Wow, Julie, that’s just a fabulous bake-off adventure and you took us along for the ride!  I think your cake looks fabulous - the combo you used sounds delicious - did you put chocolate in the cake in place of the coffee?  The glaze is a wonder of wonders.

I too think your rose (and your daughter’s) looks magnificent and it’s great that they keep so you will be able to use it later.  As for the chocolate leaves, I have never made them but thanks for sharing your experience.  It seems like rose leaves or holly leaves would work as they are thick and sturdy.  About the leaves being dull, tempered chocolate will take up the sheen of the material on which it is dried.  So, the industry uses shiny moulds and acetate to get that lovely glossy finish.  If you want a dull finish, just put your chocolate on parchment paper - or the back of a raspberry leaf! 

Thanks for being so detailed in your reporting.

Hi Annie, nice to hear from you!  In the pecan torte I actually used 1T bourbon in place of coffee (hubby’s favorite).  After tasting the cake, I think vanilla would be my first pick if not using Rose’s coffee version, though the bourbon was quite good- not at all boozy.  Vanilla extract in the torte and either vanilla or caramel whipped cream (Rose has a version in the P&PB;).  But I love coffee desserts, so perhaps when he’s out of town I’ll try Rose’s version.

Thanks for the chocolate comment- it makes me think I’ll look for some acetate for making chocolate bands, to get them shinier.

Julie - 07 October 2009 06:17 AM

We seem to fit well together, I’m more of a baker/thinker and she’s more of a decorator/talker.

A match made in heaven! 

Julie, you out-did yourself! A chocolate cake, a torte with ganache and a magnificent glaze. Then all that work on chocolate decorations! Everything looks so scrumptious. It took me two or three readings just to absorb the details on everything you did! I’d be very proud if I had done all that. So cool, too, that your daughter’s getting involved and that you can share this passion, each in your own way.

About the roses, were you using true chocolate and Rose’s recipe p 325 TCB? If so, that would explain the problems. She calls for summer coating aka confectionery coating, candy melts, compound coating or simply coatings. Sometimes incorrectly called chocolate coatings or compound chocolate in the past, since summer coating was made with imitation cocoa butter. Some of them were quite good quality, but they weren’t chocolate. Nowadays, I think some of the confectionery coatings do have a bit of cocoa butter in them. In any case, the stuff is ideal for chocolate modeling. So much easier to work with! You may have seen books or postings about the Whimsical Bakehouse bakery. Tons of wonderfully creative decorative work, most of it using compound chocolate.

If you’re using true chocolate, you’ll need more corn syrup yet. That is, if Toba Garrett’s recipe is any indication (210 grams with 1 lb chocolate - 28 g less if working with white or milk chocolate).  I haven’t tried her recipe - only made Rose’s roses so far.

I had similar problems with making chocolate leaves that you describe. Used good chocolate and real rose leaves. Luckily, was able to salvage enough for my cake but overall, wasn’t thrilled with the outcome. It was a few months ago and have been wanting to try again. We’ll have to put our heads together one of these days.

Carol, yes, it was the real chocolate version- Rose has the recipe on the following page, p.326.  It was hard to knead this, I presume because of the real chocolate?  Wanted to use real chocolate because I knew it would get eaten by little mouths…

Rose uses less corn syrup than what you have listed for Toba, if her recipe were for one pound of dark chocolate, the corn syrup would be 182g.  But the two may use different cocoa mass chocolates.  I will say that as hard as it was to knead, once I thinned it out and began working with it, this consistency worked very well for thin, delicate sheets.

oops! Sorry about that, Julie!! I made the red roses last year, so didn’t notice (or remember?) the note about using bittersweet choc and increasing the corn syrup. Good to know that the consistency improved as you worked with it.

Thanks, Rose.  I’m happy to see this cake in the new book - I had no idea when I chose it for the bake off.

Fantastic job Julie!!!

Welcome to the forum, Tanee. I detect a considerable familiarity with Rose’s work! So glad you’ve joined us.

Carolita,

It’s not worth it to talk to the spammers.  They never say hello back.

I’ve deleted the post you referred to.

TTFN
Travis

jeannette - 27 September 2009 10:02 AM

I am late with my September Bake-off but I hope this will be acceptable, it is the cover cake of Heavenly Cakes,  Bernachon Palet D’or Gateau.  I made the cake yesterday, covered it with the ganache last evening and then , very nervously I may add, started on the lacquer glaze this morning.  My husband decided to go and play golf, saying he thought I would be better left alone to get on with it.  He was right, I wasn’t nice to be with, very anxious and stroppy!  However, I needn’t have worried, as the glaze turned out great, thanks to Rose’s explicit instructions and I have a lovely cake to show for my efforts.  I’m pleased with it, but what do all of you think of it?

Thanks for referring me to your lovely gateau! I will take a breath and try to lessen my stroppiness -fortunately my husband will be playing golf also tomorrow so that will help. I can’t wait to start. : )