It is the Youngest One’s birthday, and I wanted to make a nice cake for him. Being the youngest of five children is tough, I find myself not paying enough attention or spending enough time with him. Even simple treats like a birthday cake, I would just make really simple cakes, while when the older kids were young, they had really elaborate cakes as I was much less busy.
So I saw Andy Bowdy’s Rita recipe and would love to bake that for him. It is a long list of ingredients and complicated. But the results and the looks is impressive and I thought he’d like it that I put in the effort. Turned out he said he likes chocolate on chocolate. Like a pure ganache. Hm..
I surfed a little and found a number of Andy Bowdy’s cakes, but I thought… why not get his favourite ingredients and make a cake of my own, and one he’ll really love. I will make one with every component his favourite stuff. So here it is. Andy Bowdy has a name for every cake. This one is called Joshie.
Mrs Lim’s Andy Bowdy style cake
Ingredients
Rich chocolate cake
- 55 g dark chocolate melted and allowed to cool slightly
- 125 g butter at room temperature
- 125 g light muscovado sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 125 g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 125 ml milk
- 25 g chocolate chips
Raspberry Bavarois
- 2 sheets gelatin titanium strength, rehydrated by soaking in water
- 100 g milk
- 60 g egg yolks
- 60 g caster sugar
- 80 g seedless raspberry purée
- 200 g pure cream
Oreo Crumbs
- 200 g of Oreo biscuits crushed with filings
Salted Rum Caramel
- 100 g caster sugar
- 50 g glucose syrup
- 25 g water
- 80 g pure cream
- 15 g rum
- 2 g salt
- 35 g unsalted butter cubed
Chocolate Ganache Drip
- 200 g heavy cream
- 200 g dark chocolate
Swiss Meringue/Marshmellow
- 50 g egg whites
- 80 g caster sugar
- Vanilla pod
Garnish
- Maltesers
- Kit Kat
- Mars
- Small Oreos
- Anything you like!
Instructions
Rich Chocolate Cake
- Cream the butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy. Meanwhile, sieve the plain flour and cocoa powder.
- Emulsify one egg one at a time.
- Add the milk, and dry ingredients into three batches each, and add to the mixture alternating.
- Add the chocolate chips.
- Bake in a 6 inch round pan at 180C for 45 minutes.
- Allow it to cool completely to room temperature, then slice into 4 slices horizontally.
Raspberry Bavarois
- Place the milk, egg yolks, sugar and raspberry purée into a large mixing bowl and whisk well to combine until mixture reaches 80°C.
- Add gelatin to to the mixture until it has dissolved completely.
- Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a clean glass bowl and set aside to cool slightly. Ensure mixture does not cool to below 30°C to avoid setting.
- When ready to assemble the cake, whip the cream and fold into the cooled mixture.
Oreo crumbs
- Blitz Oreo crumbs with their fillings in a food processor.
Salted Rum Caramel
- Place sugar, glucose and water in a saucepan to a dark caramel, or until mixture reaches 196°C.
- Meanwhile, place the cream into the Thermomix or a small saucepan over low heat and warm gently.
- Once the caramel mixture reaches temperature, transfer to the Thermomix with the cream, and whisk in rum and salt until well combined. Add butter, a few cubes at a time, whisking well after each addition, until mixture is thick and glossy. Transfer the mixture tray and place into the freezer until cold but not hard, about 20 minutes. Then, transfer to a piping bag and set aside in the fridge until needed.
Chocolate Ganache Drip
- Heat the cream until almost boiling.
- Add the chocolate and let it stand for 5 minutes until the chocolate has dissolved.
- Set aside until needed.
Swiss Meringue
- Place all the ingredients in the mixer bowl, and place it over hot water, but not touching the water.
- Heat for 8 to 10 minutes until the meringue reaches about 70C.
- Whip it up until stiff peaks.
- I like swiss meringue because it is cooked and I think it is safer.
Assembly
- FIrst freeze the Oreo layer. Then add 1/4 of the bavarois onto it, then put that into the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
- Pipe some salted caramel, a layer of chocolate cake, the bavarois and freeze again.
- Repeat these steps until all the cake and bavarois are used up.
- Top with the leftover chocolate cake crumbs.
- Cover half the cake with the meringue and let it drop.
- Pipe on the chocolate drip, then add the toppings.
