I can’t say that watching MasterChef has made me any better in the kitchen.  I have learned a couple of tricks and gained an ounce or two of knowledge about something or other.  For instance, I don’t use a garlic crusher anymore; I use a knife and finely chop the garlic instead (Matt Moran is apparently disgusted with garlic crushers as they bruise the garlic). And if I need mayonnaise again, I’ll be making my own (Gary, George and Matt were obviously disgusted when one contestant used a jar of pre-made mayonnaise).  Just things like that, I’ve learned.  Nothing too life-changing.

My favorite parts of MasterChef are the Invention Tests (where the contestants have to make a dish based on one theme ingredient) and the Pressure Tests (where the 3 contestants of the least-liked dishes from the Invention Tests have to face off and one will be eliminated).  One week, at one of these Pressure Tests, the dish they had to prepare was a black forest cake (recipe & photo here).  This cake was 5 layers of sponge cake, chocolate ganache, mascarpone, hazelnut praline mousse, cherries, shaved chocolate, more cherries, it was like the black forest cake to end all black forest cakes.

I thought to myself, Hey, I could make one of those!  Easy! Okay, well, I admit, I couldn’t do it in the specified time limit though.  But I felt good knowing that I could have probably made that monster of a cake.  Eventually, I decided to make it in my own kitchen.

But I changed my mind.  I would borrow some elements of the black forest cake and create my own cake.  I love chocolate and raspberries together, and I love mascarpone.  I started scribbling my ideas down in a notebook and drew a little sketch (although a pretty bad sketch; I am terrible at drawing!).  From these ideas, this cake was born:

And I’m proud of this little beauty, even though she has her faults (well, just one).  This cake was a few weeks in the making, mostly because fresh raspberries are expensive ($9 for a punnet!) and I had trouble bringing myself to purchase them.  But I kept dreaming about it.  What is awesome is that what you see in the photo above is an exact, perfect replica of how I wanted this cake to look as I was scribbling down my notes.

My raspberry cream cake is made up of 2 layers of chocolate sponge cake.  The cakes sandwich a filling of the best quality red raspberry jam under a generous heap of mascarpone cream, which is flecked with Madagascan Bourbon vanilla beans.  On top, a thick coating of delicious, smooth chocolate ganache drizzles down the sides and it is rimmed with fresh raspberries.

Wow, I was so happy with how it looked.  And it makes me proud to say that despite the one major flaw with this cake, the cake barely survived past 24 hours.  I gave a generous slice to my mother-in-law.  I had a total of 3 slices, my daughter had 1 slice, and my husband, well, he had the majority of it!

You’re probably wondering what this one flaw was that I keep talking about.  Well, the flaw was with the cake itself.  And the flaw was a result of my own mistake by over-mixing the cake batter.  It ended up being a little tough and quite dry, not fluffy or moist at all.  It definitely would not have impressed Gary, George or Matt in the least.  It was disappointing.

The dry cake didn’t bother my mother-in-law or husband, however, so I guess it wasn’t that bad.  But I notice these things, as I am heavily influenced by watching MasterChef too much!

Anyway, if you’d like to try your hand at my chocolate raspberry cream cake, you’ll find all the recipes for each component in the cake below.  And let me know how it ends up!  If you like, you could even skip the chocolate sponge cake and use your favorite chocolate cake recipe instead.

Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cake

Chocolate Sponge Cake
Adapted from MasterChef Australia

Ingredients
7 eggs
250g caster sugar
200g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Best quality red raspberry jam, for assembly
Fresh raspberries, for assembly

Method
Preheat oven to 160°C fan forced. Grease and line 2 x 20cm springform cake pans.

Add eggs and sugar to a heatproof bowl of an electric mixer, and set over a saucepan of simmering water over very low heat. Whisk the mixture until 37°C. Remove the bowl from the heat and beat with an electric mixer on a medium-low speed for 5-8 minutes or until the mixture has cooled and thickened to a mousse-like consistency. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together twice. Using a large metal spoon, fold the dry mixture into the egg mixture in 3 batches until combined, adding the vanilla extract with the first dry batch.

Pour the mixture into the lined cake pans and smooth surface. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until sponge springs back when lightly touched. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then turn out onto wire racks. Cool completely.

Mascarpone Cream Filling
Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients
1/2 cup heavy cream
113g mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped

Method
With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk heavy cream until stiff peaks form (be careful not to overbeat, or cream will be grainy). In another bowl, whisk together mascarpone,  confectioners’ sugar and vanilla seeds until smooth. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until completely incorporated.

Chocolate Ganache
Adapted from MasterChef Australia

Ingredients
75ml heavy cream
100g chopped dark chocolate

Method
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Set aside. Bring the cream to just below boiling point in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat, then add the melted chocolate and stir until smooth. Allow to cool until thick but still pouring consistency.

Assembly
Place one cake on serving plate.  Spread a layer of  best quality red raspberry jam on top (however much you like).  Dollop and gently spread with an offset spatula the mascarpone cream filling on top.  Leave some space around the edge to allow the filling to spread after the top layer is placed on it.  Place the second cake on top of the mascarpone cream filling, with the flat side facing up.  Push down very gently to make sure the top is even and flat.  Pour chocolate ganache on top and spread it evenly to the edges with an offset spatula, allowing some chocolate to drizzle down the sides of the cake.  Evenly dot the rim of the cake with fresh raspberries.

One night as I was putting her to bed she told me she wanted to make her own cupcake.  I asked her what kind of cupcake did she want to make.  She said she wanted a vanilla cake, pink raspberry frosting, a cherry on top and a piece of white chocolate.  I promised her I’d help her make them.

And later, we made her cupcake together.  They ended up being incredibly cute, don’t you think?  The recipe is made up of Billy’s vanilla cupcakes, a basic vanilla buttercream that has been tinted pink with red gel and flavored with LorAnn raspberry flavoring from Bake It Pretty, and topped with a maraschino cherry and a shard of Ghirardelli vanilla bean white chocolate.  The cupcake liner is also from Bake It Pretty.

In case you’re wondering why I didn’t use real raspberries to flavor the frosting it is because I have realized that raspberries actually turn frosting purple, and my daughter wanted pink frosting, so I had to artificially flavor and color it.

It was a fun experience for my daughter to see her cupcake brought to life, and for me it was a great moment to realize how creative she is!

The mixed berries I used were a frozen mix of blackberries, blueberries and raspberries.  I used ice cubes and frozen cranberries for extra cool-ness.  The original recipe comes from Taste of Home and used just raspberries instead of mixed berries.

Raspberry Iced Tea
Adapted from Taste of Home
Makes 4 quarts

Ingredients
4 quarts water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 package (12 ounces) frozen unsweetened raspberries
10 individual tea bags
1/4 cup lemon juice

Method
In a Dutch oven, bring water and sugar to a boil.  Remove from the heat; stir until sugar is dissolved.  Add the raspberries, tea bags and lemon juice.  Cover and steep for 3 minutes.

Strain; discard berries and tea bags.  Refrigerate until chilled.  Serve over ice.

So, I decided to try a chocolate raspberry Jello pie.  Everything was done exactly the same as the watermelon pie recipe, except I used a chocolate graham cracker crust and raspberry Jello (and of course, I didn’t decorate the pie like a watermelon!).

The only thing I did that was not in the recipe was to spread a layer of warmed hot fudge topping on the pie crust.  I let it harden back up in the refrigerator before pouring over the pie filling.  However, I found that the fudge layer did not stay solid as I expected at the bottom of the filling – it poured out when I cut the pie!  So I would not add the hot fudge layer next time.

I drizzled a good amount of chocolate sauce over the pie before serving as well!  It was so yummy, and brought back memories from the watermelon pie days.

If you’re after a very cooling and light dessert this summer, this pie, in any Jello flavor you want, would be the perfect choice.

It is a chocolate cake made with raspberry jam, filled with raspberry whipped cream and frosted with chocolate ganache.

I’m not so sure about that purple liner, but that’s what I decided to use for these cupcakes!

I based the recipe on Nigella Lawson’s chocolate cherry cupcakes.  I’ve always loved those cupcakes, and thought that I could easily substitute raspberry jam for the cherry jam in this recipe.  I personally don’t think the raspberry taste was quite as noticeable as the cherry taste in the original recipe, but they’re still quite nice.

They’re quite sweet as well, so if you decide to make these, you may want to cut back a little on the amount of sugar, because the jam will have plenty of sugary goodness to make up for it.

Our June ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

• A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH
• A groovy linocut piece from BLOCKHEAD PRESS
  
• A sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes Cupcakery
• PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice – sweet!

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS; HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson; JESSIE STEELE APRONS ; TASTE OF HOME books; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers.

Here are the recipes I used to make these cupcakes.

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes
Adapted from Nigella Lawson
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
125g soft unsalted butter
100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
300g raspberry jam, seedless if desired
150g caster sugar
pinch of salt
2 large eggs, beaten
150g self-raising flour

Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

Put the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan on the heat to melt. When nearly completely melted, stir in the chocolate. Leave for a moment to begin softening, then take the pan off the heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the butter and chocolate are smooth and melted. Now add the raspberry jam, sugar, salt and eggs. Stir with a wooden spoon and when all is pretty well amalgamated stir in the flour.

Scrape and pour into the muffin papers in their tin and bake for 25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before turning out.

Cool cupcakes completely.  Fill cupcakes with raspberry whipped cream using the cone method.

Raspberry Whipped Cream
Adapted from Joy of Baking
Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients
1/2 cup ultra-pasteurized heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon granulated white sugar
1/4 cup lightly sweetened raspberry puree, strained if desired

Method
In a large mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and stir to combine. Cover and chill the bowl and beaters in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. When chilled, beat only until soft peaks form. Add the sweetened raspberry puree a little at a time, and beat just until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised. Taste and fold in more sugar or puree, if required.

If you have any leftover, use it as a topping for a cup of hot cocoa or mocha!

Ganache Frosting
Adapted from Nigella Lawson
Makes enough to lightly frost 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
100g dark chocolate
100ml double cream
12 fresh raspberries, optional

Method
Break the chocolate for the icing into little pieces and add them to the cream in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and then whisk – by hand or electrically – till thick and smooth. Ice the cupcakes, smoothing the tops with the back of a spoon, and stand a raspberry in the centre of each.