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Chocolate Style Valentine Cake

Position oven rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Trace pan on parchment paper; cut out. Grease pan; line bottom of pan with parchment heart; grease paper.

For cake, combine chocolate and water in medium stainless steel bowl; place bowl over simmering water in medium saucepan. Heat, stirring frequently, until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth. Set aside; cool to room temperature.

In mixer bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar and salt. Set bowl over simmering water in medium saucepan (making sure bowl doesn't touch water); heat, whisking constantly, until eggs are warm, 1-2 minutes. Place bowl on mixer stand; beat with whisk attachment on high speed until mixture triples in volume, about 3 minutes.

In clean mixer bowl, with clean whisk attachment, beat heavy cream until firm peaks form. Gently fold cooled chocolate into egg mixture; fold chocolate egg mixture into whipped cream. Turn into prepared pan.

Place pan in water bath and bake 45-53 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Place pan on cooling rack; let cake cool 25 minutes. Run sharp knife around edge of pan to loosen; carefully invert cake onto wire rack. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

To make glaze, bring cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate; stir until chocolate is completely melted and glaze is smooth. Stir in vanilla. Cover surface with plastic wrap; cool about 10 minutes. Place chilled cake on cake circle; set on cooling rack. Spread raspberry jam evenly over top and sides of cake. Pour warm chocolate glaze on top of cake; using clean spatula, spread evenly over top and side, covering completely. Refrigerate cake at least 30 minutes.

Place white chocolate in small stainless steel bowl; place bowl over simmering water in saucepan. Heat, stirring frequently, until chocolate is completely melted. Remove from heat. Color chocolate with icing color to desired pink tone. Place colored chocolate in parchment bag; snip tiny hole in bottom. Remove cake from refrigerator; drizzle with pink chocolate. Refrigerate cake at least 20 minutes to set chocolate. Let cake stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving.

Can be stored in refrigerator, loosely covered, up to 5 days.

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Problems with my cakes...HELP!?

For a hobby, I started baking and decorating cakes. So far I've made a vanilla cake (birthday) and a carrot cake (Easter). The decorating isn't bad, but I'm having a problem with the actual cake part. Can anyone who makes really awesome tasting / looking cakes give me some tips and pointers?

I agree with the others ... always bake from scratch whenever possible. Find a good basic yellow cake recipe, practice making it over and over. Then when you have that down you can always add to that recipe to make all kinds of other cakes.

Some tips:
1. Wilton makes some nice light cake pans (and they're cheap). There are other cake pans out there that are good, but these are the only ones I've used where I didn't put parchment paper on the bottom, or grease/flour the pan and the cake still came out beautifully.

2. If the cake pan is darker (has a non-stick coating) the cake usually comes out darker and may burn more easily. Try using ones without a non-stick coating. If you must use one with, spray the pan with Crisco's no-stick spray w/flour for baking. It works wonders. Then line the bottom with parchment paper (they sell it everywhere).

3. With most cake recipes all the ingredients incorporate better if they're room temperature. So try taking out your eggs, butter, milk etc. an hour or so before you begin making the cake.

4. It's better to alternate wet/dry ingredients when mixing. For example: After you cream your butter & sugar, and add your eggs (one at a time), alternate adding your milk and flour.

5. Do not overmix. You don't want a heavy cake. Mix all ingredients just enough to incorporate. I use an electric mixer ... a Kitchenaid stand mixer.

I hope that helps a little, but none of it means a thing if your oven is off. You need to have your oven callibrated, or you can do it yourself. The things you need to check for are:

1. If you set your oven at 350 degrees is it really at that temperature? Test it out with a thermometer. Put your oven on varying temperatures and see if it's accurate.

2. Make sure your oven is level. If your oven isn't even your cakes won't be either.

3. Make sure your ovens temperature is even. Meaning does one half of your food cook faster or come out more done than the other side?

Baking can be so much fun. It's something I really enjoy. In fact I enjoy it so much that I opened a bakery (smile). If you continue to bake, each time it will get better and better. Just hang in there, and by all means continue to experiment. If you do use a box mix, try adding a teaspoon of baking powder so that it rises a little more - they do tend to come out a little smaller/flatter.

Have fun!!

Irish Coffee Caramel Mousse
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water 2 cups chilled whipping cream 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons Irish whiskey 1 tablespoon instant espresso coffee powder 11/4 teaspoons unflavored gelatin 1/4 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream Stir sugar and 1/4 cup water in heavy medium saucepan over low heat. When sugar dissolves, increase heat and boil without stirring until ...

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