So my friends watch a show call The Summer I Turned Pretty, and I’ll be honest, never really got into it myself. A friend of my, Georgina, once told me that it’s about a girl who met these two brothers, and one is bi and the other isn’t, and that’s honestly all I can sum up about the plot. But my other friend, Preethi, wanted me to make a two-layered chocolate raspberry mirror glaze cake because I guess one of the brothers wanted to purchase a $750 one for a wedding? Apparently he was a man-child and ranted about the importance of high quality chocolate or something. Besides the fact that I would NEVER charge $750 for a cake like that(unless it was like a 12-inch cake, but even then, maybe $300 at the most?), I figured it would be a fun challenge to try baking one myself! For my components, we have a black cacao chiffon cake layered up with chocolate mousse, raspberry gelee, a dark chocolate mirror glaze, fresh raspberries, and raspberry modeling chocolate. And there’s two of those cakes, stacked on top of each other for the two-layered aspect(not sure if they meant two rounds of cake, but if they’re charging $750 for it, I better be getting a cake stacked on top of another cake here). I also had lots of fun making my own modeling chocolate from raspberry inspiration, which was a raspberry-flavored cocoa butter from Valrhona! I definitely managed to make this cake for under $20(mostly because my Valrhona chocolate was free due to winning a baking thing with them a while back), so the idea of charging $750 for one is absurd, but got to respect the hustle I guess? All in all, it was a fun challenge, just for me to push myself in terms of making another gorgeous mirror glaze cake!

For the raspberry gelee:
8oz raspberry puree
a pinch of salt
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp agar agar

In a pot, heat up all of your ingredients until combined. Line a 3-inch ring mold and a 5-inch with cling wrap. Pour the gelee base between the two, and freeze the gelee solid, at least 1 hour in the freezer, before attempting to unmold.

For the dark chocolate cake:
6 egg whites
2/3 cups granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
4 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
a pinch of salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup black cacao powder

Whip the egg white with sugar until they form into a stiff peaked meringue. Whisk the egg yolks with the canola oil, vanilla paste, salt. Sift into that the flour and cacao powder. Gently fold into that the meringue. Pour into a lined quarter sheet tray and bake at 350 degrees F for 18 minutes. Allow the cake to fully cool down before punching out 2 6-inch rounds and 2 4-inch rounds.

For the chocolate mousse:
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk
1 tbsp gelatin powder, mixed with 2 tbsp cold water
a pinch of salt
1 cup heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks
1 tsp chocolate liquor
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

In a pot on medium heat, melt down the chocolate, milk, gelatin, and salt, stirring constantly until everything is fully smooth and combined. Allow the chocolate to cool down to room temperature before folding in the cream, chocolate liquor, and vanilla paste to form your mousse.

For the soak:
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
a pinch of salt

Mix together in a bowl and keep refrigerated.

For initial assembly:
Start by lined a 6-inch ring mold and a 4-inch ring mold with acetate and placing onto lined sheet trays. Place down into the 6-inch mold 2oz of mousse, and the 4-inch mold 1.5oz of mousse. Then press into that one of the cake rounds(6-inch for the 6-inch mold, and 4-inch for the 4-inch molds). Drizzle on 1/4 of the soak. Then add to that another round of the mousse. Then press into that the gelee disks. Then around round of the mousse, and finally, the remaining cake rounds and the rest of the soak. Freeze these cakes solid before attempting to unmold.

For the chocolate mirror glaze:
1/3 cup whole milk
3 tbsp gelatin powder
1/2 cup heavy cream
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate

Mix the gelatin into the milk. Heat up the gelatin mixture with the heavy cream and salt. Once the mixture is boiling, add in the dark chocolate. Let the mixture cook on low heat for 1 minute before taking off heat and stirring until combined. Pour through a sieve to remove any lumps and the tangerine zest. Allow the glaze to cool down to 90 degrees F before attempting to use on the cake. To glaze, place the frozen cake on an elevated surface(I use an upside down deli cup on a sheet tray to catch the spare glaze). Pour the glaze onto the cakes and allow the glaze to to set at room temperature for at least 2 minutes before transferring the cakes to the freezer.

For the raspberry modeling chocolate:
2oz raspberry inspiration
.25oz corn syrup

Melt the two together over a double boiler to form a paste. Allow the modeling chocolate to firm up at room temperature for 10 minutes before attempting to roll out and cut into daisy shapes to finish.

For garnish:
Fresh raspberries

Stack the smaller cake on top of the bigger cake and garnish the edges of the smaller cake with the raspberries. Garnish the top with the modeling chocolate to finish.