This month I had decided to go decadent. I had set my sights on a cake of extraordinary proportions, a multi-layered creation of dizzying heights, lavishly sandwiched with dark silky chocolate ganash and decorated with a deep red cherry compote and hazelnut praline. However, when I finally got my cakes into the oven I realised that they were in fact not of the sandwiching kind. Made from unthinkably large volumes of butter, eggs, chocolate and cream, this type of cake is undoubtedly better suited to being served in small portions with a lick of cream and splash of compote.
And so it was that my multi-layered cake became 15 individual cakes served simply with cream and compote! In order to turn 3 large cakes into 15 individual servings I employed a bit of kiwi ingenuity and borrowed a piece of plumbing pipe from my brothers plumbing van to cut out the wee rounds. I made this recipe again last week, dividing the mixture out into ramekins which proved far easier. I found I was short on hazelnuts so instead used a mixture of almonds and raw cashews which was also worked really well.
I guess the cake of dizzying heights will have to wait for another month!