Happy 4th Birthday to Me! Luscious Chocolate Raspberry Cake
It's this blog's 4th blogoversary!!!
Celebration time!
And I've made something very special. A luscious chocolate raspberry cake. Two beautiful dense chocolate cakes, put together with a delicious raspberry jam filling and a gorgeous chocolate buttercream frosting (it's the frosting that makes this special!) is what my little blog deserves today. Okay. What I deserve today. I'm actually amazed that I've been baking and blogging through countless books and recipes and haven't gain a ton of weight. I'm praying this will not eventually catch up with me.
I made the Valentine's Day poll winner. I always love baking things for Valentine's Day because it makes me celebrate the day in a far less commercial way. And an excuse for chocolate is always good. I raved about this chocolate frosting on Twitter and Vine: it is the BEST chocolate frosting ever! The secret is cream cheese and sour cream, along with real dark chocolate. In fact, the chocolate frosting is so good, it slightly overpowers the raspberry filling. But that's okay. I have other plans for the raspberry filling soon. Stay tuned! Rating: 5 out of 5.
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake: MarthaStewart.com
Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large egg yolks, plus 1 large egg white, room temperature
- ¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup packed light-brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup best quality raspberry jam
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350. Coat an 8-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. Cut an 8-inch round of parchment paper, and place in bottom of pan. Coat parchment with cooking spray. Dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside.
- Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.
- Put chocolate, ¼ cup milk, the granulated sugar, and 1 egg yolk into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until thickened; set aside.
- Put butter and brown sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until smooth. Mix in remaining yolk. Reduce speed to medium-low. Mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with ¼ cup water, remaining ¼ cup milk, and extracts. Mix in chocolate mixture.
- Beat egg white to soft peaks; fold into batter with a rubber spatula. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack 20 minutes. Run a knife around edges of cake to loosen; turn out onto rack. Remove parchment; let cool completely.
- Using a long, serrated knife, halve cake horizontally. Place bottom half, cut side up, on a cake stand; spread with 1 cup frosting or raspberry filling. Top with remaining half; spread frosting over entire cake.
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting: MarthaStewart.com
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups confectioners' sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- Pinch of salt
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
- ⅔ cup sour cream
Instructions:
- Sift sugar, cocoa powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.
- Put butter and cream cheese into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high until fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add sugar mixture. Mix in chocolate and sour cream. Use immediately!
I baked colorful, heart-shaped Valentine's Day cookies. Click here to read the post!
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