Triple chocolate cake
It's been a while since I've posted about cake, and I'm clearly a bit behind on the monthly(ish) birthday cakes I've been making for the office.
Here's a recap so far: Orange Dream Cake (Jan), Cheesecakes (Feb; not made by me as it's my b-day month), and Verry Berry Cake (March).
In April we didn't have any birthdays, but we did have 2 women who were expecting, so our celebration turned into a literally BIRTH-day party.
Both moms-to-be love chocolate, so I knew the cake needed to be Cooks Illustrated Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake (my absolute fav!)
I typically pair this with a German buttercream flavored with either orange oil or coffee (as chocolate + orange and chocolate + cofee are my favorite combos) but decided to try a new-to-me chocolate frosting instead (with a Swiss meringue base).
Happy to say the cake was a hit!!!
For me, it was (dare I say) a bit too chocolat-ey, but they nearly chased me out of the office when I said that. Maybe it just needed a big ole glass of (lactaid) milk.
For the decorations I used little pastel-colored candies I had on hand for the base of the cake. I used the chocolate drip recipe below (aka ganache) for the top and sides. I actually covered the entire top of the cake in a thin layer of the ganache, and then using my spatula and spinning my cake stand I was able to get the swirl effect. I then applied the chocolate drip down the sides.
If you want to make this cake, here is a list of the recipes I used:
Yours in enabling chocolate-holics,
Jacqueline
The recipe below is juuuuuuust enough frosting for the cake (and what I made). If you like to have a bit of wiggle room with your frosting and would like extra, I'd 1.5x (or even 1.25x) the recipe below.
When making the frosting, if it seems too soft after adding the chocolate, chill it briefly in the refrigerator and then rewhip it until creamy. The frosting can be made up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerated in an airtight container. When ready to frost, place frosting in a microwave-safe container and warm briefly on high power until just slightly softened, 5 to 10 seconds. Once warmed, stir until creamy.
One final note: the frosting hardens quite a bit as it sits at room temp (if your room is a bit colder as mine was). So you can use the tips above to warm it up for a few seconds as needed. Just something to be aware of when frosting the cake.
Ingredients
2/3 cup (4 2/3 oz) granulated sugar
4 large egg whites
pinch table salt
24 TBSP (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 1 TBSP pieces
12 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled to ~85 to 100 degrees.
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
Make sure to check out the Chel Sweets post for lots of tips on getting the right consistency of your chocolate drip and the best techniques! She has written a TON about it and it helped me immensely. Got it perfect on my first attempt so was really happy about that.
The chocolate drip can be made in advance, and stored in the fridge until ready to use. To get it back to the right consistency, heat the mixture in 15 second increments in the microwave, or until it reaches the right viscosity. It should be slightly warmer than room temp, but not warm enough to melt the buttercream on your chilled cake.
If you want to make a milk chocolate drip the proportions will be different. Chel Sweets recommends 1/3 cup heavy cream to 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
Ingredients
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (Ghiradelli) - if you'd like to use milk chocolate chips see note above
Directions
Here's a recap so far: Orange Dream Cake (Jan), Cheesecakes (Feb; not made by me as it's my b-day month), and Verry Berry Cake (March).
In April we didn't have any birthdays, but we did have 2 women who were expecting, so our celebration turned into a literally BIRTH-day party.
Both moms-to-be love chocolate, so I knew the cake needed to be Cooks Illustrated Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake (my absolute fav!)
I typically pair this with a German buttercream flavored with either orange oil or coffee (as chocolate + orange and chocolate + cofee are my favorite combos) but decided to try a new-to-me chocolate frosting instead (with a Swiss meringue base).
Happy to say the cake was a hit!!!
For me, it was (dare I say) a bit too chocolat-ey, but they nearly chased me out of the office when I said that. Maybe it just needed a big ole glass of (lactaid) milk.
For the decorations I used little pastel-colored candies I had on hand for the base of the cake. I used the chocolate drip recipe below (aka ganache) for the top and sides. I actually covered the entire top of the cake in a thin layer of the ganache, and then using my spatula and spinning my cake stand I was able to get the swirl effect. I then applied the chocolate drip down the sides.
- Old fashioned chocolate cake can be found in an older post of mine.
- Creamy chocolate frosting is from Cooks Illustrated (recipe below)
- Chocolate drip is from Chel Sweets (my slight adaption below)
Yours in enabling chocolate-holics,
Jacqueline
The recipe below is juuuuuuust enough frosting for the cake (and what I made). If you like to have a bit of wiggle room with your frosting and would like extra, I'd 1.5x (or even 1.25x) the recipe below.
When making the frosting, if it seems too soft after adding the chocolate, chill it briefly in the refrigerator and then rewhip it until creamy. The frosting can be made up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerated in an airtight container. When ready to frost, place frosting in a microwave-safe container and warm briefly on high power until just slightly softened, 5 to 10 seconds. Once warmed, stir until creamy.
One final note: the frosting hardens quite a bit as it sits at room temp (if your room is a bit colder as mine was). So you can use the tips above to warm it up for a few seconds as needed. Just something to be aware of when frosting the cake.
Ingredients
2/3 cup (4 2/3 oz) granulated sugar
4 large egg whites
pinch table salt
24 TBSP (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 1 TBSP pieces
12 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled to ~85 to 100 degrees.
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
- Combine sugar, egg whites, and salt in bowl of stand mixer. Place bowl over pan of simmering water making sure the bottom of your mixer bowl is not touching the water.
- Whisking gently but constantly, heat mixture until slightly thickened, foamy, and registers 150 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Place bowl in stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment.
- Beat mixture on medium speed until consistency of shaving cream and slightly cooled, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add butter, 1 piece at a time, until smooth and creamy. (Frosting may look curdled after half of butter has been added; it will smooth with additional butter.)
- Once all butter is added, add cooled melted chocolate and vanilla; mix until combined.
- Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light, fluffy, and thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds, scraping beater and sides of bowl with rubber spatula as necessary.
Make sure to check out the Chel Sweets post for lots of tips on getting the right consistency of your chocolate drip and the best techniques! She has written a TON about it and it helped me immensely. Got it perfect on my first attempt so was really happy about that.
The chocolate drip can be made in advance, and stored in the fridge until ready to use. To get it back to the right consistency, heat the mixture in 15 second increments in the microwave, or until it reaches the right viscosity. It should be slightly warmer than room temp, but not warm enough to melt the buttercream on your chilled cake.
If you want to make a milk chocolate drip the proportions will be different. Chel Sweets recommends 1/3 cup heavy cream to 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
Ingredients
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (Ghiradelli) - if you'd like to use milk chocolate chips see note above
Directions
- Put the chocolate chips in a bowl and set aside.
- Heat heavy cream in the microwave (~30-60 seconds) or on the stovetop (medium heat) until just under a simmer. Remove from heat.
- Gently pour the heavy cream over the chocolate chips, making sure they are covered with cream. Allow mixture to sit for 1-2 minutes.
- Stir slowly until the cream and chocolate are fully combined and ganache is smooth.
- Pour into a plastic squirt bottles for easy application. (If you don’t have any plastic bottles on hand, you can also use a spoon to drizzle it over cakes.)
- Set aside to cool for about 20 minutes, until the mixture is just slightly warm to the touch.
- Complete a test drip, to check the consistency of you ganache. If the test drip seems too thick, try heating up the ganache for 5-10 additional seconds in the microwave. If the mixture seems too thin, allow it cool a bit longer, then try another test drip.
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