The (Insert fruit here) Cordial

So here is my favorite cake to date: the Cordial. More specifically, the White Chocolate Strawberry Cordial. My inspiration actually came from chocolate covered cherries, or cherry cordials. While not intending to replicate the gooey center of the cordial, the fruit and a white creamy filling intrigued me. Each one of the Cordials has one pound of fruit in it, represented as a solid layer in the center of the cake and as garnishment on the top and sides. The chocolate variations of the Cordials have chocolate cake of one kind or another, while the white chocolate Cordials have yellow cake in them (preferably of the butter persuasion).

My first attempt at this cake yielded a super sweet cherry and chocolate concoction; not quite what I had intended, but a good start, I would think. Deciding that I liked strawberries better anyway, I decided to try the Chocolate Strawberry Cordial.Ever wonder what goes into these cakes?Much prettier to look at and easier on the sweet tooth, this combination of tart strawberries and cordial cream went very well with my chocolate butter cream icing. Further tweaking resulted in the Chocolate Raspberry Cordial for my dearest (as partial to raspberries as I am to strawberries).

This time I played with the embellishment a little (I got some new toys from the cake decorating people), and the pattern pressed into the side worked elegantly well with the raspberries on top.

I guess this next rendition could best be described as a Berry Blast Cordial. Red raspberries, black raspberries, and strawberries all in one cake. I did my standard 4 layer tort, but instead of 2 layers of cordial cream and one layer of fruit, I opted for 3 thinner layers of cream with a thin layer of the fruit, one fruit per filling layer.Finally for Father's Day this year I made the Chocolate Blackberry Cordial for my father. I couldn't stay to see him try it, but I did get a voicemail later... 2 solid minutes of "Yum" and "Yummy!" I don't think I've ever heard a more satisfied voicemail in my life.

Usually the specialty cakes I do are 8" rounds or about that size in square or hexagon, but a dear friend loved the raspberry cake so much, that he asked for it for his birthday (a party of 20 people), so I ended up super-sizing the cake. A little more difficult, but doable, finally ending up with a 9"x13" edition."Thou Rocketh!" refers to a prayer said after inspiration came to my friend solving computer trouble he'd been having for almost a week; a story we still laugh about to this day.