Chocolate and Fresh Raspberry Christmas Cake from Cara Iacovetto dishes as eaten around the world Holiday Dessert bake-off Christmas Special recipe. Best Misc dessert 2010 recipe. cake is so elegant, but so simple to make and it tastes amazing! Your guests will truly be wowed by this dessert. And they don’t have to know that you didn’t spend all day making it!

Ingredients 

Cake

1 Fudge Cake Mix + ingredients to make cake according to

directions on box

1 tsp. Almond Extract

1 cup good quality Raspberry jam

Chocolate Ganache Icing

2 ¾ cups good quality chocolate chips

2 cups heavy whipping cream

Garnish

Fresh Raspberries

Mint

Method 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Thoroughly grease 2- 8 inch cake pans and line bottom with parchment paper. Make cake according to directions on the box with the addition of adding the almond extract to your batter. 

Divide equally between pans and bake according to the directions. 

Cool cakes on baking rack for 10 minutes and then gently remove from pans to then cool completely on the wire rack. When completely cooled, cut cakes in half horizontally with a serrated knife.

Put your 1st layer of cake down on a wire baking rack. Spread the 1st layer with 1/3 cup of raspberry jam. Add your 2nd layer of cake and spread with 1/3 cup of raspberry jam. Add your 3rd cake layer and spread with 1/3 cup of jam. 

Finally, add your 4th cake layer to the top.

To make the Chocolate Ganache, melt together the chocolate chips and heavy whipping cream over a double boiler.

To ice your cake with the Chocolate Ganache, place your cake on a wire rack over a cookie sheet. 

Gently pour your ganache over the cake starting in the middle of the cake and slowly working your way to the sides circling the top of your cake. 

Allow the ganache to pour over the sides of the cake. When the ganache stops dripping from the cake, gently move the cake to a cake stand.  Decorate with fresh raspberries and mint.

Notes and Tips:

If you don’t have a double boiler you can use a bowl sitting over a saucepan of simmering water. Just make sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. It is also helpful to use an 8” cake circle board under your cake for stability which helps in the transfer from the wire rack to your cake stand after icing.