Chocolate Genoise with Peanut Butter Whipped Ganache

Rose's Heavenly Cakes, Page 184: Chocolate Genoise with Peanut Butter Whipped Ganache

Still longing for the peanut butter ice-cream i had in Melbourne, i was quite happy to see that this week's recipe has some peanut butter in it.  Usually, i don't like peanut butter on anything, but the peanut butter ice-cream gave me a whole new perspective.   

For the black raspberry syrup, i couldn't bring myself to use Chambord that i carried all the way back from my last trip.  If you have not seen the Chambord, the bottle is sooo cute that i just couldn't bring myself to open it. LOL! Thankfully, i have another black raspberry liquor which doesn't have a cute bottle.  I bought that first before i found Chambord.   

I placed both bottles side by side and contemplated for quite a while.. 

can you see why i can't open the Chambord? 

The chocolate genoise turned out great. I panicked when i saw the genoise shrank away from the sides while baking, and i quickly removed it from oven. Only then did i realised that Rose had mentioned in her book that when the cake is fully baked, it will shrink from the sides.  I panicked for nothing..lol!    

The chocolate genoise tasted delicious, or shall i say SUPER delicious on its own...i kept eating the top crust of the cake..while getting it ready for syrup brushing.  It's one of the best chocolate genoise i've ever tasted.  Super chocolatey and moist light crumbs. I used bleached flour and if i had used cake flour, i would think the genoise would be even more delicate.   Normally i'm not a fan of any syrup, but this black raspberry syrup is soo good, reminds me of Ribena. I grew up with Ribena and so did my kids...(and I'm still drinking it)...:p!   I brushed lots of the syrup onto the chocolate genoise, even though the genoise is pretty moist imo, but i still brushed quite a lot of it. 

Peanut Butter Whipped Ganache is pretty straight forward...and tasted really good too.  Not sure what percentage of chocolate i used cos the label faded away..but i know it's Valhorna Equatorial or something like that.    After it's whipped, the ganache feels very soft and not so easy to frost..but i managed to frost it quite neatly and with sharp edges..yay! :D.  Since i just got back, i did not have any strawberries or fruits in the fridge to decorate the cake with...i only had mini Oreos..lol!  I wanted to use Reese peanut butter cups but because of our hot weather, the peanut buttercups went out of shape. 

VERDICT:  WINNER! Super delicious!!  I was pleasantly surprised that the genoise didn't taste too wet or too moist after i brushed so much of the syrup in it. Also the syrup blends in very well with the chocolate genoise and enhanced the chocolate flavor imo.  Best chocolate genoise i've ever tasted.  Light & chocolatey.  Paired with the light whipped ganache, it's heavenly.   In fact, i think i would eat the genoise on it's own too!  And I see lots of possibilities i can do with this chocolate genoise base.   Everyone in my family loves it!  Guess what? My son too!  He ate a huge slice and I'm so happy! :D  

Dinner in Melbourne

Noteworthy dinners i had were at The Millswyn.  I understand its new, just opened not too long ago.  Nice environment and food is really good.  We were there for 2 nights. 

Dinner Menu on Saturday:-

The oysters pretty fresh and good. I'm not sure if they were the best triple 0s-Belon oysters but they were very good imo.  I had The Land, ie the Waygu beef..which was really delicious but i couldn't finish the entire huge steak of beef.  The Chocolate Tart was amazing..creamy thick chocolate filling with thin crispy crust - heavenly! And the milk ice-cream with vanilla salt gave a interesting twist to the entire dessert. 

Dinner Menu on Monday:-

Lots of red wine..but i didn't had any. I did taste/sip a bit of the Kir Royale and Toast to Prosperity.  Kir Royale tasted like a fruity champagne..and Toast to Prosperity was interesting as it has gold flakes in it and also chocolate liquor which i like of course!  I adored the Italian Master..sooo sooo good! The Foire Di Burrata was sooo yummy..i love the creamy centre!   Again..lots of meat..which is great too but i had a little.. i think you can tell by now i'm not so much a meat person.. i love starters and desserts - i'm not so much a main course person..lol!   I had the peanut butter ice-cream sandwhich w/ Raspberry jelly which was sooo yummy! Normally i don't like anything peanut butter except peanut butter itself on bread..but this made me change my mind. The best peanut butter ice-cream i ever had! Yums!  I tried a bit of the Pear Sorbert and it was delicious too! 

Baby and Laces Cookies

We had long weekend holiday and I thought I had ample time to bake the cakes for ABC, HCB and cookies for my friend.  However, my daughter had a minor 'accident'  - she cut her finger (quite badly!) while doing her project and i had to rush her to a 24-hr clinic at night.  The doctor attending said it was minor and didn't give us anything and told us just to monitor. He didn't even have bandages in his clinic to dress up the wound and told me to go to the nearest pharmacy to buy and dress it up on  my own.  The next day, the cut on my daughter's finger was still red and bleeding, so i rushed her down to A&E and the doctor opened up the wound, examined it and said cut was quite deep and needed stitches!!  I can't believe that the earlier doctor just brushed it off so lightly.  

After all the worrying and rushing to the doctors, my baking plan went awry.  I didn't have time to bake anything.  However, i need to ice the cookies i've baked on Thursday...as I know i will be occupied the week later.

Hence decorated these baby shower cookies & lace cookies from Sunday night & over the next 2 nights till very late (or shall i say early morning..lol!). As usual, my husband nagged at me constantly (every 30mins interval after 10pm) if i'm done as it's getting late, that i needed to get to work the next day...otherwise, i will not have enough sleep and can't concentrate at work..and bad for my health..blah..blah..blah...

Baby Shower Cookies

Made these baby shower cookies for a friend. Her sister will be having a baby soon and because of some very Chinese tradition, she can't see her sister or baby till a month later after baby is born . I thought if my friend could give her sister some pretty cookies, that would be nice.  

Heart-Shape Lace Cookies

Round-Shape Lace Cookies

These heart & round lace cookies are just my "practice-to-pipe" cookies.  Saw some lovely lace cookies by my 2 flickr pals (Rosey Sugar & Jill Sugar) and thought i'll give it a go. Of course mine is no where near their standard..theirs are perfect and their piping always so delicate and pretty - I adore their work! I needed to practice piping round, so i made lots of round cookies.  However, i didn't really do a very good job..my round outline turned out quite terrible..some jagged edges, some diamond shape, some oval..some just out of shape round.. These above that you see are the 6 best rounds that i've done! LOL!  Gotta practice more!