Chocolate cake, frosting & strawberry buttercream
So yesterday I mentioned being in the middle of baking a cake for Nick's sister's birthday, and last night I finished it :D Again, I found the original recipe on allrecipes.com, then adapted it so that it worked for me and the ingredients I had to hand. This cake was so good, super moist and it rose nice and evenly ♥
The finished cake, and the filling~
Ingredients
2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
50g chocolate (or a handful of chocolate chips)
1 cups unsalted butter/shortening
1 pinch salt
1 eggs
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon strawberry flavouring
2 or 3 strawberries
3/4 cup softened butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
150g chocolate
5(ish) cups confectioners' (icing) sugar
2/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
For the cake:
♠ Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease and flour two cake pans - I used deep 7 1/2-inch spring form pans, but you could use 8- or 9-inch pans if they're more shallow.
♠ For the cake, use the first set of ingredients. Stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder & salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, and mix until well blended. Stir in the boiling water by hand and pour evenly into the two pans.
♠ Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean - the time will differ depending on the size of your pans. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.
For the buttercream filling:
♠ For the filling, use the second set of ingredients. Melt the chocolate, and allow to cool slightly.
♠ Beat the butter or margarine, salt, and vanilla until very light. Add the confectioners' sugar a little at a time, beating gently. Mix well, and beat briskly for a few more minutes until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat again, then add the melted chocolate, and beat again until smooth and thick, or your arm falls off.
♠ Split the layers of cooled cake horizontally if you want, cover the top of each internal layer with filling, Chop strawberries as big or small as you like and spread them over the top. You could mix them into the filling too, but I had more filling than I needed so I wanted to keep it clean and freeze-able.
♠ Stack the layers on a plate/board of your choice :D
For the chocolate frosting:
♠ To make the frosting, surprise surprise, use the third set of ingredients. Cream butter until light and fluffy.
♠ Stir in the cocoa and confectioners' sugar alternately with the milk and vanilla. Beat to a spreading consistency. After the fourth cup of confectioners' sugar you really have to do it by your own judgment depending on how thick/sturdy you want your frosting to be.
♠ Finally, I warmed the frosting in the microwave, then melted the chocolate and stirred that in too. If the frosting isn't warm, the melted chocolate will cool too quickly and the frosting will be all lumpy.
♠ Frost your cake! I frosted this one twice, once with a really thin layer to crumb coat it, then once again to cover it.
I had some left over frosting that I stuck into a piping bag with a big star tip (about 1M sized) to pipe the borders on, and still had a little bit left over, which is now in the freezer. But if you had a wider cake, or used the chocolate frosting as filling, you probably wouldn't have that problem. The frosting was a little bit too thin to stand up as much as I would have liked, and the little peaks started to droop a little bit even before I'd gone round the whole cake, but now it's been in the fridge overnight the frosting has set up nicely. The extra decoration is mostly made of chocolate, with a few fondant flowers too.
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I really liked this cake! I baked a little of the batter in a couple of cupcake liners alongside the cake pans so that I could try it before giving it away and it was SO good. I'm always scared trying new recipes, and had bought a box of Devil's Food cake mix just in case this all went pear-shaped and I needed a quick fix, but luckily I didn't need it :D I've never seen boiling water used in cake batter before, but the cake rose so beautifully , and it was so, so moist! I tried a packet chocolate cake mix before with some cupcakes, and oh man, never again. This was so much better.
Ooh I also mentioned yesterday that I was trying a new technique for chocolate roses, and I'm far happier with how this one turned out. It was easier than the others too! :D
The finished cake, and the filling~
Ingredients
2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
50g chocolate (or a handful of chocolate chips)
1 cups unsalted butter/shortening
1 pinch salt
1 eggs
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon strawberry flavouring
2 or 3 strawberries
3/4 cup softened butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
150g chocolate
5(ish) cups confectioners' (icing) sugar
2/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
For the cake:
♠ Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease and flour two cake pans - I used deep 7 1/2-inch spring form pans, but you could use 8- or 9-inch pans if they're more shallow.
♠ For the cake, use the first set of ingredients. Stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder & salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, and mix until well blended. Stir in the boiling water by hand and pour evenly into the two pans.
♠ Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean - the time will differ depending on the size of your pans. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.
For the buttercream filling:
♠ For the filling, use the second set of ingredients. Melt the chocolate, and allow to cool slightly.
♠ Beat the butter or margarine, salt, and vanilla until very light. Add the confectioners' sugar a little at a time, beating gently. Mix well, and beat briskly for a few more minutes until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat again, then add the melted chocolate, and beat again until smooth and thick, or your arm falls off.
♠ Split the layers of cooled cake horizontally if you want, cover the top of each internal layer with filling, Chop strawberries as big or small as you like and spread them over the top. You could mix them into the filling too, but I had more filling than I needed so I wanted to keep it clean and freeze-able.
♠ Stack the layers on a plate/board of your choice :D
For the chocolate frosting:
♠ To make the frosting, surprise surprise, use the third set of ingredients. Cream butter until light and fluffy.
♠ Stir in the cocoa and confectioners' sugar alternately with the milk and vanilla. Beat to a spreading consistency. After the fourth cup of confectioners' sugar you really have to do it by your own judgment depending on how thick/sturdy you want your frosting to be.
♠ Finally, I warmed the frosting in the microwave, then melted the chocolate and stirred that in too. If the frosting isn't warm, the melted chocolate will cool too quickly and the frosting will be all lumpy.
♠ Frost your cake! I frosted this one twice, once with a really thin layer to crumb coat it, then once again to cover it.
I had some left over frosting that I stuck into a piping bag with a big star tip (about 1M sized) to pipe the borders on, and still had a little bit left over, which is now in the freezer. But if you had a wider cake, or used the chocolate frosting as filling, you probably wouldn't have that problem. The frosting was a little bit too thin to stand up as much as I would have liked, and the little peaks started to droop a little bit even before I'd gone round the whole cake, but now it's been in the fridge overnight the frosting has set up nicely. The extra decoration is mostly made of chocolate, with a few fondant flowers too.
-
I really liked this cake! I baked a little of the batter in a couple of cupcake liners alongside the cake pans so that I could try it before giving it away and it was SO good. I'm always scared trying new recipes, and had bought a box of Devil's Food cake mix just in case this all went pear-shaped and I needed a quick fix, but luckily I didn't need it :D I've never seen boiling water used in cake batter before, but the cake rose so beautifully , and it was so, so moist! I tried a packet chocolate cake mix before with some cupcakes, and oh man, never again. This was so much better.
Ooh I also mentioned yesterday that I was trying a new technique for chocolate roses, and I'm far happier with how this one turned out. It was easier than the others too! :D