Quite Possibly the Most Epic Birthday Cake That Was Neither a Cake, Nor Eaten on a Birthday

So it was Roommate's birthday this past weekend and I wasn't here for it because I was in Boston for my little's college graduation. Luckily, this week's Feast was already a victory feast for my finishing finals, so we turned it into victory birthday feast. I made some fried chicken which came out undercooked (it wouldn't have if I had this awesome thing that Alton Brown says I should own) but the potatoes were tasty and we had broccoli and the first corn on the cob of the season. However, the key piece of the feast was the Robot Versus Ninja Chocolate-Raspberry Cornbread Cake.



Robot Versus Ninja Chocolate Raspberry Cornbread Cake
4 Cups of Corn Meal
4 Cups of Bread Flour (sifted I guess, but I don't have the tools for sifting and mine came out alright)
1 Cup of Sugar
1/4 Cup of Baking Powder
4 Teaspoons of Salt
1 Cup of Oil
4 Cups of Milk
4 Eggs, Beaten

The largest jar of Raspberry Jam you can find
Chocolate shell
I used unsweetened Baker's chocolate, but I don't recommend it, use the semi-sweetened version. The topping took approximately 6 1oz squares.
White Chocolate topping
I would have used Baker's chocolate, but Bravo didn't have any, so I just used some melted white chocolate chips, approximately 1/3 of a cup

Preheat oven to 425

Combine dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Add the wet to dry and mix until just combined.

The issue for me with working with such a high quantity of batter was that I had to use my lobster pot to hold it all so I ended up needing to use my electric mixer to get the batter started. Once most of it was combined I switched to a mixing spoon and the batter came out A-OK. I also like to froth the milk a little bit (just a couple of bubbles on top) It makes the cake a little airier, but it was hard to accomplish that working in such a high quantity.

Split the batter between two greased 10.5 x 3 inch springform pans, bake for approximately 27 minutes. The cakes are done when a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are a little brown.

Let the cakes cool completely, you are going to be beating the heck out of them with jam and toppings and you don't want the tops to rip.

Spread raspberry jam on the top of the bottom layer (got that?). Use ALL of the jam. I had a 12 oz jar and that was not nearly enough. The jam will not run if you add it slowly to the cake (two or three tablespoons at a time) and the top layer isn't so heavy that it will cause the jam to squish out the sides once you add it. So, once the jam is added, top it with the other cake.

Melt yer chocolate! I had this little cup with a spout in which I melted my bakers chocolate. This made it easy to pour onto the top of the cake and spread around the top and sides. If you melt it enough, you can work the chocolate like frosting. I put the cake in the freezer to harden the shell. Plus there wasn't enough room in the fridge.

Melt yer other chocolate! Melt down the white chocolate and add it to the top in the center. This was more so that I could add some decorations than enhancing taste. Actually it made it really hard to cut the cake, so this part is 100% optional. Stick it back in the freezer, once everything has set, cut it up or sing or whatever, and enjoy the tasty.

The cake went over pretty well but we still have most of it in the freezer because it is essentially four corn breads in one (if you quarter the recipe and use a 9-in cake pan you can make regular ole corn bread, time is reduced by approximately 5 minutes) and eating it all the time would make use extra fatties.