Chocolate Cake and Birthdays
Chocolate cake, frozen berries and buttercream. The best ingredients in my stash of ingredients used to whip up a lovely birthday cake for a good friend. For awhile, I was on the hunt for recipe to make the perfect birthday cake... There were so many options to choose from - Cheesecake, White Cake, Chocolate Cake, Carrot Cake, Red Velvet Cake... But I picked chocolate in the end - a neutral flavour for a birthday cake - you'll never go wrong with chocolate cake!
This time I tried "The Famous Chocolate Cake" recipe from Let Them Eat Cake.
The cake turned out moist, with a crumbly top and had a tinge of coffee to its flavour. However, I wished that it had a richer chocolate flavour (maybe I didn't add enough chocolate). But Dorie Greenspan's devil's food cake recipe is still my favourite: Here
You can frost this "Famous Chocolate Cake" with anything you like.. The owner of Let Them Eat Cake used an expresso chocolate frosting which sounds lovely and rich. You can even frost it with cream cheese (my favourite), but this time I chose a mixed berry swiss meringue buttercream frosting. Swiss meringue buttercream is quite a winner, it's not as sweet as your usual cupcake frosting, and is double the addictive"ness". Downside is that it takes a slightly longer time for your to make because you have to heat up the egg whites. But the egg whites make the frosting stiffer too so they won't melt as easily in the hot Singapore weather!
I'm still trying to perfect my frosting techniques. It took me almost 1.5 hours to get the frosting properly done on 4 small cakes because I was trying to make the roses look perfect. At the moment, I'm really obsessed with rosettes on cake.. Not only is it really fun, it turns out pretty too! I promise though, when I finally perfect my frosting technique, or find a nice pretty frosting pattern, I'll post it on my blog. Anyway, there's a rosettes tutorial by I am baker.
The Famous Chocolate Cake Recipe
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2/3 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate (4 squares), melted & cooled
1 1/4 cups water
3 eggs
A little more flour to dust your cake pans
Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
In a stand mixer or using a large bowl with a hand-held mixer, combine all ingredients except eggs and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl, add eggs and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Don't skip the timing -- use a timer!
Grease two 8" cake pans with butter and dust a little flour in each, spreading it around to coat. Divide batter equally between the two pans, and thump on a little on your counter top to remove air pockets.
Bake from 28-35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Start testing your cakes about 5 minutes before you think they will be done, and then every couple of minutes after that.
Cool completely before frosting.
Berry Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe (Makes approx 3 cups)
4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 sticks butter (Approx 300g)
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup frozen berries/fresh berries
Combine the egg whites, sugar and salt in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture reaches 160° F (70° C) or until the sugar has dissolved.
Transfer the mixture to the bowl and beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture has cooled to room temperature, about 8 minutes.
Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, adding more once each addition has been incorporated. If the frosting looks soupy or curdled, continue to beat on medium-high speed until thick and smooth again, about 3-5 minutes more . Stir in the vanilla extract and mix just until incorporated. Tint with gel icing color as desired and add in berries, continue beating for awhile until everything is incorporated.
Store buttercream in fridge if not using, or frost your cake as desired.