Welcome to week 12 of the Alpha Bakers bake-a-long, an online project where a group of food bloggers bake our way through The Baking Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. Most of the recipes made during this project will not be shared, but this particular recipe has been published here. Check it out and come back for my commentary followed by a full photo tutorial.

This week's selection - Chocolate Pavarotti with Wicked Good Ganache - a single layer chocolate cake covered with ganache that is spiked with cayenne pepper.

Special ingredients and/or equipment needed - 9x2-inch round cake pan, Rose's silicone cake strips or these insulated cake strips, parchment paper, Baker's Joy baking spray.

Optional ingredients and/or equipment suggested - digital scale, heart shaped aluminum cake pan.

How does it taste - I hate to say it, but we didn't care much for this one. The cake was very crumbly and it didn't taste very chocolaty, despite containing a lot of cocoa and melted chocolate. Also, the ground cayenne pepper gave the ganache a gritty texture. We ate it (it is chocolate cake, after all), but nobody asked for seconds, which is not very typical around here.

How does it look - My ganache topped cake looked very boring so I dressed it up with a ring of ruby red raspberries.

Level of difficulty - Easy.

Were the directions clear - Yes, but there was one small discrepancy - the 5th paragraph on page 60 calls the cayenne "optional", but the list of ingredients does not refer to the cayenne as optional. No biggie, but it's something I noticed.

Also, I didn't follow the directions for making the ganache in a food processor because I don't care for the mess it makes or all the extra dishes it generates. I'd rather make ganache in the microwave or double boiler.

What would I do differently next time - I won't be making this cake or the cayenne laced ganache again.

Next up - Lemon Posset Alma.

Okay, here's my photo tutorial.