I was pretty excited to make this cake. I absolutely love chocolate. That was how I gained 7 kilograms over 5 months in Europe. I was on a mission to try all the chocolates of the land. I think it’s safe to say that I had a bar of chocolate almost every single day.

The hazelnut sacher sponge is a relatively easy sponge to make. Honestly, even without soaking it with coffee syrup, I would still love it. It isn’t dry like a genoise, but I guess the coffee keeps it moist for longer, and also enhances the flavour of the chocolate.

After the hazelnut sacher, we worked on the ganache. Ganache is really simple to make, but very decadent. Less is more in this case.

After assembling our cakes, we queued up to glaze them. This was not that easy to do. Cakes with edges are a bitch to glaze in my opinion. I believe this cake was once round, but they changed it to a rectangle recently. Very modern.

My glazing went ok, except for one side. I think the cake was too cold and the chocolate cooled too quickly. However, I was able to get nice sharp edges and a flat top on mine. Overall, I was quite satisfied with it.

Alhambra

Chef’s only comment was that he would prefer less piping on the cake. I totally agree with him. I think I went overboard with that. My marzipan flower also improved from the last time I made it for the dacquoise. But there’s still a long way to go! I find it hard to handle the marzipan because it gets really sticky fast. Also, once you make a mistake, you can’t undo it otherwise you wreck the whole flower. I much prefer working with fondant, however, we all know fondant tastes like hell!

I was glad to have such a short day in school. I went home, had a Skype meeting and took a nap. I worked out and I felt amazing after! I’ve been sleeping really well here; much better than when I’m back home. Maybe I am really that tired!

We have our last practical tomorrow. We’re going to make a real pretty cake. It’s pink! HEHE.