TWD - Chocolate White Out Cake

Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater chose the Chocolate White Out Cake for us this week. The photo is on the cover of Dorie Greenspan's cookbook Baking From My Home to Yours. Ever since I purchased the book I have wanted to try this cake. I tasted it back in November when my friend Amanda at work made it for my boss's birthday. It was delicious and I couldn't wait to try baking it myself.

Since it was Valentine's Day on Saturday I thought it would be the perfect day to bake the cake and take it to my dance friends on Saturday night. I wanted to make it perfectly. That sentence alone should be a warning that nothing ever goes the way you plan.

I did not have a candy thermometer so it was off to Target for a purchase. They only had one kind and it was big. But it worked. Upon returning home, I realized I did not have the right sized cakepans. Mine are nine inch. I had one eight inch so I decided I would make a tall cake in that and make a flatter cake in the nine inch for the crumbs. I measured all the ingredients precisely. I followed Dorie's instructions precisely.

My cake came out the size of a one-layer cake. I knew I would be able to cut it in half, but not in thirds. So I used the one good layer and cut it in half to make two (using dental floss to cut through the cake - worked great), then I used the nine inch layer and after it fell apart, tryed to put it on top as a third layer. It's under all that meringue so I figured who would know?

Then, I got worried about the egg whites not being cooked. I guess the hot syrup cooks them, but I was afraid of killing all my friends with uncooked egg whites so the cake stayed home while we went to meet our friends. Am I like the only person on earth that worries about stuff like this? My mom always told me that the lemon juice in a lemon icebox pie cooked the raw yolks in it. Now really, can that be true even? Seems bizarre to me that lemon juice would "cook" anything.

The cake was delicious, but I'm not a meringue person so I would have loved it much much better if it had been topped with loads of fresh whipped cream.

And let me just say, it wasn't the prettiest cake I have ever made. I had a lot of trouble getting those crumbs on the sides. I had crumbs all over the countertop, all over the floor, and all over me, but not so many on the cake itself! I can't wait to see your photos and to hear how you got those crumbs to be perfectly placed on the cake like Dorie's was!! I needed help for sure.

Of course my "friend" Simon Baker dropped by and even after assessing the kitchen mess, was very willing to try a piece for himself. In my dreams of course. If you have not gotten hooked on watching the Mentalist on Tuesday nights, you are missing out! He not only is a hottie, but he uses his brain! You gotta LOVE his curls!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with lots of love and surprises!