cake advice - raspberry, booze, chocolate, the good stuff

i am working on a cake for a party; the guest of honor likes chocolate raspberry as a combo. i have a great cake recipe but am waffling about the filling. does anyone here have recommendations for raspberry filling recipes? how about raspberry curd recipes? while i'm picking brains, if i seal the layers with a boozy syrup, what booze would you use to complement both chocolate and raspberry? thanks!

annak wrote:i am working on a cake for a party; the guest of honor likes chocolate raspberry as a combo. i have a great cake recipe but am waffling about the filling. does anyone here have recommendations for raspberry filling recipes? how about raspberry curd recipes? while i'm picking brains, if i seal the layers with a boozy syrup, what booze would you use to complement both chocolate and raspberry? thanks!

do you have rose levy beranbaum's "cake bible"? she has a great raspberry buttercream recipe in there. and i would recommend grand marnier for your booze: orange goes well with both chocolate and raspberry. (don't sub the cheaper triple sec for the good stuff).

Hi Joan! Thanks for these ideas. I do have that book; I should have said that I'm looking for a fresh, tart, non-cream filling. So my concern is making sure it sets up properly (i.e. how much lemon, how much cornstarch, etc). Rose has a thing called raspberry conserve in the Cake Bible but I'm not totally sure it's thick enough.

Chambord. Mmm-mmm!

justjoan wrote:

annak wrote:i am working on a cake for a party; the guest of honor likes chocolate raspberry as a combo. i have a great cake recipe but am waffling about the filling. does anyone here have recommendations for raspberry filling recipes? how about raspberry curd recipes? while i'm picking brains, if i seal the layers with a boozy syrup, what booze would you use to complement both chocolate and raspberry? thanks!

do you have rose levy beranbaum's "cake bible"? she has a great raspberry buttercream recipe in there. and i would recommend grand marnier for your booze: orange goes well with both chocolate and raspberry. (don't sub the cheaper triple sec for the good stuff).

I will say, I think Grand Marnier/orange liqueurs can be polarizing. You might want to check with the guest of honor. Otherwise, i agree with the chambord suggestion, since it fits squarely within the raspberry/chocolate profile.

For the booze, you could go with something in the chocolate family, such as creme de cacao or Godiva liqueur. In the fruit family, in addition to some of the above recs, I'd consider kirsch. Although cherry not berry, the fruit flavor isn't overwhelming and the brandy could be preferable to a sweet, syrupy liqueur. I like Chambord, but find in baked goods it can be overdone, so use sparingly or mixed with a spirit. I have a cranberry-pistachio biscotti I make at Christmas, and the recipe calls for plumping the cranberries in vodka, then pouring the berries and the soaking liquid into the batter. I've adapted to a half vodka/half Chambord mixture and enjoy the balance.

One more quick Chambord story, before I stray too far off topic: My husband and I have a running gag of "_____ is the new Chambord." At one time we somehow possessed three bottles of Chambord, so whenever we think we're out of something, "replace" it, then discover we weren't depleted, it becomes the new Chambord.

Champagne goes with everything!

For the booze (I just did this for a wedding cake I made last month) I'd go with an almond liqueur. Cake was chocolate sponge, Amaretto soaking syrup, homemade raspberry preserves in between the layers and almond italian meringue buttercream. All the flavors complemented each other beautifully.

I'd like to see pictures of this here cake.