Julie and Julia and The Ultimate Chocolate Cake

I have waited eagerly the past few months for the film Julie and Julia to come out in the theatres in Greece and finally it came out on Thursday, so I couldn’t wait any longer and we went on Saturday evening to see the film.   I am sure that by now you have all heard about this film, which is based on two books:  My life in France, which is the autobiography of Julia Child and  Julie Powell’s book:  Julie and Julia.  Julie worked as a Secretary for the Government and at a certain point of her life she was fed up of everyday life and wanted to challenge herself and do something different.  Discussing it with her husband she decided to create a blog, back in 2002 and cook all 524 recipes of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days and blog about it.

Back in 2002 I didn’t even know what a blog was but I can relate into a lot of incidents in the film when in 2007 I had to close my bookshop, as business wasn’t going well and since I couldn’t find a job, I was feeling very bored at home, so I also started blogging about something I really enjoyed doing and that was cooking!

The movie was fantastic.  It was hilarious and so pleasant to watch, taking us to a wonderful journey of tastes, sensations and emotions. The only thing that didn’t seem right and bothered me was Meryl Streep’s accent.  Before the release of the film I had never heard of Julia Child before and of course, knew nothing about her.   The following day I google searched to see if I could find a video to see how Julia Child really was and was pleasantly surprised to see how well Meryl Streep had impersonated her.  The funny thing about the video is that Julia Child is making chocolate mousse!!  I wish I had seen this video before making mine!!!

Today it’s time for celebration as it’s my husband name day.  As Julia said to her husband “You are the butter on my bread and the breath to my life”.  Thanks Demetri, for your love, your support and understanding.   Inspired by the film, today I will be cooking one of his favourite dishes Boeuf Bourguigon and yesterday I made a lovely Lemon Cake for him, which hope to post soon.

Here is a small glimpse of the cake.   I may have not graduated from the Cordon Bleu but after two years of blogging, I have graduated the “Blogging School” as everyday we learn something new and I feel very proud that I can now make creations of my own.

I wanted to make something different so instead of cutting the cake horizontally, I cut it vertically into six stripes, removing from each piece 1 cm of cake to fill it in with the cream.

You can use these leftover pieces to make a few truffles or a trifle or call your kids and eat it as it is

To make the cake, I made  two sponge cakes, which I first wet with some syrup and baileys and then joined them together with a thin layer of cream.

It is better to make the sponge cakes from the previous day as it can be cut much easier.

For the cream, I had seen a chocolate mousse on Chapot’s blog and I envisioned the cake with some mousse in it.  However, I had never made mousse before and I don’t remember French as I used to, so I must have done something wrong and when I added the yolks to the melted chocolate it became very stiff, so the first thing that came to my mind was to add some cream.  That made it creamy again but when I added the beaten egg whites, it didn’t come out as mousse at all.  However, that didn’t discourage me, I found other ways to use it.

Some of this mixture was mixed with some whipped cream to form the filling and the remaining was mixed with the chocolate ganache to cover the cake on top.

Result: The title says it all.  This was the most delicious yummy, indulgent chocolate cake I have ever tasted in my life, lots of ingredients, a bit fussy to make but so worth it.

I served it with some syrup from the poached grapes and you cannot imagine how the spicy, peppery sauce matched with chocolate.  If I had thought of it before I would have decorated the cake with some of the grapes.

The Ultimate Chocolate Cake, Recipe by Ivy

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Baking time: about 30 minutes each

Ingredients for 1 sponge cake:

5 Eggs
1 cup Powdered Sugar
3/4 cup Flour
1/4 cup  cocoa
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla essence

To wet both the sponges:

½ cup syrup (I used syrup from cherry spoon sweet)
25 ml baileys
Cherry spoon sweet for decoration on top

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Line with parchment paper a spring form tin (28 cm).
Beat the eggs and powdered sugar for approximately 10 minutes till mousse like and thick.
Add vanilla powder and beat.
Meantime, sift the flour and cocoa and add the salt.
Fold in the flour mix gently so that the beaten air doesn’t escape.
Bake for 25-30 minutes till done. Turn out onto rack to cool.

If you have never made a sponge cake before, see my step by step instructions here.

Chocolate mixture

2 couverture chocolates x 125 grams each
½ cup heavy cream
2 egg yolks
25 ml baileys
2 egg whites beaten with ¼ tsp cream of tartar

In a bain Marie add the chocolate and when it melts add the egg yolks, one at a time. The chocolate becomes hard. Add the heavy cream and whisk until it becomes soft again. Mix in the baileys.

(I had already whisked the egg whites with the cream of tartar, so I had to incorporate it with the remaining mixture).

Allow to cool.

Whipping cream

500 ml heavy cream, whipped without sugar, until it forms peaks

Putting the cake together

Heat the syrup and 25 ml of bailey liqueur and wet both sponge cakes.

Put one cake on the platter with the ring of the spring form tin and add a few tablespoons of the chocolate mixture and place the other sponge cake on top, so that they may stick together. Cut the cake vertically into 5 stripes, removing 1 cm sponge to leave a gap.

Mix a few tablespoons chocolate mixture with the whipped cream and fill the gaps with the whipped cream using a pastry bag (reserve some for decoration on top).  Use a spatula to push in the cream.

Refrigerate until you prepare next step.

For the ganache:

2 couverture chocolates x 125 grams each
1 tablespoon margarine or butter
Remaining mousse mixture.

Melt the chocolate in a bain Marie. Add the margarine and mix and then add the remaining mousse mixture.

Cover the cake with the ganache and allow to cool.

Hope you’ve enjoyed and as Julia used to say “Bon Appetit”!!

Other relevants posts:

Sour Cherries and Double Chocolate Cheesecake

Strawberry Cheesecake with Greek Yoghurt

Dulce De Leche Banoffee Cheesecake

Spicy White Chocolate Cake with Caramelized Bananas

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