Once that finished baking up, I turned to a new book that I got from Nicholas Lodge - International Sugar Crafting which has 24 lessons in all - dealing with chocolate tempering, marzipan figures and much, much more. The first lesson in the book was the jackpot for me. I had found the perfect cake that fit the birthday boy's request.
The nice thing about this cake is that it has a "wow" factor. It just presents so nicely with the white frosting, dark chocolate and the red strawberries.
I tempered the chocolate and poured it out on to wax paper. It took almost a full 24 hours to fully set before I was able to cut the triangles. I also discovered - hot hands is NOT good when working with chocolate! Once I cut the triangles, I put half of them aside to cover in powdered sugar. The left over chocolate slab - for lack of a better term - I chopped up to put along the base of the cake.
The cake itself was a vanilla pound cake, which as mentioned earlier, was very dense. I was actually disappointed with the way it turned out. The flavor was good, but it was a bit dry. Maybe I have been spoiled with "American" cakes, but I really like my cakes a bit moister. The cake was torted and filled with a cooked meringue and fresh chopped strawberries.
From there - more meringue on the outside of the cake, apply the chopped chocolate and position the triangles, alternating with whole strawberries and powdered triangles.
Oh! And a shameless plug for my friend Denise - a wonderful glass artist who made my beautiful cake plate! It set off the cake to perfection!
