Happy birthday husband!!! Another birthday means another cake for the blog! muahahhahahahahaha…………………..Iv been planning this cake for ages! Iv been searching pinterest for a nice recipe and finally rounded in on this one.……………I had so many amazing photography ideas which I wanted to try………………but everything went down the drain…………….I messed up with my camera settings………………and then I spent the rest of the day sorting it out…………..and in the end…………..I couldn’t get my camera sorted out and ended up with a terrible back and neck pain!!!! Oh well…………………..atleast the reviews for the cake was fantastic! and we had a lovely dinner at the end of it!
The cake was absolutely moist, rich and soft. I was super surprised by the simplicity of the recipe. The coffee lends an amazing flavour to the cake………………………the recipe for the frosting was something I came up by myself, quite by accident actually …………..and its not too thick, but just perfect for this type of cake frosting. So it definitely wont work if you want to use it for ‘piping’. It was silky and beautiful.
This will probably be my go-to chocolate cake recipe for the up coming birthdays!……………….till I find another chocolate cake recipe! Is it kid-friendly???………………..its got coffee in it. I’m not sure how it will taste without the coffee…….but you could try using warm water. or you could go for my previous chocolate cake recipe which is very kid friendly and also lovely.
INGREDIENTS:
for the cake:
Sugar – 1 and 3/4 cups
Cocoa powder – 1 cup
All purpose flour – 1 and 3/4 cups
Baking soda – 2 tsps
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Kosher salt – 1 tsp
Eggs – 2
Buttermilk – 1 cup (see notes)
Strong black coffee – 1 cup (I used 3 tbsps of nescafe gold with 1 cup hot water)
Vegetable oil – 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence – 1 tbsp
for the frosting:
Unsalted butter, soft – 226g
Icing sugar – 1.5 cups
Cocoa powder – 3/4 cup
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
Cold milk – 1-2 tbsp((use slowly)
Dark cooking chocolate – 3 oz
Strawberries and Rasberries for decorating(optional)
PROCESS:
- Grease 3 round cake tins of 7 inches with parchment paper and butter. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- In a bowl sift the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add in the sugar and salt. Give it a good stir . Add the warm coffee and beat with an electric hand mixer till mixed well.
- In another bowl break the eggs. whisk.
- Now to the flour mixture, add in the beaten eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla essence….. beating for a few seconds with the hand mixer after each addition.
- Pour the cake mixture equally into the 3 prepared tins and bake them in the oven for about 25 mins or till a stick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
- Cool the cake COMPLETELY before frosting it.
- Cut the top portion of the cakes with a sharp knife so its all even and in one level. This makes it easy to frost the cakes and layer it.
- First, place one cake on the cake stand, and spoon some frosting on it and smear it on the surface. Put another cake and smear it again with frosting. Do the same with the third cake, finishing with the frosting on top.
- Decorate with fruits on top
for the frosting :
- Sift the cocoa powder and icing sugar. Mix and keep aside
- Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave and take out and mix after every few seconds till melted. Cool it down
- Using an electric hand mixer, whisk the butter for about 30 seconds. Add the melted chocolate and vanilla essence and whisk
- Add in the cocoa mixture and milk alternatively to the butter and whisk with the hand blender till it all comes together
NOTES:
- To make the buttermilk, add 1 tbsp vinegar to 1 cup of milk and let it stand for 15 minutes.
I totally agree to you on birthdays adding a new cake to my drafts! 😀 The buttermilk is what does everything to the cake, it just makes it supermoist… love the buttercream used, looks amazingly smooth…
thanks rafee!:)
I like the arrangement on top.