| Grease five small loaf pans, fill with 6-1/2 ounces
of batter. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool. |
| (From the baking pan the flat bottom is the top
and the crested top is the bottom) Flip them tops up and trim any
excess flange off the cake, level the bottom so the cake sits level
and square. Slice each cake into three layers. Line them up side by
side. Pull off the top layers, then the middle layers. To make it
easier, try putting them on a small tray or flat pan, for the assembly
/ finishing procedure. |
| Put the cold pastry cream into a mixing bowl and mix
on high speed until the pastry cream is very smooth. Add the softened
ganache and continue mixing until it is very smooth and uniform. |
| Using a brush, apply one third the syrup onto the
bottom layers, spread about 1.25 ounces of chocolate pastry cream onto
each of the 5 bottom layers. Overlay the 5 center slices, apply one
third the syrup, and spread each of the layers with about 1.25 ounces
of the chocolate filling. Overlay the top layer. Finish with the remaining
syrup on this layer. |
| Using a spatula - align the three stacked layers so
they are straight and directly on top of each other. Cover the sides
of the cakes with fabrication ganache, to help hide the crumbs and fill
any voids. Chill for several hours. |
| Using a spatula - apply more of the fabrication ganache
to the sides and top of each cake. Cover them perfectly smooth on the
top and sides. Chill for 15-30 minutes. |
| Mark the decoration onto the tops of the cakes using
the edge of your spatula press lightly into the tops of the cakes, to
leave a faint line. Fill a pastry bag with the remaining fabrication
ganache and a small round #3 round tip. Draw directly over your markings
to leave the straight lines of chocolate. |
| Make 5 small cardboards to put the cakes onto. Cut
them just smaller than the actual bottoms of the finished cakes. They
will help significantly in moving them around. |
| Working over a bowl of chocolate sprinkles, apply
the decoration to the bottom 1/2" all the way around the edge of each
cake. Allowing the excess chocolate sprinkles to fall back into the
bowl. |
| Using a small sieve or tea-strainer, put a heaping
spoon full of a good quality cocoa into the mesh screen. While holding
the strainer, tap it lightly on the edge with the empty spoon. Move
across the cake tops as the cocoa falls through the screen. Cover the
tops and some down the sides of all the cakes evenly. |
| |