These are my awesome friends, Kaytie and Arni. Kaytie and Arni got married in Iceland (Arni's home country) a few weeks ago. Aren't they gorgeous?? Seriously, i think they moonlight as models!
While the wedding and reception were in Iceland, obviously not everyone could make the trip with them- so they held another reception last night, complete with the wedding dress and suit..like I said, absolutely gorgeous!
The food was great, pulled pork and ribs provided by Kaytie's dad..The man knows how to cook! Instead of having another wedding cake, a bunch of friends and family pitched in and provided a dessert buffet. This is where my cakes come in! I love to bake, I love my friends, I love to bake for my friends..so it was a no-brainer! I'd made an awesome (if i do say so myself) chocolate cake for Kaytie's birthday a while ago, so I offered to make it again (with some improvements and additions) along with another cake as well.
I made a Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling, Chocolate Ganache and Chocolate Buttercream topped with White Chocolate shavings, as well as a White Cake with Chocolate Ganache Filling and Tiramisu Buttercream. I'll post one recipe today, and be back later with the other recipe as well as directions for assembling the cakes.
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| My contributions to the dessert buffet |
Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling, Chocolate Ganache and Chocolate Buttercream
Cake and Raspberry filling
Adapted from Love and Olive Oil :
I made three (3) 8-inch layers, which provided about 18 servings.
3 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk (or mix 1 1/2 cups milk with 1 tablespoon vinegar and let curdle)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 300 degrees, and prepare your pans. I use Bakers Joy spray, and line the bottom of my pans with circles of parchment paper to ease in removing the cakes from the pans.
Pour the hot coffee over the chopped chocolate, and stir until chocolate is melted. I love this part, and I don't drink coffee!
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl, and stir with wire whisk to assure they're combined.
In a second large bowl, beat eggs with mixer until they're thickened a bit, and have a nice light yellow color. Add the buttermilk, chocolate-coffee mixture, oil and vanilla slowly and beat until combined. Slowly add dry ingredients while beating on medium speed. Continue to beat until combined.
Divide the batter between your prepared pans- if using 8 inch pans, they'll be about half full.
Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven, and place pans on cooling rack. Once cool, turn cakes out of pans onto cooling racks, remove parchment paper and cool completely. Attempting to turn them out too soon results in a broken layer..Another lesson learned the hard way!!
Raspberry filling:
10 oz raspberries, fresh or frozen
1/4 c. sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
Rinse or defrost raspberries, and combine in blender with sugar and cornstarch. Blend until smooth. If seedless filling is desired, press through mesh strainer to remove seeds. I leave the seeds in my filling.
I made a boo-boo and forgot to heat my filling, so it wasn't thick..but it still tasted great and worked well in the cake. If you're good at reading directions, like I very obviously am not, then go ahead and heat your filling over medium heat until it boils. Stir constantly. This, you direction followers, thickens the filling!!
Chocolate Ganache
From Savory Sweet Life
12 oz semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Heat cream over medium high heat until it begins to boil. Immediately pour over chocolate chips in a medium sized bowl. Let sit for a minute or two, then stir until smooth. For a spreadable consistency, refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes, removing from fridge occasionally to stir and check consistency.
Chocolate Buttercream
Adapted from Savory Sweet Life
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp vanilla
4 tbsp heavy cream
1/8 cup cocoa powder
Beat butter with mixer until creamy. Add powdered sugar, a little at a time (again to avoid the massive white sugar cloud in the kitchen..no contact highs for my little guy..Sorry Ben!) until combined. Add vanilla, cream, cocoa powder and salt, and beat on medium speed until frosting is nice and fluffy. If you want a thicker consistency, add more powdered sugar. If you prefer thinner frosting, add more cream.
Enjoy, and let me know what you think!!
Beth
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