One of my coworkers needed a cake for her husband's birthday and since I am always bringing in treats for everyone to snack on she asked me to make it. She decided ona dark chocolate cake with caramel buttercream in between the layers and mocha buttercream on the outside. So I started Saturday morning, baking the cake. I decided to make it extra special by cutting the three layers into six. That meant A LOT of buttercream which I made in the afternoon. I was pretty nervous about decorating, because as my friends can atest I am more of a 'if it tastes good who cares if it looks good' kind of person. I mean, I'm not going to give you a fug cake, but I'm definitely not artistically inclined either. So I stuck with a simple decoration around the top and bottom border.
Now let's get to the nitty gritty of the cake...
So I've kind of been obsessed with this certain cake recipe. It's not a 'from scratch' recipe, but it most definitely tastes like one. I came across it during easter when I was looking at all the adorable treats on Foodbuzz. Picky Palate has this awesome Easter Egg Layer Cake that took box cak mix and made it into something amazing. I made it for easter and then I made it the next weekend, and then I made it that Tuesday... well you get the picture. It works with vanilla cake, chocolate (which is what I did), red velvet, etc. Here is the recipe I used...
Dark Chocolate Cake
1 Triple Chocolate Cake mix
1 small box of chocolate fudge instant pudding
1 cup greek yogurt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup veggie oil
4 large eggs
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix until incorporated (2-3 min.) Divide the batter in 3 9" pans that have been sprayed and fitted with parchment rounds on the bottom. The batter will be thick so you'll need to smooth out the top with your spatula. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan completely before removing.
The two frostings I made from scratch (yay, I'm not a total box baker). I got the Mocha Buttercream recipe from The Culinary Chronicles blog. I've changed it slightly because I only had instant espresso in the house. And I had to double this recipe to cover my ginormous cake.
Mocha Buttercream
10 Tbsp butter, room temp
2 Tbsp luke warm water
1 tsp instant espresso
1 Tbsp dark cocoa powder
3-4 cups confectioner's sugar
1. Dissolve the instant espresso into the water, make sure the water isn't too hot or you may melt the butter when it's added to the frosting. Cream the butter in a large bowl until smooth. Add the cocoa powder and beat until incorprated. Alternate between the espresso mix and confectioner's sugar, beating after each addition. Keep adding confec. sugar until you've reached your desired consistency. Let chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before you start icing the cake.
Assembling the cake:
Cut each of my 3 9" rounds in half to create six layers. Set the first layer on your cake round and pipe a border of mocha buttercream on the outside edge (so the caramel buttercream deosn't creep out the sides). Then ice the first layer with caramel frosting. Repeat these steps with each layer, ending with the top layer of the cake. Ice the top layer with mocha buttercream, working it down the sides of the cake. Once the top, and sides are smooth fill a piping bag, fitted with a large star tip, with mocha buttercream and pipe individual circles around the top and bottom borders of the cake. Then refrigerate the cake until 15 minutes before serving.
So there you have it. My first cake ever to be sold. I hope it's not the last!
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