Christmas Cake

I've been salivating over this devil's food layer cake ever since I saw it on the cover of Bon Appetit a full year ago, so I volunteered to be in charge of dessert for Christmas dinner.

I knew the many components of the recipe couldn't be whipped up in one evening, so I made the cake on December 23, and wrapped it in foil and left it at room temperature like the recipe said, although I knew from baking school that it would be a lot easier to cut the cakes into layers if they were chilled. Right when I got home from work on the 24th, I made the white chocolate cream, which needed 4 hours in the fridge, and the dark chocolate ganache. After 4 hours had passed, I procrastinated another 2 or so, which was my big mistake. The ganache, which I'd put out to soften at room temperature, had not softened one bit, even though much longer than the suggested 30 minutes had passed. I tried to soften it using a bain marie, but I didn't want it to get hot, otherwise I'd have to wait even longer for it to cool down or I couldn't layer it with the cold cream. It ended up being fine anyway, because it didn't get too hot, and the delay gave the cakes longer to chill and firm up for slicing, since I'd stuck them in the freezer after my crumbly first attempt at sawing into them horizontally.

After I managed to get everything assembled, I put the cake in the fridge while I made the frosting. Recipe warning sign: "whisk constantly by hand for 8-9 minutes." That hurts, okay, especially since I was doing it over a pan of simmering water and burning my face off. After ten minutes and still no resemblance to marshmallow creme, I called in Kelly, who tried whisking for about 2 minutes before asking why I wasn't using the whisk attachment on my hand mixer. "I don't think I'm supposed to", I whined, and then promptly gave in. What do you know, it worked. Don't tell Bon Appetit I cheated. I frosted the cake in a manner which would have been a fail in baking school (and that's why I quit, ha), sprinkled chocolate shavings on, and was done by 1 a.m. Whew.

As a palate cleanser and for the vegan in the family, I also made green apple sparkling cider sorbet and cranberry orange sorbet, both from my love David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. It was all very well received, and I was proud. Would I make it again? If I did, I would certainly allow more time, but I don't know...I already have my eye on another showstopper of a cake.