Learn how to make chocolate flakes & give a professional look to a cream-covered, cherry & rum flavored
cake.
Serves 12
1 chocolate cake, p 26 (eggless), p 38 (with eggs)
1 cup tinned cherries (store the rest in the freezer)
1 tbsp rum or few drops of brandy essence – optional
1 dark milk chocolate (40 gm) – for the flakes
CREAM ICING
300 gm cream – chilled
6 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp of vanilla essence
Prepare a chocolate cake as given on page 26 or 38. Cool the cake.
Keep the milk chocolate with the wrapper, on the outer surface of a hot oven so that it melts slightly & becomes soft.
Cool it in the fridge but do not make it very hard.
With the help of a potato-peeler, start peeling the side of the chocolate on to a plate. Lovely flakes will be ready. These should be hardened by keeping in the freezer for half an hour.
Keep cream in a small pan in the freezer for about half an hour.
When cream and the pan are properly chilled, add sugar and essence.
Beat carefully till the cream is thick and can stand in soft peaks. Put some in an icing gun and keep in the fridge. Keep the rest of the cream also in the fridge.
Remove seeds from the cherries, keeping aside a few.
Add rum or essence to ½ cup cherry syrup.
Cut the cake into two halves. Soak both halves with cherry syrup. About 4-5 tbsp of syrup only, are put on each piece of cake.
Spread 2 tbsp of cream icing on each piece of cake.
Put deseeded cherries on the cream on one piece and cover these with the other piece of cake.
Cover the cake completely with cream on all sides and the top.
Level top and sides with a broad knife dipped in chilled water.
Make a border on the edge by piping swirls of cream from the icing gun. Place a cherry on each swirl. Put flakes in the center. Keep in the fridge.