Spring Cleaning Part 1: Cassis Chocolate Cake


I opened my freezer a few weeks ago and started listed out what pastry "leftovers" I have in there. You can bet that I have different flavors of joconde, baked cheesecake, mousses, some sponge cake layers among other common things such as frozen berries that I froze last year (red and yellow raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries), as well as frozen purees (passion fruit, guava, apricot, cassis, mango, etc), cherries. That's a whole lot of stuff! I can make half a year worth of desserts without having to buy most of the ingredients. And now that Summer is here, I have to start "cleaning" them up so that I would have space for a new stash of every fruit I can find in farmers' market.


If you follow this blog, you might know that I hate wasting stuff away. I am a firm believer that you can make something completely extraordinary with leftovers and maybe with a bit of extra work. So the spreadsheet planning began. So many things I could make with them that I am almost overwhelmed with excitement, can't decide which one to make first and when I will actually have time to do them.


Like this cake for example. Most of the components in this cake are leftovers from this cake. I had some leftovers for most of the layers from previous cake, so I partly assembled them and put them in the freezer until I can figure out what I can make with them. So here are the dissected components for this cake:
  • chocolate joconde
  • raspberry soaking syrup (to moisten the joconde)
  • dark chocolate mousse
  • chocolate joconde that has been moistened with raspberry syrup
  • thin layer of raspberry garniture
  • cassis mousse
  • decoration: mini chocolate macarons, blueberries, and chocolate decoration



The only thing I needed to make for this cake is the cassis mousse, which was a very quick and easy mousse. Even the macaron shells were available in my freezer, I just needed to make a quick chocolate ganache (not even a real measurement) and I was all set.


Fortunately, chocolate and cassis mousse is one combination I'd like to try in my list, so I can cross that off now, killing two birds with one stone. Smart.

This is just an idea of how you can transform leftovers to something completely different, tasted great and a lot quicker too! I have been feeding this cake to my nephews and niece every night and they always asks for more, a good sign! Although I think they are a bit spoiled with non-kid desserts they have been getting these past few years :). So please don't throw anything away as you'd never know what you can turn it into someday :).

12 comments:

Jun said...

Beautiful!!! I wanna be fed with this too!!!

spontaneous-euphoria said...

amazing! this is absolutely divine. it looks like something out of a pastry boutique. love it. great colours.

Medifast Coupons said...

Sure wish my freezer had leftovers like yours, wow, that is a beautiful looking cake.

Nico said...

very nice pastry, love the way you used the leftovers, I do the same, never let anything go bad..

J O A N A said...

I've been asking to try it..=(

Anonymous said...

This looks beautiful and absolutely delicious! I think Cassis is one of my all-time favorite ingredients/flavors. I love your blog - it's so positive. :-)

Anonymous said...

Maaf pertanyaan dr amatir, apa itu semua bisa dibekukan. Rasanya berubah ga? Dan bisa awet berapa lama? Defrostnya pake microwave aja gpp?
Baru pernah coba bekuin sponge cake & strawberry sauce, blm pernah coba yg lain.
Thanks.

Bertha said...

Thank you all.

Anonymous: iya, semua bisa dibekuin, asal di-wrap well biar nggak kena freeze-burn atau bau freezer. jangan defrost di microwave, taroh aja d fridge overnight. kalo defrost microwave bakal melt

ben said...

stunning! I love your work. did you make the chocolate rods?

Cindy said...

OH my god this is brilliant! Just fantastic!! I was just wondering if I can get a recipe of this 'left over' masterpiece... I'm dying to try it! :) LOVE YOUR BLOG!

Peaches said...

Hi there, just wondering, how did you make the fanciful chocolate sticks decoration? :) Thanks.

Bertha said...

Ben and Peaches: I didn't make the chocolate stick myself. I bought it ready-made

Cindy: I really don't have a recipe for it, I am sorry. I didn't write down the recipe and I don't remember the measurement I used.