[0 - 2] - [Babish] This episode is sponsored by Squarespace.
[2 - 6] I used Squarespace to build both "Basics with Babish" and bingingwithbabish.com.
[6 - 8] On the sites, you'll find recipes, equipment lists,
[8 - 10] other news and updates all beautifully designed.
[10 - 11] If I do say so myself.
[11 - 14] Get 10% off your first Squarespace order
[14 - 17] by visiting squarespace.com/babish.
[17 - 18] - [Announcer] It's the strip house chocolate cake.
[18 - 21] - You can do it layer by layer
[21 - 24] to get our 24 layers chocolate cake.
[24 - 25] We put the first layer here, then we kind
[25 - 27] of put chocolate, chocolate custard.
[27 - 29] - [Announcer] It's like a crescendo of chocolate
[29 - 33] and it happens over and over. - Another one.
[33 - 36] And this one we have to put chocolate ganache on top.
[37 - 41] - [Announcer] Here you have 20 something layers of chocolate
[42 - 43] - [Alvin] Hello there.
[43 - 45] Welcome back to another episode of "Anything with Alvin",
[45 - 47] where I attempt to make something from a food video
[47 - 49] that I've been watching in my spare time.
[49 - 53] Today I'll be attempting the famous 24 layer chocolate cake
[53 - 55] from Strip House here in New York City,
[55 - 57] a well-established steakhouse in the city
[57 - 60] that has become very famous for this dessert specifically.
[60 - 62] This video is exciting to me for a couple of reasons.
[62 - 64] One, instead of a frosting, they seem
[64 - 66] to be making a chocolate pastry cream
[66 - 68] or custard, which I think would taste a lot better.
[68 - 71] And two, I'm curious to see how all those layers would taste
[71 - 73] after you do them a lot thinner than a normal cake.
[73 - 75] And three, well, this just sounds like fun.
[75 - 76] Fortunately for us, the recipe
[76 - 79] for this cake is actually quite available online.
[79 - 80] So that's what we are gonna do.
[80 - 82] We're gonna start by creaming seven sticks of butter
[82 - 83] with four pounds of sugar.
[83 - 86] Keep in mind that this is gonna be split into two batches
[86 - 88] 'cause our stand mixer can't fit all of it at once.
[88 - 89] Now the studio is quite cold today.
[89 - 91] So in order to make this butter cream properly,
[91 - 94] we're gonna warm the bowl with our hands, using the power
[94 - 97] of friendship and community to make this cake happen.
[97 - 98] And fun fact, it's actually working.
[99 - 101] Feels kind of like a butter spirit bomb of sorts.
[101 - 104] Then we're gonna beat in 14 eggs at room temperature,
[104 - 105] one egg at a time,
[105 - 107] so that doesn't get all too chunky in there.
[107 - 109] Now we're gonna get our dry ingredients sorted.
[109 - 111] We're gonna combine three quarters of a pound
[111 - 113] of cocoa powder, two and one-eighth pound of cake flour,
[113 - 114] quarter cup of salt.
[114 - 115] Yes, trust me.
[115 - 117] Two tablespoons of baking soda,
[117 - 119] three quarters of teaspoon of baking powder,
[119 - 120] and just whisk it all together until all
[120 - 122] of our dry ingredients are mixed.
[122 - 124] Then we're gonna handle our liquid ingredients.
[124 - 125] Two and one-third cups of coffee,
[125 - 127] two and one-third cups of milk,
[127 - 129] and one quarter of a cup of vanilla extract.
[129 - 130] Somehow I can never make these things
[130 - 131] without spilling a little bit,
[131 - 133] so there's our spill for the day.
[133 - 135] Basically making a vanilla latte as liquids for this cake,
[135 - 136] which I think is pretty awesome.
[136 - 139] Then we're gonna alternate adding our dry ingredients
[139 - 142] and our wet ingredients roughly one third at a time just
[142 - 143] to make sure that everything kind of gets a chance
[143 - 146] to incorporate and nothing gets too either
[146 - 147] wet or too sticky.
[147 - 149] We're gonna go ahead and finish adding our dry
[149 - 151] and wet ingredients until our batter is looking pretty good.
[151 - 153] Now we're gonna do this all over again
[153 - 155] to make a second batch of cake batter
[155 - 157] 'cause they couldn't all fit in the same one.
[157 - 160] Then in two 11 inch spring form pans, which have been lined
[160 - 161] with a sheet of parchment on the bottom,
[161 - 163] we're going to evenly divide up our batter until
[163 - 165] that they're the same height across all three of them.
[165 - 168] Then these cakes go into the oven at 325 degrees
[168 - 170] for about 50 minutes to an hour.
[170 - 173] Now I'm a big fan of cakes that don't actually use frosting.
[173 - 176] So for this cake we're gonna be making a chocolate custard.
[176 - 178] We're first gonna crack and separate three whole eggs
[178 - 180] and five egg yolks into one bowl
[180 - 182] and whisk that together until homogenous.
[182 - 184] Then we're gonna bring three cups of whole milk
[184 - 186] and six cups of heavy cream to a scald.
[186 - 188] Once you see wisps of steam starting
[188 - 190] to emerge from the surface of the white liquid, we're going
[190 - 192] to slowly ladle one cup of this into the eggs
[192 - 194] and whisk continuously, sort of tempering the eggs
[194 - 196] until we add about three ladle fulls.
[196 - 198] Once the eggs have been tempered properly,
[198 - 199] we're gonna add this mixture back into the pot
[199 - 202] and bring this back up to a slow simmer.
[202 - 205] Then we're gonna add in a mix of three quarter cups of flour
[205 - 207] and two cups of sugar whisking the whole time.
[207 - 209] Then we're gonna add in a mixture of one cup of corns starch
[209 - 211] with one cup of cold milk as sort
[211 - 214] of a corn starch milk slurry, which is gonna be one
[214 - 215] of our thickening agents and whisk
[215 - 217] that in, stirring continuously as well.
[217 - 219] Once this has started to thicken, I'm gonna retake this off
[219 - 222] of the heat and add in one pound of bittersweet chocolate.
[222 - 225] This is Valrhona chocolate, probably my favorite brand
[225 - 227] because of its shape and its flavor and its quality.
[227 - 230] I'm using 60% cacao content chocolate here,
[230 - 231] pretty good balance.
[231 - 232] We're also gonna whisk in two tablespoons
[232 - 234] of vanilla extract as well.
[234 - 235] Once this is all whisked in, it seems to me
[235 - 237] that this is still a little thick,
[237 - 238] so we're gonna loosen this up,
[238 - 241] adding in one more cup of milk and one more cup of cream.
[241 - 243] After tasting it, I realized there should be a little bit
[243 - 244] more sugar, so we're going to go ahead
[244 - 247] and add one quarter cups of sugar additional.
[247 - 248] Now this is looking pretty good,
[248 - 249] but there's probably a couple lumps
[249 - 250] from all that starch in there.
[250 - 253] So with Rachel's help, we're gonna go ahead
[253 - 254] and strain this through a fine mesh sieve,
[254 - 255] whisking the whole time,
[255 - 258] making sure that our end result custard comes out
[258 - 259] silky and smooth.
[259 - 261] Now, as the person who is making the custard,
[261 - 263] it is your right and your right only
[263 - 266] to have the first taste of the whisk after it comes out.
[266 - 268] This little snack is completely entitled
[268 - 270] to you or whoever you would want bestow this gift upon.
[270 - 272] Now that our custard is good, we're gonna wrap that
[272 - 274] and set that in the fridge until we're ready to use it.
[274 - 276] Our cake slices have finished baking.
[276 - 279] This is what they look like, pretty nice and even and flat.
[279 - 281] Because we bake them at a lower temperature,
[281 - 282] we're gonna allow them to cool completely
[282 - 283] before we cut into it,
[283 - 285] which means resting them for a whole day for us.
[285 - 287] It is now day two chocolate cake making.
[287 - 288] We're gonna take these cakes
[288 - 290] and attempt to get these into super,
[290 - 291] super, super thin layers.
[291 - 293] Now in the video, the chef handling the cake is clearly
[293 - 295] skilled and has done this many times.
[295 - 298] He's able to get the cake into almost half a centimeter
[298 - 300] thickness, which is really insane if you think about
[300 - 302] how hard it is to level the cake.
[302 - 304] At this point, Andrew also came downstairs to give us
[304 - 307] a great idea about how to level the cakes in this fashion.
[307 - 308] He said that if you started
[308 - 310] to level the cakes from the bottom instead of the top,
[310 - 312] by stacking them on something
[312 - 314] and putting them on a sheet tray, you should be able
[314 - 316] to get the same thickness every time by using the edges
[316 - 318] of the sheet tray as a guide for your knife.
[318 - 320] Although this seems perfect in practice,
[320 - 322] this is actually a little bit harder than I thought
[322 - 323] because the cakes are cold from
[323 - 325] refrigerating it from the day before.
[325 - 327] Nevertheless, I will chug through all of these layers
[327 - 329] and attempt to get them as leveled as possible,
[329 - 331] and I will say using that cake board technique
[331 - 332] to slide under the cake to lift off
[332 - 335] that thin layer is a great, great technique.
[335 - 336] when making these.
[336 - 337] They must have some really skilled,
[337 - 338] skilled pastry chefs
[338 - 341] who would make this cake every single day.
[341 - 343] They probably make this cake many times per day,
[343 - 345] so I can't even imagine and think about all the labor
[345 - 346] and the skill required to make this.
[346 - 348] Not all my layers are perfect either.
[348 - 350] I'm getting a lot of holes, a lot of unevenness, having
[350 - 353] to patch it up with this nice cake, which is actually nice
[353 - 354] because this cake is so dense
[354 - 356] and gooey that you can kind of use it
[356 - 357] as a glue patchwork situation
[357 - 359] for any holes that might arise.
[359 - 361] Out of the three cakes we baked, I was only actually able
[361 - 363] to get 10 layers of cake, not the 12 that we needed
[363 - 365] to make this 24 layer cake.
[365 - 367] So I asked Rachel to help me make one additional cake
[367 - 369] for layering off to the side.
[369 - 370] Thank you, Rachel.
[370 - 371] All the remaining scrapped are gathered
[371 - 373] in a bowl for a future use,
[373 - 374] which we're gonna show very soon,
[374 - 376] and by very soon, I mean right now.
[376 - 377] So we're gonna take all the trimmings
[378 - 379] that we got off the layering process,
[379 - 381] and after snacking 'em quite a bit
[381 - 384] and exclaiming how super good it is, we're gonna go ahead
[384 - 385] and crumble them evenly onto a sheet
[385 - 387] tray lined with parchment paper.
[387 - 388] Once these are small in size,
[388 - 392] we're gonna put them into an oven at 350 degrees convection
[392 - 393] for about 30 minutes or so,
[393 - 395] tossing them every once in a while to make sure
[395 - 397] that they cook and dry out evenly.
[397 - 399] While our cake crumbs are getting crispy in the oven,
[399 - 400] we're gonna go ahead and assemble the cake.
[400 - 401] Now, in the video, they seem
[401 - 403] to assemble the cake in two different deep
[403 - 405] pans and then stack them together,
[405 - 407] so that's what we're gonna do.
[407 - 408] We're gonna line the side of each 11 inch spring form pan
[408 - 411] with a strip of cake acetate, which is going
[411 - 412] to help the cake keep its shape
[412 - 414] and smooth texture on the outside.
[414 - 416] We're gonna start each one with one layer of cake, followed
[416 - 419] by a healthy helping of the chocolate custard spreading
[419 - 421] to make sure that it is even all the way through.
[421 - 422] We're gonna try to be as even as possible
[422 - 425] with these, rotating it to make sure that it's as level
[425 - 427] and as smooth as possible.
[427 - 429] We repeat this process with as many cake layers
[429 - 431] as we have filling up each spring form as high as we can go
[431 - 434] until we have no more cake and no more custard leftover.
[434 - 436] Rachel's extra cake that she had baked had
[436 - 438] to help lend us another four layers.
[438 - 441] So we actually have a total of 14 cake layers
[441 - 442] and 14 layers of custard.
[442 - 444] So yeah, that's 28.
[444 - 447] But hey, here at the BCU we strive for greatness
[447 - 449] and overachieving is just the right amount.
[449 - 451] These cakes are gonna go into the freezer
[451 - 454] for a quick chill while we work on our finished cake crumbs.
[454 - 456] These crumbs have been cooled for about 30 minutes
[456 - 458] or so until they've gone to room temperature.
[458 - 459] We're simply just gonna put them in a food
[459 - 461] processor until fine.
[461 - 463] These are just really nice cake crunchies
[463 - 464] and surprisingly crispy.
[464 - 467] I have once second spilled all over the counter as usual.
[467 - 469] I'd like to say that those are just an excuse
[469 - 471] for me to have my snacks. Oh no.
[471 - 474] Once the cake crumbs have been pulverized into small bits,
[474 - 475] I'm gonna put them in a bowl
[475 - 477] and set them aside for later use.
[477 - 479] Now, Strip House also tops off their cake
[479 - 481] with a really beautiful layer of ganache
[481 - 483] as a finisher, so that's what we're gonna do.
[483 - 485] In a bowl we have 12 ounces of Valrhona chocolate,
[485 - 488] 85% this time because I like my ganaches quite bitter,
[488 - 490] and one and a half cups of heavy cream,
[490 - 492] which has been brought to a scald.
[492 - 493] We're gonna give this little shake to get rid
[493 - 495] of any air bubbles and cover this with a cake board
[495 - 498] to let the chocolate slowly warm to temperature.
[498 - 499] I realized that the heat from the cream was not enough
[499 - 501] and the studio was kind of cold that day.
[501 - 504] So I'm gonna put this steel mixing bowl directly over a low
[504 - 506] flame and carefully stir it until it has come together
[506 - 509] and is become glossy and silky smooth.
[509 - 511] This ganache is going to get poured directly on top of one
[511 - 513] of our cake stacks,
[513 - 514] the one that's going to be the top layer.
[514 - 517] Spread out and tilted until evenly spread across the top.
[517 - 519] Any leftover ganache is going to go straight
[519 - 521] to either your mouth or someone else
[521 - 522] that you really care about.
[522 - 524] Like to also give this a pretty hard tap on the table
[524 - 526] a couple times to release any air bubbles
[526 - 527] that have risen to the surface.
[527 - 528] Then we're gonna return this cake
[528 - 530] and the other cake into the freezer overnight.
[530 - 533] It is now day three of making this chocolate cake.
[533 - 534] We're gonna go ahead and take these frozen
[534 - 535] cakes out of the freezer.
[535 - 538] I'm gonna use remaining chocolate custard as sort of a glue
[538 - 540] between the two stacks, sparing it out evenly to make sure
[540 - 542] that the cake stack that goes on top has
[542 - 544] something sticky to stick to.
[544 - 546] Now, we're gonna take off through spring form harnesses
[546 - 548] and unwrap their acetate.
[548 - 550] After admiring how the acetate peels off
[550 - 551] so smoothly and all the layers we have,
[551 - 553] the cake with the ganache goes directly on top
[553 - 555] of the cake on the bottom, making sure
[555 - 558] that all sides are level and have easily aligned.
[558 - 559] Gonna hit the top with a little bit of a trim
[559 - 562] that any edges of the ganache that stick out are trimmed off
[562 - 564] and go directly into my belly.
[564 - 565] On a cake stand,
[565 - 567] I'm gonna work quickly to fill in the remaining holes
[567 - 569] with the chocolate custard that we have left.
[569 - 571] Once all the outsides have been covered, I'm going
[571 - 573] to take those cake crumbs that we made earlier
[573 - 575] and add a nice sort of coating to the edge of the cake.
[575 - 577] Some of the custard has start to freeze up,
[577 - 578] so I'm gonna take a blowtorch
[578 - 581] and lightly heat it up until it has become a little bit more
[581 - 583] sticky so that the cake crumbs have somewhere to adhere to.
[583 - 585] After rotating and generously coating the edges
[585 - 587] of this cake, we're gonna let this cake just sit out
[587 - 589] for about an hour or two just so that the
[589 - 591] inside can come up to room temperature.
[591 - 592] It is very cold right now,
[592 - 594] and I'm guessing it's gonna be pretty difficult to cut.
[594 - 596] Once it feels a little bit better, we're gonna go ahead
[596 - 598] and take a knife, dip it in some hot water to make sure
[598 - 599] that it is hot and lubricated
[599 - 603] and attempt our first slice down these 24 layers of cake.
[603 - 605] The cake is still quite cold in the middle,
[605 - 608] which makes it extremely difficult to cut through.
[608 - 610] Here's Steve also attempting to cut through it.
[610 - 612] He is about twice as strong as I am, so the fact
[612 - 613] that he can't do it means well,
[613 - 614] we gotta wait a little bit more.
[614 - 617] After reheating and making our wake through our first slice
[617 - 618] of the cake, I thought to myself,
[618 - 619] "Hey, clearly the knife is getting
[619 - 620] really cold while we're cutting.
[620 - 622] How about we blowtorch it
[622 - 624] and get the metal screaming hot so that it can just sort of
[624 - 626] cut through the second slice like butter?"
[626 - 627] And great idea.
[627 - 629] So here I am about torching this knife
[629 - 631] until it is screaming hot
[633 - 634] and oh yeah, it kind of sizzled while it cut through.
[634 - 636] I didn't really think about that part. Don't worry.
[636 - 639] It's not burnt and still is very cold in the middle,
[639 - 641] which made it a lot more difficult to cut through.
[641 - 643] After we have made two cuts,
[643 - 645] it is now time for the big reveal.
[645 - 646] Here we go slowly.
[646 - 647] I like how this looks.
[647 - 648] I like it very much.
[648 - 651] Now that is a slice of chocolate cake.
[651 - 653] Let's go ahead and cut another slice.
[653 - 655] For whatever reason, when you cut the second slice,
[655 - 658] it's a lot easier than cutting the first one. Wonder why?
[658 - 659] We're gonna take a second
[659 - 661] to admire the cross section and the layers of this cake.
[661 - 664] Even though I don't really work with cakes in this capacity,
[664 - 665] I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out.
[665 - 666] The tray technique
[666 - 668] with the leveling really made a huge difference in the way
[668 - 671] that we made our layers, but there it is.
[671 - 672] I present to you our version
[672 - 676] of the famous 24 layer chocolate cake from Strip House,
[676 - 679] this time with four extra layers with a total of 28.
[679 - 681] A towering slice of chocolate decadence
[681 - 683] that you would be pleased to receive at any meal,
[683 - 684] any time, any day of the year.
[684 - 687] And the big question is, well, how does it taste?
[687 - 689] Here we go, let's go for a nice fork shot
[689 - 692] that goes all the way through each and every 28 layers.
[693 - 694] Oh, I like this cake.
[694 - 695] The texture is quite wonderful.
[695 - 698] A lot of the chocolate custard absorbed into the really nice
[698 - 700] dense cake itself, so it's more of a like a sticky,
[700 - 702] chocolate gooey pudding.
[702 - 704] The salt that we added definitely makes
[704 - 705] this taste extra awesome.
[705 - 706] Here's a nice little cross section
[706 - 708] of all the layers cut from the top.
[708 - 712] And yeah, we all took a huge huge slice home that day,
[712 - 714] which means we're gonna be eating this through the new year.
[714 - 716] Maybe we should go for a hundred layers next time.
[716 - 719] I mentioned before that this cake comes from a restaurant in
[719 - 721] the city called Strip House, and well, Andrew, Steve
[721 - 724] and I all decided to go take a trip
[724 - 726] and see the cake for itself.
[726 - 727] We went in, got some steak,
[727 - 730] and ultimately ordered the 24 layer chocolate cake,
[730 - 732] which our server made sure
[732 - 734] to mention was 24 layers of indulgence.
[734 - 737] And when it came out, it looked very similar to the one
[737 - 739] that we had made, which was a really promising sign.
[739 - 741] The color was slightly different, a little bit darker,
[741 - 744] and the server mentioned that they did make them offsite in
[744 - 746] bulk because they do tend to also ship them in whole,
[746 - 748] in case you wanted an entire cake for yourself,
[748 - 750] which seems pretty cool, and we were super excited
[750 - 753] and curious in how it stacked up compares to the version
[753 - 754] that we made as this is the OG.
[754 - 756] The cake had a lot lighter crumb than ours.
[756 - 758] Ours was a little bit more dense and gooey
[758 - 761] where I think theirs was a little bit more airy and crumbly.
[761 - 763] The crumbs on the side were also not as crunchy as the ones
[763 - 765] that we had done, but that's probably
[765 - 767] because they make so many of these cakes that need
[767 - 768] to be held in refrigerators.
[768 - 770] I personally preferred the one that we made
[770 - 773] because it was a lot more gooey and moist in texture,
[773 - 775] and I tend to like chocolate cakes that are more on
[775 - 778] that side rather than on the lighter and crumbly side.
[778 - 780] Nevertheless, it was still good chocolate cake,
[780 - 782] although I do look forward to eating the one
[782 - 784] that I have at home that we made.
[784 - 785] - [Babish] Thanks again to Squarespace
[785 - 787] for sponsoring today's episode.
[787 - 788] They've been a great partner in supporting
[788 - 789] the Babish Culinary Universe
[789 - 791] and bringing my websites to life.
[791 - 794] From websites to online stores to domains and analytics,
[794 - 796] Squarespace is the all-in-one platform for you
[796 - 798] to build your online presence.
[798 - 800] They also have SEO tools so
[800 - 802] that your site is getting found in search
[802 - 803] by more people more often.
[803 - 805] If you want to try it for yourself,
[805 - 806] you can start your free trial today
[806 - 809] by visiting squarespace.com/babish
[809 - 814] to get 10% off your first purchase. (upbeat music)