Pastry I - SF Baking Institute

This is just one of the creations from my first week of pastry making in the San Francisco Baking Institute's pastry series... the only item that hasn't been polished off or donated to feed someone skinnier than I am.

The chocolate sprinkles migrated up the praline buttercream sides, but aside from that, the view down onto the cake is quite lovely. Inside are two layers of high ratio chocolate cake. The bottom cake layer is coated lightly with apricot jam and spread with praline buttercream then topped with a disk of hazelnut meringue that was baked until crisp. The meringue layer is spread with praline buttercream and topped with another layer of chocolate cake coated with apricot jam before the final frosting of the top and sides. This is one rich cake, but thinly sliced it's perfect with a cup of hot freshly-brewed coffee.