Guest Author - Shelley Pogue

Ingredients for the Cake Mix:

1/2 Cup of water
4 Ounces of semi sweet chocolate
1 Cup butter
2 Cups sugar
4 Egg yolks
1 Teaspoon of vanilla bean paste
2 1/2 Cups flour
1 Teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 Teaspoon of salt
1 Cup buttermilk
4 Egg whites Stiff peaks

Bring the water to a simmer, You will then add your chocolate and water over a double boiler and melt the chocolate until it is smooth. You will remove from the double boiler and cool down to room temperature. You will then start to mix your sugar, vanilla bean paste, and and butter until creamy, and then add in egg yolks one at a time until incorporated. You will need to make sure the chocolate mixture is cooling down because you are going to start getting the rest of your ingredients ready to put them all together very soon.

We are ready to get the dry ingredients ready now. First thing you will need to do is get your dry ingredients ready at this point. You will need to sift the flour, soda, and salt. You will then add in buttermilk and give it a stir. Now you will add the buttermilk flour mixture to the chocolate liquid and stir them just until they are incorporated.

I would preheat the oven to 350F degrees, so you can pour the batter and go directly into the oven. This is the last step of the chocolate cake batter. This is what is going to make the cake light and fluffy. You will need to whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. You will add about a third of the stiff peaked egg whites in to the batter and fold gently into the chocolate mix, repeat two more times until all of the egg whites are folded in. Do not mix, but fold them into the batter. You will lose the lift the egg whites will produce.

Grease and flour two or three 9" circular pans, pour in the batter, and put into the oven. Bake at 350F for 30 to 40 minutes, remove and cool. When the toothpick comes out clean the cake is ready.

Ingredients for the coconut and pecan frosting:

1 Cup evaporated milk
1 Cup sugar
3 Beaten egg yolks
1/2 Cup of butter
1 Teaspoon of vanilla bean paste
1 Tablespoon of Meyers Dark Rum
1 Can of flaked coconut
1 Cup chopped pecans


In a bowl you will mix the milk, rum, sugar, yolks and butter. You will then heat in a pan stirring constantly until it thickens, 10 minutes or so. Then pour into the vanilla bean paste, coconut and pecans, and let cool.

For the Chocolate Icing:

8 Ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
1 1/2 Ounces of unsalted butter
1 Cup heavy cream
1 Bag and a metal tip for the ring of frosting around the cake

You will add the chopped chocolate in a bowl with the corn syrup and butter. You will heat the cream to get it hot enough to melt the chocolate. You could also do this over a double boiler if you like to make more of a ganache. You will then remove from heat and gently pour over the chocolate. You will give it a quick stir, and then let stand until all of the chocolate has melted stirring occasionally. You will let this sit until you are ready for this at room temperature. If you like you can add your tip to the bag and add about a third of your icing, so you are ready to go. You will leave the rest of the icing for the sides of the cake.

Putting the cake together. Take the cake layers and assemble by adding a layer of the coconut frosting in between the layers. And the second, and then third and repeat the frosting in-between the layers. Once the last layer is on top add the coconut frosting layer on jut the top of the cake. You will then start to frost the sides of the cake with the chocolate icing. You will need a knife and a glass of water to dip into to smooth down the sides. Once that is complete you will add decorations on the top of the cake. You can do a decorative ring or whatever you wish. Then serve

Chef Shelley Pogue, a Cum Laude, Le Cordon Blue graduate and Executive Research and Development Chef, for Vertical Sales and Marketing, San Ramon, CA. Shelley is also the desserts editor for http://www.BellaOnline.com

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