chocolate espresso fudge cake

[oli]

Has anyone made this. The reason I ask, is, I have a question on a problem I ran into on making the buttercream.
Thanks

[PhishStyx]

What was the problem? I don't think I've ever made the specific cake you mentioned but I make a lot of buttercreams on a regular basis at the restaurant so maybe it'll be something I've ran into.

[momoreg]

There's no single recipe for this type of cake. If you post your buttercream recipe and tell us what the problem was, we'll help

[oli]

So here it is:Heat 1 inch of water in the bottom half of a double boiler over med. heat. Place 8 oz. semisweet chocolate, 2 oz. unsweet. chocolate, and 2t espresso powder in the top half of the double boiler. Tightly cover the top with film wrap. Allow to heat for 8 to 10 min., transfer to a stainless steel bowl, and stir until smooth. Set aside until needed. Place 1lb of butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle. Beat the butter on low for 2 min., then on med. for 3 min. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat on high until light and fluffy about 4-5min. Transfer the butter to a large stainless steel bowl. Set aside until needed. Heat 1 in. ow water in the bottom half of a double boiler over med. heat. Place 5 eg whites and 1C of sugar in the top half of double boiler. Gently whisk the egg whites until they reach a temp of 120°F about 3-5min. Transfer the heated egg whites to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a balloon whip. Whisk on high until stiff peaks form. Remove from mixer.

Fold the melted choc. into the butter, to thoroughly combine. Fold in the whipped whites until thoroughly combined.

8oz.semisweet choc. I used bittersweet

2oz unsweetened choc.

2t instant espresso powder

1lb unsalted butter, softened

5 egg whites

1C gran. sugar

I problem I had was that when the chocolate went down to 80° I tried by hand to mix it into the butter but it seized. I put the whole thing into the mixer and beat the heck out of it and it turned out sort of peanutty. Everybody loved it and were curious what I thought was wrong because they thought it was wonderful, and someone even asked if I wouldn't mind making a few of these for a large party. Well anyway, I was curious, if the fact that I used 1oz of salted butter, because I was just shy of 1 lb. of butter, would have caused the chocolate to seize when it hit the butter. The chocolate was fine up until I tried folding it into the butter.
Thanks

[PhishStyx]

The basic recipe is ok (though slightly different than what I do, I make a sugar syrup and whip it into the eggs while still hot rather than heating the eggs and sugar together) and that 1 oz. of salted butter didn't hurt it. I mix things in a slightly different order, I whip the egg/sugar mixture until completely cooled then whip in the softened butter a tbsp. or so at a time until it's all in. Then I add the melted, cooled chocolate (or whatever flavoring agent I'm using) all at once and beat until smooth and I've never had the chocolate seize. Did you overheat the chocolate? Over 120°F (115 for milk) can do it. 10 minutes over medium heat without stirring may have been too much. Was the butter significantly colder than the 80° chocolate? This is an obvious one but, just to be sure, there was no liquid involved right? No damp spoon used to mix the chocolate into the butter or anything like that? I'm not exactly sure because I've never mixed it this way, just trying to cover the basics first.

[momoreg]

Oli, what you are making is a Swiss buttercream, as opposed to PhishStyx's Italian buttercream. Although the methods are quite different, the results are pretty similar. Oli, it sounds like your butter was too cold. Make sure you have room temperature butter, and that your chocolate is still quite warm when you add it to the butter. Alternatively, you can wait until after the buttercream is complete, and then add the chocolate to the room temperature buttercream.

[oli]

Thanks. I know the butter was at room temp, because it was out for a major part of the day. The chocolate I know was 80 - 79° when I went to scoup it into the butter. The temp of the chocolate when I melted it, I didn't keep, track of, I just made sure it was all melted and set it aside to cool down.
I am just not sure why it would seize going into the butter. Maybe there was a little water on the edge that I didn't catch. I will have to try again, because it was such a hit even though it didn't come together as the recipe suggested.

[momoreg]

Try adding it at the end, then, as I suggested. Also, make sure your bowl isn't cold!! Good luck, oli.