One of the things I always teach in my classes is if a dish doesn’t turn out exactly how you planned then call it something else.
I actually hesitated to post this cake but my kids – my daugher who turned 27 on August 1st and my son who turns 30 today, insisted I post this!
My daughter called it the Leaning Tower Cake and since it’s my Chocolate Avalanche Cake I’m calling it the Leaning Tower Chocolate Avalanche Cake. It definitely had an avalanche! It may look awful, lumpy, and tilted to say the least, but OMG it was outrageously delicious!
My husband couldn’t eat the fudge fast enough as I poured it onto the cake, while the rest of us devoured the cake, whipped cream and berries. What we didn’t finish in our first sitting we managed to eat over the next couple of days for breakfast, lunch and dinner – it’s that good! This cake wouldn’t win a beauty contest, but for flavor it won first place!!!
So how did this happen? We were vacationing in the mountains this summer and the kitchen we were using had limited utensils and tools. Of course, rather than going out and buying the things I needed I opted to wing it without dragging home more supplies to store, that I already had.
The biggest hurdle of all which is always the case, was the altitude of 9,600 feet. Altitude always presents an issue when baking as I’ve learned from the past and posted, if you’ve been following my blog for a while. Knowing this, I opted to doctor up a cake mix rather than splurging on all fresh ingredients only to have my cake fall, be overcooked, or under cooked. Of course, I could have avoided the cake from leaning altogether if I hadn’t tried to use a knife to loosen the edges of what ended up being the middle layer. Why I chose to use that layer I’m not sure, but have to say it made for lots of laughter and fun!
I also didn’t have a mesh strainer to sift the powdered sugar, hence, the lumps in the icing. That didn’t stop us from eating it though – oh no, this was way too tasty!
Of course this cake was no beauty, but so flavorful! I created this before but in bundt cake form an idea I got from eating at The Bubble Room Restaurant in Captiva Island, Florida some 20 years ago. While this cake has several steps it’s quite easy to put together.
I opted to use three 6-inch cake rounds lined with parchment. I’m pretty sure had I been more patient, the middle layer would have fallen out without the use of a knife. I guess I was excited to finish it and couldn’t wait for the cake to fall out when I flipped it over – a mistake I made. The other two fell out just fine.
Anyway, in spite of what this cake looks like it’s incredibly flavorful, if you’re a fan of chocolate. I highly recommend making this in three 6-inch cake rounds or a bundt cake that you then slice horizontally and fill.
Since it didn’t look as stellar as I had planned I will be remaking this again soon to share with all of you.
Whether you’re a novice cook or chef we all make mistakes and have flops – this was mine in looks, but certainly not in taste. I hope you’ll give this a try……..
Be prepared to devour this cake - it's hard to resist!
Cake ingredients:
Cream Filling:
Fudge Icing:
Enjoy!!!
HUNGRY FOR MORE? SAVOR THESE:
Death by Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake Cake