Help! Large Molten Chocolate Lava Cake
Decorating By MartieG Updated 20 Nov 2014 , 1:15pm by -K8memphis
Good morning fellow bakers. I'm in need of some serious help and/or brainstorming.
Due Saturday to a client is a 7" molten chocolate lava cake. All the recipes I'm finding are for single serve, served fresh from the oven.
Does ANYBODY have any work-arounds, thoughts, success stories on making a big one of these?
I may have truly over-committed on this one.
Nervous in Texas,
Martie
there's this one but i never got it to work for me -- i bake the individual ones
http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/tunnel-of-fudge-cake/8d3b4927-2f71-41a3-9dab-7750f045f252
and maybe that's why mine didn't work -- i used nick maglieri's version in his book, perfect cakes, page 184 tunnel of fudge -- and he does not include/mention the nuts for some reason -- but he says it's the 1966 pillsbury bake-off winner --
interesting -- i just found the recipe online so i could show it to you and now here's a big nut conspiracy 
i mean how could a 7" cake hold up if it was lava inside? has to be a bundt cake -- and i mean apparently nick made it work somehow -- it's the exact same recipe sans nuts --
but it's 10" and dependent on a well calibrated oven and baking time -- but if you have a smaller tube pan...
but i could not resist checking y'know after it's baked -- and that would let the fudge cat out of the cake bag
what about placing something into a carved out spot or calling her & making a suggestion for something different
A
Original message sent by -K8memphis
-- and that would let the fudge cat out of the cake bag
Goodness [@]-K8memphis[/@] you have a way with words!
This made for the most amazing visual!
Thought I'd post a follow-up with what my ultimate solution was.
First off, props to my client who a) was willing to reheat it in the microwave before they decided to cut into it and b) was fully prepared for a big mess once it WAS cut.
So here's what I did...
Baked standard chocolate cake recipe in angel food pan and an 8" round.
Leveled both, making the 8" layer maybe 1/4" thick.
Placed angel food cake on it's own 9" board and attached it to the decorated drum with scotch tape so the client could slip a spatula under it and move it to a microwave platter with a lip on it for heating and serving.
Made the center hole 1/4-1/2" bigger and pushed the cut cake to the bottom of the "well" in order to make a solid base for the lava to sit on.
Made from scratch a fudge sauce. Let it cool a bit then filled the hole to the brim.
Used thinned ganache to attach 8" layer to bottom cake then topped that with dark chocolate ganache letting it drizzle down the sides and covering the seam. Can you say chocolate overload???
NOTE: Since the cakes were cold, the ganache got thick quick and didn't make it all the way down the sides until it was heated by the client. Next time, I'd make sure my ganache was a little thinner knowing it was going to chill quick when poured over a chilled cake.
Had client heat cake at 50% power for 2 minutes then insert toothpick in center to test temperature of filling.
This was not my prettiest cake, but my client was happy and her daughter was ecstatic. Winning!
Hopefully, my stress and work-around solution will help somebody else in the future. =)
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%
