First Actual Cake

     Like most jobs, my work is fraught with dull, dreary, unneeded meetings.  A man I know says if this weren't the case, those work days wouldn't be work, they'd be  vacation.  Faced with a particularly daunting upcoming work meeting, the only way to make it bearable was to bring chocolate cake, a pretty one with layers.
   Michelle Urvater's Chocolate Cake offers so many superb choices.  Concentrating on the single star (least complicated) recipes, I picked Silky Chocolate Cake, page 150, and decided to make it with  pastry cream filling and whipped ganache frosting  just like Michelle suggests. 
   Clearly the reason so many potlucks and party cakes turn out to be sheet cakes served right in the pan is the extra time it takes, skill even, to produce layer cake.  A pan of cake with frosting on top will be lovely no matter what, but layer cake can lean to one side or just generally show flaws you wouldn't notice in pan cake.  BUT copious frosting can often hide lots of mistakes!  And that thought gave me the courage to proceed.
   One reason I love Michelle's book is the surgically precise directions.  For example, she encourages the baker to weigh ingredients rather than just measuring volume with a measuring cup.  She tells you  exactly how long to beat the mixtures in minutes instead of assuming this baker will know what "until creamy" might mean.  I find all these exact details for what to do comforting, a source of hope.
   My grandmother was a baker extraordinaire (more on that later).  Never was there anything left on beaters or bowl to really taste because she meticulously spatulaed it into the baking pan.  I however like to leave some batter, filling, frosting in the bowl for tasting.  To me this practice enhances the process, and since I did not live through the Great Depression, I always do that.  Having never before in my life made pastry cream, I expected it to be like Bavarian cream filling in donuts and found the bowl taste slightly dry-ish maybe because it's made with a little cornstarch.  But when it's sandwiched between cake layers, this is fabulous stuff!  The excellent ganache frosting avoids too much sweetness and makes the cake oober rich.  Next time, I plan to make the altitude adjustment so the layers will rise a bit more; they were a little flat-ish.
   Chocolate cake has transformative powers, and as hoped, it vastly improved the long, long  meeting. People were surprised, happy, pleased .  Even the  dieters and the health-oriented had nothing but good things to say, particularly about the pastry cream filling.  Since there were 6 of us collaborating that day, and this decadent cake serves 12 to 14, it also brought bliss to the lounge.  People who didn't even have to sit through a single meeting that day could could enjoy the benefits of chocolate cake.