Daring Bakers: Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream

After last months success with the Danish Braid, I was excited to see the challenge for July.  Chris of Mele Cotte chose Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream. Many DBers mentioned that is was similar to the Opera Cake that we did two months ago. While it very similar, the host has every right to chose whatever recipe they want. It would be nice to have more variety but whatever the host choses is what I'm going to make. Simple as that. I had issues with the Opera Cake that I hoped I could work through on this one.

Sigh...it was not to be. My mini cakes baked up just fine. The buttercream was iffy at first but after a rest in the fridge, it came together. The praline paste didn't quite turn into a paste. It was more of a mix of finely ground sugar and almonds (we were allowed to use other nuts besides filberts or hazlenuts so I went with almonds since I had a huge bag in the freezer). It was quite tasty even though it wasn't paste like.

My ganache was too thin at first. I let it sit in the fridge to thicken up. It did slightly but it still seemed to thin. I poured it on the first mini cake and then realized I forgot to straighten the sides with a knife. It almost looked like a patchy, chocolate covered mushroom after that. Before I could pipe on the praline buttercream, I had to let the ganache set so back in the fridge it went. When I came back...the entire mini cake had slid apart on the plate. It was a chocolate mess. Completely beyond saving. Now you would think that I could use the other mini cake to make another one. Nope. I had to cut into it when I screwed up the layers on the other one (and I ate the other two before I started assembling...I know...bad baker!). Because it was the end of the month when I was finally able to bake for Daring Bakers, I was out of time and couldn't get another one made in time for the deadline. So I have no pictures of a finished cake. Though I did remember to get one before I put the final layer of cake on pre ganache.



I'm sure that the whipped cream layer caused it to slide and fall apart. After I put the top layer on I had to steady it some as it was already slipping.

Layered buttercream filled nut cakes are apparently not my thing. I have so far failed to make one I would deem a success. Hopefully the next cake we make will be better. Better yet...no cakes for awhile (though of course if the host picks it I'll do it anyway!). To actually see some fantastic cakes, head over to the Daring Bakers Blogroll! There are some fabulous bakers out there!