Chocolate Rhapsody

As stated before I believe myself to be a very good baker, minus my thin mints disaster.  Regardless of whether or not anyone agrees I immensely enjoy baking, which is why I was so tempted to make this cake.  My sister and I first made it last year for a Valentine’s Day treat and made some mistakes but it was still delicious.  I made it a few weeks ago for my professor’s birthday.  (He’s my PI for my research so it’s not strange.  Our lab group took him out to lunch and when I asked him if he was going to have cake, considering his whole family lives in Germany, and he said no I knew I immediately needed to change that.)  We ate if at our group meeting and everyone seemed to enjoy it. This cake is by no means simple to make, it’s not super hard but it does take time.  That being said, I had no problem making it for him because I’m so appreciative of all he has done for me. Although I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m an idiot after the amateur mistake I made today.  So I don’t understand the vibration circular dichorism theory I’m using and I’ve been yelling at excel for the last hour, who cares?  At least I have a very general idea of what I’m doing. Have you all got the feeling that research makes me lose my mind? Because it does. So I bake and go to bed at 9:30pm, which is what I’m totally about to do.  But this cake it four layers of airy vanilla sponge cake, creamy chocolate, rich decadent raspberry mouse and more creamy smooth chocolate. Yum yum yum. Four layers of bliss.  This cake also freezes very well and it’s easier to cut frozen.  I froze a chunk of it before it went bad and have been periodically cutting a piece then letting it thaw out in the fridge.  I highly recommend it to everyone!

{Chocolate layer}

{Raspberry layer}

{White chocolate and heavy whipping cream for the raspberry layer}

{Lots of layers}

{Homemade whip cream on the side}

{Finish cake and whipped cream}

Other than that, things have been alright.  Could be better, but some things have gotten much better the past few days after some large realizations on my part.  So I think I’m skipping class tomorrow (rebel, I know) and then enjoying some time with some friends before they all depart for school.