet of cake and cut the layers with a heart shaped cookie cutter. Then stack them together with raspberry cream and pour a glossy chocolate ganache over the top. I know I’m biased, but I think he is brilliant!

Happy Valentines to my two sons, Henri and Charlie, and my husband Graham! My 3 muses!

Here is Henri’s vision, I must say it is as delicious as it is pretty!

Heart Shaped Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cakes by Henri:

1 recipe Devil’s Food Cake, baked in two Sheet Pan Half Size lined with parchment. Bake the layers for about 20 minutes or until set.

for the raspberry cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3 tablespoons raspberry preserves

for the chocolate ganache by Sherry Yard The Secrets of Baking:

1 pound bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 cup apricot jam, heated and strained if there are chunks of fruit

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup corn syrup

for the blackberry coulis:

2 cups frozen or fresh blackberries

1 tablespoon creme de cassis or other liqueur

sugar to taste, only if the fruit is not sweet

Cut the devil’s food cake with a Heart Cookie Cutter. Depending on the size of your cutter this will get you about 12 2-layer cakes per sheet.

to make the cream: whip the heavy cream until soft peaks, add the raspberry preserves and continue whipping until stiff peaks. Fill a Pastry Bags, fitted with a round pastry tip and pipe the cream on half of the heart shaped cakes.

Top the cream with another layer of cake. Cover the cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate while you make the ganache.

Make the ganache: Heat the apricot preserves in a sauce pan over medium low heat until melted. Add the cream, milk and corn syrup and heat until just about to simmer. Remove from heat. Dump in all of the chopped chocolate, swirl the pot to make sure the chocolate is completely covered by the cream. Let sit for about 3 minutes and then gently whisk until smooth.

Pour about 1 cup of the hot ganache into a shallow dish and refrigerate for 10 minutes or until slightly firm, but still spreadable.

Leave the remainder of the ganache in the pot to keep it pourable.

With a small Spatula, spread the refrigerated ganache over the sides of the cakes. The goal is to fill the gap between the layers of cake and make them smooth. We want a smooth surface so that when you pour the ganache over the cakes you will not have any bumps.

To pour the ganache on the cakes you will need to set them on a cooling rack that is over a sheet pan lined with parchment. You want to do this to catch all of the dripping chocolate.

Slowly pour the ganache over the cake, starting in the middle and working outward. Be sure to check all the sides as you go. As you can see there will be a lot pooled up on the parchment, but you will scrape that up and be able to remelt and use again.

If your ganache starts to get too thick, return the pot to the stove and heat on very low heat, just for a moment.

Allow the cakes to set at room temperature for about 20 minutes. If you need to refrigerate them, they will loose their shine. Once you return them to room temperature and they warm up the shine will come back.

Serve with the blackberry coulis: Cook the berries, cassis and sugar in a sauce pan over low heat until the juices start to boil, about 10 minutes. Use an immersion blender to puree the berries. Strain through a Chinois Strainer or fine mesh strainer.

Tagged as: devil's food, poured ganache, raspberry, valentine's