Comments on: lighter-than-air chocolate cake

By: Laurie

Laurie — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:39:28 +0000

Deb, I was thinking about making this cake for Thanksgiving, but I’m hoping to do some of it ahead of time. Do you think it would be ok to make the cake layers the weekend before Thanksgiving and then fill the whip cream filling the day of?

By: Krystal

Krystal — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:00:57 +0000

I made this cake and it was my first attempt at making a cake that was flourless, used no milk and was 4 layers in size filled with cream. Coincidently it was my first chocolate cake that I’ve made in some months, and it turned out alright and so I’d say that if you were someone who bakes regularly or even ocassionally, you should be fine with this cake. My only mistake I felt was that the only chocolate I could source in a short time was 70% Belgium dark chocolate of which I felt compromised the taste as it was far too rich, so next time I will try and find maybe 48-52% cocao chocolate.

Mrs Ergül, My tips for you (based on your questions) would be changing from an 9″ pan to a 6″ is all about volume. We know mathematically that if you double the size (area) of an object, the volume is more then doubled (around 2.4x the original volume). Rough estimates though would be drop the portion of the ingredients by a third, minus 5% for error (therefore, your total ingredients should be around 70% of the listed in this recipe). Any leftover can be added to your pans as it’s only a small amount, or simply discard. Making 2 cakes and halving them might not work out so well because with the original quantities Deb provided I used 8″ pans, and each of the 4 cakes once baked were just over have an inch thick. It’d be a waste to make a cake that size into two layers.

As for the cream, any decorative pieces/icing for a cake can be of your own preference. If it’s fresh cream and not heavy cream (double cream for us Aussies), be sure that it’s whipped or thickened enough not to be runny otherwise it will spoil your cake. In Australia, fresh cream is usually one of the more runnier of cream products, though by definition if your country’s fresh cream isn’t runny, then I’ll let your judgment decide what’s best. Hope that helps! :)

By: Mrs Ergül

Mrs Ergül — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:07:04 +0000

Hi Deb, I am thinking of baking this for a small company. And I am thinking of doing it as a 6″ cake. How do you think I should go about adjusting the recipe to make it into a 6″ cake. Should I half it? If I half it, I should just use the quantities for the roll cake. Is there any way to bake the layers in two cakes and splitting them into 2 layers each to make a total of four layer? Like adjusting the baking temp and duration?

Also, is it possible to use the fresh cream to ice the cake too? So sorry for my many questions! I am just so not good at cakes. I have made the roll cake version of this recipe before but it broke, cracked and tor just too miserably……. But I totally adore the deep chocolaty but not overly sweet taste. So I thought I should just give the layer version a shot.

Thanks and sorry for being so long winded!

By: KZ

KZ — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:44:06 +0000

Just wanted to add that this recipe was a HUGE blessing as I worked in a kitchen at a camp and one of the groups that we had in had one person with celiacs. As our tradition, because it was her birthday we made her a cake, but needed a good flourless cake. This is excellent. Everyone enjoyed it (even the guys) and she was so surprised to have someone make her a flourless cake. Thanks!

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:17:52 +0000

This cake was a hit, but I found the layers very delicate. The only strategy which worked for me was to use springform pans, spray them completely, add my wax paper circles, spray THOSE, and then dust cocoa all over before pouring in the batter. Then, after baking, I froze the layers on the pan bottoms and, once they were frozen, eased them off with an icing spatula.

Because I had a no-milk-products mandate, I used a cherry filling which was a combination of homemade cherry-gooseberry preserves, and commercial cherry-gooseberry preserves doctored up with gooseberries. Honestly, it was all a bit much for me — I far preferred the Stout Gingerbread — but my guests praised it.

By: sandra

sandra — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:39:54 +0000

unfortunately it was
and unfortunately the three layers are now 2 due to one completely sticking even though i sprayed it everywhere even on the parchment.

By: deb

deb — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:36:53 +0000

Keep in mind that oven temperatures vary. You should be looking for “puffed and dry to the touch”.

By: sandra

sandra — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:21:48 +0000

15-18 minutes/??? not even close. try 20 minutes at first, inverted one layer which was pure goop under that “dry top”
so now it will be a 3 layer cake.

By: deb

deb — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:19:00 +0000

Yes. I only have two round pans and do all of my cakes that way. I just try to work quickly between bakes, cooling the pans under cold water if I must.

By: patsy

patsy — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:45:42 +0000

If you only have 2 circular pans, will the remaining batter wait well (not deflate) while the first two pans bake and cool? Or, would the batter be better made in two batches?