Chocolate Cake with Raspberry

March reminds me that another year has rolled around. After seeing fifty years come and go, it almost gets to be routine: Another birthday, another cake. Being a baker, I've remembered many birthdays by their cakes.

Our oldest son's birthday is in June, when the raspberries and cherries ripen in our yard. So his cakes have usually revolved around the bountiful fresh fruits of the season. When he married his lovely wife, whose favorite cake was German Chocolate, I added one more recipe to my repertoire; it was time for a change!

Our other son often requested a "train cake" in his younger years. No small feat, as some mothers may know. Visions of separate train cars/cakes, loaded with various candies on top, with round licorice wheels, would translate into a multitude of hours and dollars spent on all that candy and design. And of course we'd need many other children on hand to help eat it all. Ah, but the memories!

My husband's cakes have been the easiest. Being a chocoholic, his cakes could be almost pure chocolate, barely held together with a few other ingredients. His cakes hardly even needed to rise (the denser the better)—perfect for the hurried baker.

Then there were my own birthday cakes. They could be simple, as long as they were homemade. Blame it on my upbringing. Mom was a gourmet chef who rolled out her own croissants, so box cakes were taboo in our family. Others would offer to bring me their box cake renditions, or purchases from the store, but, silly me. I had to say, "That's OK! I'll make it!" And I never really regretted it. The mad scientist in me seemed eager to explore the possibilities.

For my 50 th birthday, last year, I experimented with one of my mom's recipes. I made a sponge cake, also known in France as a "génoise" cake. Eggs and sugar are warmed on the stove (stirred on occasion); at a certain point, they can then be whipped into a fluffy batter. The resulting cake is light and slightly dry, making it a perfect vehicle for flavored syrups and liquors. I try to streamline and economize, and to use natural ingredients when possible, so I tried substituting frozen raspberry juice concentrate for liquor in the syrup which is spread on the layers. It worked perfectly!

I've shared the cake recipe this month; details on making a pistachio cream filling, or other frostings, are on my website. One tip about coloring frosting: Tone down colors by using a touch of the opposite color in the frosting. When I was shooting for a soft green, I added a touch of red to the frosting to achieve the right color. For softer, more natural red-toned frostings, add a touch of green. Happy baking!

Chocolate Cake with Raspberry

Decorate this cake using chopped pistachios (or other nuts) on the sides of the cake; check out the www.pccuisine.com website to make a pistachio-butter filling, if desired. This chocolate cake can be frosted with a Creme Fraiche frosting (again, on the website), or with a buttercream frosting. Serves 15-20.

Ingredients:

To make the egg/sugar mix, use room-temperature eggs, warmed in hot water first: > 8 eggs

Add warmed eggs to a bowl, along with the sugar, setting bowl in warm water (on the stove, or other warm place) until lukewarm, stirring occasionally. Use: > 1 1/3 c. sugar

In separate cup, microwave mixture of: > 3/4 stick butter (6 TBS.) > 2 tsp. vanilla

Mix dry ingredients together separately: > 3/4 c. plus 2 TBS. flour > 3/4 c. plus 2 TBS. unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cake pan (9"x9"); dust with flour.

Beat egg/sugar mix until tripled in volume. Fold in spoonfuls of flour mixture at a time, into egg mixture, repeating until mixed in. Fold in melted butter/vanilla last. Put into prepared pan and bake until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan and is springy, about 30 min. Let cool.

Assembling

Prepare Raspberry Filling; microwave jam in a small bowl, using: > 1/3 c. seedless raspberry jam

Add to the bowl: > 1/3 c. Frozen Raspberry/White Grape Juice Concentrate

Split the sponge cake into three layers using serrated knife, setting the first layer (cut-side up) on a cardboard cake rectangle (or flat cookie sheet). Set the other two layers on wax paper, cut side up. Drizzle the raspberry mixture over the cut side of all three layers.

Use your favorite frosting between the layers, or a whipped cream filling. Add a layer of pistachio or almond paste if desired (check the pccuisine.com website for details). Assemble the cake, adding the layers, with filling in-between them. Frost the cake, adding chopped nuts to the sides if you like.

You can make this cake a day ahead, or in steps. I often bake the cake earlier in the week, freezing it until assembly time.

AUTHOR BIO – Jennifer Cote

Jennifer Cote, with husband Tom, opened The New Deli in Pinole, CA in 1985. Her cookbook, " From the Land of Milk and Honey ", is filled with New Deli favorite recipes, plus scripture and insight into Christian living. Find more info at: www.PCCuisine.com and email Jennifer at getrecipes@hotmail.com