Ganache-glazed Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Buttercream

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope your sweetie showers you with a gift of chocolate, raspberry, and chocolate ganache ... maybe with pink and red and white jimmies on top.  Or make this cake for someone you love - they won't soon forget it - they may even thank you with a great big hug and a kiss!

Chocolate Cake

from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

For the cake:
3/4 Cup Dark Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 1/4 Cups Hot Water
2/3 Cup Sour Cream
2 2/3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
3/4 Cup or 1 1/2 Sticks Unsalted Butter, softened
1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening (or substitute softened butter)
1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Firmly Packed Dark Brown Sugar
3 Large Eggs, room temperature
1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract


1. Preheat the oven to 325F.  Spray three 8- or 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray, line the bottoms with parchment paper and then spray the parchment.  Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl combine the cocoa, hot water and sour cream. Whisk together and set aside to cool.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

4. Add the butter and shortening to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle and beat on medium until light and fluffy - about 5 minutes. Add the sugars and beat for another 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat until combined. Give the sides of the bowl a scrape and give one last mix for 30 seconds.

6. Add the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the cocoa mixture in two additions, starting and ending with the flour.

7. Divide the batter equally among the three pans and smooth the tops. Bake for 35 to 4o minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans on a wire rack for 20 minutes before removing cake from the pans to cool completely.  Wrap the cake layers and freeze for 30 minutes or up to one week.  Allow to thaw slightly before applying icing.

Raspberry Buttercream

adapted from Katherine Seeley/Fine Cooking

Yields 7-1/2 to 8 cups enough to fill and frost a 9-inch four-layer cake or about 5 dozen cupcakes

5 large egg whites
1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. light corn syrup
1 lb., 4 oz. (2-1/2 cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup raspberry puree, strained

Place the egg whites in the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on medium-high speed until foamy. Sprinkle in 6 Tbs. of the sugar and beat on high speed to medium peaks (the whites should be smooth, full, and shiny, and the peaks should curl a little). Turn off the mixer.

Combine the remaining 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. sugar and the corn syrup in a medium (3-quart) saucepan over medium high heat, stirring briefly to dissolve the sugar. Continue to cook just until the mixture comes to a rolling boil.

Immediately remove the syrup from the heat, turn the mixer onto medium-high speed, and slowly pour the syrup down the side of the bowl in a steady stream, being very careful not to let the syrup hit the whisk.

Reduce the speed to medium and continue whisking until the whites are barely warm, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the butter 1 Tbs. at a time. Add the vanilla and continue beating until the frosting is smooth and creamy.  Add raspberry puree and beat until combined.  Add additional pink food coloring if desired.  Use at room temperature.


Chocolate Ganache Glaze
from Allrecipes.com via Sweetapolita.com


9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream


Place the chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl.  Place the heavy cream in a small saucepan and heat until the cream starts to bubble at the perimeter and feels hot to the touch.  Pour the heavy cream over the chopped chocolate and let it sit for one minute.  With a whisk, begin whisking the mixture in the center and continue outward until the mixture is shiny and smooth.  Allow to cool 15 minutes before using.  Pour the ganache on top of the cake about 1/4 or 1/3 at a time and use a large offset spatula to cover the top and as the ganache drips down the sides of the cake, carefully spread it around the sides in a thin layer.  Decorate with jimmies.

Owl Cake and Using Greeting Cards for Design Inspiration

Inspiration for cake decorations can come from many places.  Very often I will use the event's invitation for cake design inspiration.   The invitation sets the tone for the party and the cake should also reflect that theme.

My friend's daughter, Madison, loves owls.   So when I saw a greeting card with owls on it, I thought the owls would make cute decorations for Madison's birthday cake.  I actually cut the owls out of the card and used those as templates to cut out the fondant for the owl and owl bellies.  I used different sized piping tips to cut out the eyes and flower centers.  The flowers were made using a wilton daisy cutter.

Happy Birthday Madison!

{The cake is chocolate with chocolate mousse filling and vanilla buttercream.}

Just How Soft is Softened Butter? (Tip for Making Buttercream Icings)

{I dedicate this post to Ellen and Courtney.}

I mentioned in my last post that someday I'd like to do a comprehensive side-by-side comparison of all things buttercream.  Realizing that I may not get to it right away, I wanted to give you one all-important tip to consider when making buttercream icings.

It all has to do with the temperature of the butter.

Recipes for buttercream usually call for "softened" butter, or "butter at room temperature".  More recently, I've noticed that recipes are getting more specific and list "butter, at cool room temperature" or "butter, softened but still cool".  Confused yet?

It's simple really.  When using butter for cooked buttercream icings (meringue icings, French buttercreams, or boiled icings), the butter cannot be too warm, or the frosting will not set up properly and will probably stay a liquidy mess, not worthy of any cupcake.  (There are ways to try to remedy this if this should happen .)

For this reason, you should never, ever, microwave your butter to soften it - no matter how quickly you need the softened butter.  The microwave heats the butter unevenly and you'll have some cool spots, and other areas that are melted.  Your buttercream will reject you if you do this.

But if you only have cold butter on hand, you don't need to think ahead an hour before starting your buttercream either. When I start to make a buttercream icing, I pull my butter out of the refrigerator, unwrap it and slice each stick of butter into 6-10 pieces (or more - smaller pieces soften faster than large pieces),  making sure that the pieces of butter are mostly sitting by themselves and not touching each other too much.  (As I slice, I alternate pushing the slices to the left and right so that no slices are touching.  This increases the area of each piece that is exposed to the air, allowing them to soften faster.) By the time I have cooked the egg whites or sugar on the stove, and then whipped them until cool (about 20 minutes total), the butter is usually ready to go.

If you're looking to release some pent-up energy, you could pound on the stick of butter with a rolling pin until it is thin and let it stand for 20 minutes.  But be prepared to explain what that pounding is to the rest of the household.  I like to slice it, because you'll be adding the butter to the mixer in pieces anyway.

So how can you tell if the butter is ready?  Take a piece of butter between your thumb and finger and squeeze it a little.  You should be able to make an impression in the butter with your fingers, but it should still provide some resistance.  The butter should feel more waxy than greasy.  If the butter is still too cool (too hard to press into), wait a while longer.  Sometimes I'll flatten each piece with my hand before it goes into the mixer.  If it gives way without any resistance, the butter is too soft.  Get it back into the refrigerator for a few minutes until it passes the test.

Buttermilk Cake with Caramel French Buttercream

Christmas has come and gone and here we are at the last day of the year!  December brought a bad case of the too-busy-to-blogitis, combined with an extended case of writer's block, days too dark to photograph anything well, two kids with pneumonia, and then a terrible cold the week before Christmas - the week which I had set aside to get everything done.  So I went to the stores and shopped for hours when I should've been home in bed.  I even managed to get some Sticky Buns made - for that is a Christmas morning tradition that cannot be skipped!

Christmas Eve, I was so exhausted, I fell asleep during the first 2 minutes of our family viewing of A Christmas Story, and completely forgot about the annual reading of The Night Before Christmas before bed.  I didn't wake up until 5 am - just in time to see Santa scurrying around, trying to get the gifts under the tree before the kids woke up.  Santa's helper told me that he fell down the steps while trying to navigate the house in the dark and he may have hurt his back.

After all that, I get to hear after Christmas that so-and-so got this expensive gift for Christmas and so-and-so got this expensive gift AND that expensive gift for Christmas.  It's very hard to keep up with Joneses in our neighborhood (I don't even try).  *sigh*

I've decided that next year we're going to Key West for Christmas.  We'll leave all the Christmas hustle and bustle behind (we'll bring the sticky buns with us if necessary!)

December also brought a lot of baking, mostly Christmas cookies such as these.  But this cake is what's been on my mind to tell you about.  The combination was suggested by a friend who asked me to make this cake for her daughter's birthday. It was a fantastic combination! The basic vanilla buttermilk cake is a cake I've made umpteen times before.  This time, I made one recipe and divided the batter among six 6" cake pans to bake.  The bonus is that I could make one cake for my friend, and we could keep the other as a special treat.  Six-inch cakes are adorable and can serve a surprising number of people (you can easily get 10 more-than-big-enough slices.)

The frosting is a new addition to my repetoire and a welcome one.  This French Buttercream differs from Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Italian Meringue Buttercream in that it uses whole eggs and not just egg whites (no leftover egg yolks!).   The caramel is brought to soft ball stage on the stovetop and poured over the whipped eggs, then the butter is added once the mixture has cooled.  It's silky and smooth and rich, but not too dense or sweet.  It was delicious!

Maybe one of these days, I'll post a comprehensive study on the differences in buttercreams (I didn't even mention American Buttercream which has no eggs at all).   A side-by-side comparison would be fun.  Anyone want to toss those dieting New Year's Resolutions out the window and volunteer to be a tester?

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake

from Sky High, Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

makes one 8-inch triple later cake or two 6-inch triple layer cakes, or about 36 cupcakes

4 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

3 cups cake flour

2 cups sugar

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans or six 6-inch cake pans with vegetable oil spray such as Pam.  Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and spray the paper.

Put the eggs and yolks in a medium mixing bowl, add the vanilla and 1/4 cup of the buttermilk. Whisk to blend well.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl; whisk to blend. Add the butter and the remaining 1 cup buttermilk to these dry ingredients and with the mixer on low, blend together. Raise the mixer speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing only until thoroughly incorporated. Divide the batter among the prepared pans.

Bake the cake layers for 28-32 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the layers cool in the pans for 10 minutes; then carefully turn out onto wire racks, peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely.

Caramel Buttercream

Adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

Makes enough to fill and frost one 8 or 9-inch cake or two 6-inch cakes

1 1/4 cups (300 g) firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1 pound (4 sticks/454 g) unsalted butter, slightly softened

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In medium saucepan, combine the sugar, heavy cream, corn syrup, and salt. Place the pan over medium-high heat and cook, stirring constantly, just until the sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring, and increase the heat to high.

Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, begin beating the eggs at medium speed while the syrup cooks to the correct temperature. When the sugar syrup reaches 225°F on a candy thermometer, increase the speed of the mixer to high. Continue to cook the sugar syrup until it reaches 238°F on a candy thermometer. Remove the pan from the heat and with the mixer off, immediately pour about 1/4 cup of the hot syrup over the beaten eggs. Beat at high speed until blended, about 10 seconds. Turn the mixer off and add another 1/4 cup syrup. Beat at high speed for another 10 seconds. Repeat this process until all of the syrup is used. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the side of the bowl and continue to beat at medium-high speed until the egg mixture is completely cool, about 5 minutes.

At medium speed, beat the softened butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, into the egg mixture. Add the vanilla extract, increase the speed to medium-high, and beat the buttercream until it is smooth and shiny, about 4 minutes. (The buttercream must be used at room temperature.)

Fondant-Covered Purse Cake

Yup, I made this cake! It's my first attempt at a fondant-covered cake since I took the basic fondant course at Jo-Ann's two years ago. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty proud of it! Inside is four layers of chocolate cake filled with raspberry buttercream and frosted with vanilla buttercream under white rolled fondant.

I can't take all the credit. Melissa at My Cake School designed this cake and taught me how to make it. Melissa and her mother, BeBe, have been decorating cakes for years, and now they are teaching others their skills through a series of video tutorials - clear precise videos with lots of helpful tips.

In order to access the videos, you need to become a member. Membership is $30 a year - probably less than one course at JoAnn's - and besides learning a ton about all kinds of cake decorating, you can ask Melissa any of your cake decorating questions and get a prompt response, and read about what other members are doing. Well worth $30 in my opinion!

To see the collection of video tutorials from My Cake School, check it out here.

Happy Baking!

Cauliflower Soup

Recently, I found myself with a refrigerator full of cauliflower. You may be wondering how, exactly, one finds themselves with a boatload of cauliflower. Well, I belong to a CSA and this year, I volunteered to be one of their drop-off sites where people from my area come once a week to pick up their box of local organic vegetables.

Once in a while, a CSA member will not pick up their box of veggies and I am left to give it away or use it. You may think this is a great deal for me - it is, except when you find that you have more cauliflower (and apples and acorn squash) than your family can eat (just one head of cauliflower is probably more than my family wants to eat)!

I hate to waste anything and start trying to find ways that I can cook with it and/or freeze it so I can enjoy the produce right through the long months of winter. Making soup is the perfect solution and, although I'm not a huge fan of cauliflower, I absolutely loved this soup and I've made two double batches of it so far!

I've eaten this soup for dinner, I've eaten it for lunch, and I've even eaten it for breakfast! Soup is a surprisingly satisfying mid-morning breakfast served with a piece of buttered multi-grain toast. Hey - don't knock it 'til you try it!

And don't be surprised if you see a few more soup recipes here in the future. I've got some good ones to share with you.

Anyone have a good recipe for acorn squash??

Cauliflower Soup

from Ree Drummond at Pioneer Woman Cooks

1 stick Butter, Divided
1/2 whole Onion, Finely Diced
1 whole Carrot Finely Diced
1 stalk Celery, Finely Diced
1 whole (to 2 Whole) Cauliflower Heads (roughly Chopped)
2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley (chopped)
2 quarts Low-sodium Chicken Broth Or Stock
6 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red cayenne pepper, to taste
2 cups Whole Milk
1 cup Half-and-half
2 teaspoons To 4 Teaspoons Salt, To Taste
1 cup (heaping) Sour Cream, Room Temperature (optional, I omitted)

Shredded cheese for garnish (also optional)

In a large soup pot or dutch oven, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes, or until it starts to turn brown.

Add the carrots and celery and cook an additional couple of minutes. Add cauliflower and parsley and stir to combine.

Cover and cook over very low heat for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, pour in chicken stock or broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer.

In a medium saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Whisk in the flour and cook about one minute. Add the milk and half and half and whisk to combine. Add mixture to the simmering soup and allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Check seasoning and add more salt or pepper if necessary. Blend with a stick blender to desired consistency.

Optional additions: Just before serving, place the sour cream in a serving bowl or soup tureen. Add two to three ladles of hot soup into the tureen and stir to combine with the sour cream. Pour in remaining soup and stir.

Or sprinkle some grated cheese or croutons on top.

Serve immediately, for breakfast even!

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

If you're looking for a quick, easy and delicious cake to have for breakfast or tea, look no further. This is a delicious cake that from start to finish took less than an hour, and only requires about 15 minutes of active time.

It's seriously one of the easiest things I've ever made. And this little cake is so versatile. Substitute any berry or fruit you desire, or add a little lemon zest if you want. Dust with powdered sugar, or leave it plain. Any way you make it, you'll love this cake!

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

from Melissa Robert's recipe in Gourmet | June 2009

Serves 8-10

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5 ounces)

1 1/2 tablespoons coarse sugar such as turbinado or raw sugar

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in vanilla. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.

Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with 1 1/2 tablespoons coarse sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.