Chocolate Cake Filled with Whipped Ganache and Topped with Salted Caramel 7-Minute Frosting
Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter
3 large eggs
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with parchment paper, grease and dust the sides with cocoa powder. This cake REALLY likes to stick to the pan, and it's really tender. Sometimes if I don't have any parchment paper I butter the hell out of a non-stick pan and then dust it heavily with cocoa powder. I'm just telling you now, a non-stick pan lubed with Pam for bakers is not gonna cut it here, kids. In a small bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. In 2-cup liquid measuring cup, mix buttermilk and vanilla; set aside. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar. By this I mean get it going with your mixer on low, and then beat for 3 more minutes on high. Then reduce your speed back to low so you can add your eggs, 1 at a time, and just like with the cookies, wait for them the mixture to be fluffy again before you add the next egg. This part is a bit tricky so pay attention: Beat in half of the flour mixture. Next add all of the buttermilk mixture just until blended, finally add the rest of the flour mixture, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto racks to cool completely. Carefully remove and discard parchment paper.<--Seriously guys, the parchment paper will set you, and your cake free. Filling
3/4 c heavy whipping cream
1 3/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
Place the cream in a small but heavy sauce pan over medium heat. Bring it to a boil, stirring. Meanwhile, place the chocolate chips in a large staineless steel mixing bowl. Remove the cream from teh heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir with with a wooden spoon until the chocolate has melted. Cover with plastic wrap, touching the top of the ganache, and refigerate for 45 minutes. Whip it until it reaches the consistancy of whipped cream. Put this between the layers of your cake, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edges so it doesn't spill out of the sides when you assemble your cake. Keep your cake in a cake saver in the fridge until you are ready to frost it and have it on display.
Frosting:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 c water
2 egg whites
Place sugar, cream of tartar, salt, water, and egg whites in that stainless steel bowl you used for the ganache. Be VERY sure that it is absolutely free of any remaining fat from the cream and chocolate. Even one drop of fat in in this frosting will prevent it from getting nice and fluffy. Beat with a handheld electric mixer for 1 minute. Place your bowl over a really pan that is small enough to be a platform for the bowl, filled with about an inch of boiling water, being sure that boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy). Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes. Frost your cake right away, because it'll set up pretty quickly and then you can't do anything with it after that. (For this reason, also rinse your bowl and spoons and stuff RIGHT AWAY.) Also, if it's raining...just don't. The humidity will dissolve your icing and you will have bald patches on your cake. Also, once this cake is frosted don't refrigerate it. That will result in bald patches too. This is one of those cakes for a party. You gotta eat it all, that day, because the ganache just won't hold up outside the fridge for more than a night.
Finish with a VERY light sprinkling of finishing salt (like coarse sea salt, kosher salt, Fleur de Sel, or pink Himalayan salt.<--Trader Joe's sells this for $1.99!!) I like to put it just around the edge of the top, but since some of my guests aren't to sure of the sweet/salty thing, I'm going to set out a dish so people can salt their own cake. If you think all of your guests will go for the salt thing, and you really want to decorate your cake with it, I suggest mixing one part salt to 3 parts raw sugar or some other coarse sugar so you get the crunch and sparkle without an overwhelming salt flavor. No, seriously. It's my birthday too!
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter
3 large eggs
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with parchment paper, grease and dust the sides with cocoa powder. This cake REALLY likes to stick to the pan, and it's really tender. Sometimes if I don't have any parchment paper I butter the hell out of a non-stick pan and then dust it heavily with cocoa powder. I'm just telling you now, a non-stick pan lubed with Pam for bakers is not gonna cut it here, kids. In a small bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. In 2-cup liquid measuring cup, mix buttermilk and vanilla; set aside. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar. By this I mean get it going with your mixer on low, and then beat for 3 more minutes on high. Then reduce your speed back to low so you can add your eggs, 1 at a time, and just like with the cookies, wait for them the mixture to be fluffy again before you add the next egg. This part is a bit tricky so pay attention: Beat in half of the flour mixture. Next add all of the buttermilk mixture just until blended, finally add the rest of the flour mixture, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto racks to cool completely. Carefully remove and discard parchment paper.<--Seriously guys, the parchment paper will set you, and your cake free. Filling
3/4 c heavy whipping cream
1 3/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
Place the cream in a small but heavy sauce pan over medium heat. Bring it to a boil, stirring. Meanwhile, place the chocolate chips in a large staineless steel mixing bowl. Remove the cream from teh heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir with with a wooden spoon until the chocolate has melted. Cover with plastic wrap, touching the top of the ganache, and refigerate for 45 minutes. Whip it until it reaches the consistancy of whipped cream. Put this between the layers of your cake, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edges so it doesn't spill out of the sides when you assemble your cake. Keep your cake in a cake saver in the fridge until you are ready to frost it and have it on display.
Frosting:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 c water
2 egg whites
Place sugar, cream of tartar, salt, water, and egg whites in that stainless steel bowl you used for the ganache. Be VERY sure that it is absolutely free of any remaining fat from the cream and chocolate. Even one drop of fat in in this frosting will prevent it from getting nice and fluffy. Beat with a handheld electric mixer for 1 minute. Place your bowl over a really pan that is small enough to be a platform for the bowl, filled with about an inch of boiling water, being sure that boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy). Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes. Frost your cake right away, because it'll set up pretty quickly and then you can't do anything with it after that. (For this reason, also rinse your bowl and spoons and stuff RIGHT AWAY.) Also, if it's raining...just don't. The humidity will dissolve your icing and you will have bald patches on your cake. Also, once this cake is frosted don't refrigerate it. That will result in bald patches too. This is one of those cakes for a party. You gotta eat it all, that day, because the ganache just won't hold up outside the fridge for more than a night.
Finish with a VERY light sprinkling of finishing salt (like coarse sea salt, kosher salt, Fleur de Sel, or pink Himalayan salt.<--Trader Joe's sells this for $1.99!!) I like to put it just around the edge of the top, but since some of my guests aren't to sure of the sweet/salty thing, I'm going to set out a dish so people can salt their own cake. If you think all of your guests will go for the salt thing, and you really want to decorate your cake with it, I suggest mixing one part salt to 3 parts raw sugar or some other coarse sugar so you get the crunch and sparkle without an overwhelming salt flavor. No, seriously. It's my birthday too!
Oh please save me a piece (with salt)! This sounds amazing!
ReplyDelete