Chocolate Marzipan Cake

I intended this cake to be a seduction cake. There might have been a boy and it might have been his birthday and I might have tried to woo him with dark chocolate and almond paste.

Unfortunately, the day I brought him the cake, he was home sick. The next day, I fell sick. By wednesday, the cake was a little stale and I couldn't find him anywhere. My friends and I ate the seduction cake without him.

And, actually, now, he's got a girlfriend, who comically coincidentally has the feminized version of his name. We can forget them. They don't matter, in the grand scheme of things.

What matters is this cake. Two layers of dark chocolate, with thin sheets of marzipan sandwiched between them and ganache layered on top.

Yeah. So good.

And I was a genius (if I do say so myself)! When I cut the cake to pack it into my rectangular tupperware (no longer--I have since bought a round cake container) I deftly left behind a sliver from the middle, so that my family could share in the deliciousness and no one would notice. I'm proud. Of my cunning. With the cutting.

 Chocolate Marzipan Cake

makes 2 medium rounds

cake recipe adapted from Mad Hungry (it's vegan!)

2 chocolate cakes

2 marzipan rounds

chocolate ganache

for cake

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

6 tbsps cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsps white vinegar

2 cups cold water

Heat oven to 350 F and grease two round medium cake pans (between 9-12" will get you various thicknesses). 

In a large bowl, add the first five ingredients (dry) and whisk together.

Create a well, and add the remaining four ingredients and mix until batter is smooth.

Fill pans and bake for 30-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

for marzipan rounds

18 oz/500 g marzipan (about two foil-wrapped sausagey containers from the store)

Take half the marzipan and roll it out as circularly as you can manage and about an 1/8 of an inch thick. Place the cake pan onto the rolled out marzipan and cut a circle around it.

Repeat.

for ganache

2/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

3 tbsps butter

1 cup heavy cream

Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler or microwave.

Add to whipped cream and mix thoroughly.

Assembly

Cover the first cake layer with the first marzipan layer and trim the edges so it fits on top. Spread a layer of ganache over that. then stack the next cake. Repeat with the marzipan and ganache. Sprinkle with a little cocoa powder that's been mixed with powdered sugar to look artsy (but not pucker your mouth). Ganache will firm up in the fridge. Keeps for about 3 days.

Note: if (and you will) you have extra ganache, you can make truffles. Follow directions, though the end result will be lighter because you whipped the cream here. And with the extra marzipan? Eat it.