My little sister is graduating college and her party is next weekend. She asked me to make a cake for her and I couldn’t say no. So I decided to do a test batch this week to make sure I like the recipe (she asked for yellow cake with chocolate icing). I naturally can’t just buy cake in a box, so I’m going to make yellow cake with dark chocolate ganache with raspberries.
Ingredients for cake (this makes enough for 2 9-inch cake pans):
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 ½ cups white sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups buttermilk
- 3 ¾ cups cake flour (you can use all-purpose flour as a substitute)
- 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- Cooking spray
Ingredients for ganache:
- 16 ounces chocolate, finely chopped (I used dark chocolate)
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
This is a double layer cake, so I also needed icing for in between the two layers. You can just buy chocolate icing in the store and use that, but I only want to deliver the best for the little sister.
Ingredients for chocolate frosting:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces
- 1/3 cup sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 16 oz chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
To make this frosting, heat first 6 ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring until the butter melts.
Remove from heat and pour over already chopped chocolate.
Whisk until melted and smooth. Whisk in vanilla. Allow to cool until it’s thick enough to spread, stirring occasionally (about 3 hours).
To make the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized bowl.
Heat the heavy cream in a microwave-safe container for 3-4 minutes on high, or until it begins to summer (do not let it boil over). Pour the heated cream over the chocolate and let stand for 2 minutes.
Using a hand mixer, combine the chocolate and cream until combined and smooth. Allow to cool to room temperature (about 1-2 hours).
To make the cake, begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat two 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray. Sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda into a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
Add in the eggs one at a time.
Follow with vanilla extract. Alternating between the flour mixture and the buttermilk, add both to the butter-sugar-egg mixture, beating until just combined.
Pour into cake pans.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool for 15-30 minutes.
To ice the cake, first make sure your cakes are completely cooled. If they are not, pop them in the fridge for a little while, you don’t want the cake to flake into your icing!. Place the normal chocolate icing on top of one of the cakes.
Place the other cake on top and fill in holes if necessary.
Place the stacked cakes on top of a rack with a large plate or sheet pan underneath to catch the drippings. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the top and sides of the cake to remove excess crumbs. Take the bowl of ganache and beginning at the middle, slowly pour the ganache over the cake. The ganache will run over the sides and to the bottom of the cake, dripping over the rack into the reserved sheet pan.
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| see all the drippings? |
Use a spatula to smooth and remove extra ganache. (It will set pretty quickly so try not to overwork the ganache. Transfer the cake to a serving platter, and add the raspberries to the perimeter of the cake. Allow it to set completely.
This is a truly decadent cake. I still don’t know how worthwhile it is to make the yellow cake from scratch. If this wasn’t a specific request of my sister, I’d just use cake mix from the box. But the ganache was awesome, if I do say so myself. I hope she likes it as well… Maybe this will make up for all the years I was a mean big sister (a good two decades)… hm. Maybe it isn’t that good.
Mmm this cake looks absolutely heavenly! Love your blog and glad to be your newest follower! 🙂
https://www.cookskinny.blogspot.com/
Nice decadent looking cake, thanks for the recipe to try.
Looks gorgeous, I’m sure your sister will love it!