I have a dilemma…I am baking the 60th wedding anniversary cake for my husband’s grandparents and they want both chocolate and carrot cake.  I’d love to create a 2-tier cake that has the same outer appearance for each tier, but of course, the insides would be completely different.  I know the crowd and the carrot cake eaters will want their carrot cake and cream cheese frosting while the chocolate cake eaters will not want any cream cheese even close to their cake and would prefer a full chocolate (aka ganache) experience.  The carrot cake recipe from RHC does have cocoa in it and I’ve seen carrot cake recipes calling for chocolate glazes and the like so I don’t think it’s totally out of the question, but does it sound like a bad idea?

I’ve been dreaming up my decoration motif and I’d like to do some spun sugar adornments with perhaps a small gold embossed fondant monogram ( I dislike cakes with piles of writing mostly because I’m awful at it).

I don’t know if this would work/hold together, but someone else might, but here’s my idea:

Make one carrot cake layer and cut it in half for two stackable half-layers.
Make one chocolate cake layer and cut it in half for two stackable half-layers.

Frost each one, layers and all, with the desired frostings, then meet the halves for a black & white cake.  You could run a “ribbon” of maybe milk chocolate down the seam, and that might look really pretty.

Just an idea, but good luck.  Can’t say how chocolate would go with carrot cake directly….one never knows….but I feel sort of skeptical, myself, and I like about anything.  I’d try a piece, though, as I couldn’t actually see myself turning down a slice of homemade cake!!!!

Thanks rosetheoes, I might be a bit unclear, though.  I am actually talking about a stacked cake (like a wedding cake) with a carrot cake made from two cake layers which are filled and frosted with cream cheese frosting which is then placed on top of a larger chocolate cake made from two cake layers filled and frosted with ganache.  I just want the outside to be the same and the lacquer glaze is incredibly thin so it wouldn’t dominate (but it is chocolate so it would still be present on the palate).  I wanted to do something different than a vanilla buttercream (which I know goes with both, but seems to be a compromise for both cakes). 

I may just have to try a sample cake to see if I like the pairing.

Sherrie, you did see Rose’s new wedding cake where she glazed white chocolate buttercream:

http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2010/05/chocolate_red_velvet_passion.html

The glaze covers it completely, so I think you would be safe to do a different butter cream for each tier. Not sure about chocolate with carrot cake either, but I’m with rosetheoes that I would be game to taste it—you never know!

Hi Matthew,

You bet I saw the cake…how stunning!  I actually was wondering if it would work over a light colored buttercream—I am amazed at the results!  I will have to do a 6” test cake to try the flavour combination.  However, even if it tastes fabulous, I am worried it wouldn’t be well received.

There are a lot of recipes for chocolate carrot cake so I imagine a thin chocolate layer would be good. I make chocolate covered gingerbread hearts at Christmas time and the spices and chocolate go really nicely together.
Good Luck,

J

I don’t find the idea of chocolate and carrot cake off-putting at all.  I do wonder, though, about pairing the cream cheese frosting with chocolate.  I have a feelng it would work, given that Rose did it for the red velvet wedding cake, but I still can’t help but wonder if a few adjustments might be necessary, such as omitting the lemon juice and/or adding almond extract (which is how it is paired with the red velvet). 

Good luck and please post pictures!

Oh, chocolate and cream cheese would defiantely go great together, but I see what you mean re adjustments!  I’d leave in, I think the almond—I thnk almond would be wonderful.  Maybe see if choo-cc cheesecakes still use lemon?

Sorry for the misunderstanding re the cake.  Yeah, I see where you’re coming from with the tiers.  It will be a beautiful cake!  I like the white chocolate glaze idea—the whipped cream folks probably won’t even know it’s chocolate.  But I think if it’s just a glaze you could get away with it even over the cream cheese frosting.

Yum.

I would definately eat a piece of each layer.  Likely, I’d come back for a third…..

It will be a wonderful cake!!!

rosetheoes - 30 May 2010 07:22 AM

chocolate and cream cheese would defiantly go great together

s, I

Yes, I just made a chocolate cheesecake that people thought was quite good.  Personally, I’m not that fond of the cream cheese taste, but I’ve had some chocolate frostings that used cream cheese as a base and found the cream cheese taste almost undetectable.

Sherrie, I saw over on the blog (maybe that was you that asked about the frosting?) that Rose paired the red velvet wedding cake with white chocolate buttercream (no cream cheese), perhaps it was the wh choc mousseline?  That makes sense in terms of stability, as the cream cheese frosting is softer.

Let us know how your test cake turned out!

I actually love chocolate and cream cheese together—chocolate cream cheese brownies, milk chocolate scraped across a brick of cream cheese—I even made truffles where the insdies were (when you get down to brass tacks) chocolate cream cheese frosting.  They went over quite well, too.

Thanks for the replies!  Yes, Julie, it was me who asked about the frosting.  And rosetheoes, I am mostly concerned with the triad of flavours—chocolate, carrot, and cream cheese (any 2 on their own may be ok—but all together? )—I’ve got awhile, so I’ll eventually get around to doing a test cake and I will post the results when done.