Rebekah's Baby Shower Cake

Made a Baby Shower Cake - the expectant mama loves chocolate. Was planning to use Strawberries but didn't make it to the Strawberry stand in time. Trader Joe's was out of raspberries. My only other option (based on time constraints & availability) turned out to be Organic Driscoll berries at $6.99/pint...ouch. They were gorgeous - at 3x the price they had better be.

I filled each berry with Chocolate Cream - stuffed raspberries are my favorite culinary trick. I glazed them with Seedless Raspberry Jam to boost the berry flavor (Knotts has the best flavor & consistency) and then covered them with more Chocolate Cream. This time I made the Chocolate Cream with just 8oz of Mascarpone. I added just enough of the Ganache icing to give it a nice light chocolate flavor and then thinned it out with straight cream until it had the consistency I needed.

I tried out a new icing - see below for the recipe. It was similar to Ganache in consistency but had the added benefit of Cocoa Powder and Lyle's Golden Syrup. Sadly, I was out of Lyle's so I substituted with light & dark corn syrup. The blackness of color can be attributed to the Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder I used. I had to special order it on Amazon - it was dark as it looks. Regular Cocoa Powder would've worked just as well.

I didn't have much luck drawing the whale - so I just decided to push the cookie cutter down until it was nearly flush an then I filled it with the blue sparkling sugar. The white disks are non-pariels I found a Trader Joe's - I hoped they would add that little hint of whimsy you always want baby cakes to have.

The icing was so shiny it's actually giving off a serious glare in these photos. Must have been the corn syrup. My favorite thing about this cake is what I used for a Cake Plate. Couldn't find one large enough so I decided to use a picture frame. I put decorative tissue paper under the glass to match the theme. It was the perfect size and it cleaned up great after the cake was served. I gave it to the Mom-to-be as a gift. I will definitely use this idea again...and again.

Deep Chocolate Frosting

2 1/2 cups Heavy Cream

3 oz. Unsalted Butter

1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

6 oz. Bittersweet Chocolate, finely chopped

2 cups Sugar

6 oz (2 cups) Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa

1/2 cup Lyle's Golden Syrup

1/2 tsp. Salt

In a 4 quart Saucepan over low heat, combine the cream and butter. Stir until butter is melted and cream just comes to a boil. Whisk in chopped chocolate until melted. Then whisk in Sugar, Cocoa Powder, Syrup and salt until smooth & Cocoa Powder has completely dissolved. Pour into a glass 9x13 pan and freeze until firm or refrigerate overnight.

Transfer Frosting to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes to soften. Change to whisk attachment and beat at medium-high speed until frosting is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Use as desired. This quantity should frost and fill a 3 layer 9-inch cake.