No Oridinary Chocolate Cake

This past weekend we had afternoon tea for our lovely friend Nick's belated birthday. Being a fellow sweet-tooth we decided to design a cake to suit not only his favourite flavours but one that is rich, decadent and just plain delicious! This creation is all Nat's, I just helped create it. 

 















This cake is very deceptive, from the naked eye (when it's whole) it looks like a good ol' chocolate cake with yummy frosting but when you cut into it there are surprise layers. These consist of chocolate fudge cake hollowed out and filled with peanut butter cheese cake, topped with salted caramel sauce and iced with chocolate frosting. 
Yes, I know what you're thinking, a heart attack on a plate and you may be right, but let me tell you this cake is amazing and I am still dreaming of it now! The really cool thing is that it can be adapted to whatever flavours you like.
This particular cake is going to be dubbed 'The Giant Peanut Butter Cup' and is now in the top 5 of my favourite sweet things, perhaps even my number 1 choice at the moment!!

Carrot Cake

For years I have been making this cake, adapting it for been birthday cakes, cupcakes and even baby wedding cakes! It's such an easy recipe and was given to me from a great friend of mine Lucy, so thanks Lucy- best carrot cake recipe ever!
I made it for a friends birthday recently and then, getting massive food envy wanted to make one for us to eat. Luckily we were going to a friends place for dinner the other weekend and I thought what a perfect opportunity to make the carrot cake and get to eat it too!!

You will need:
1 cup plain flour, sifted
1 cup self raising flour, sifted
2 tsp baking soda, sifted
2 tsp cinnamon, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup raw sugar
3 cups grated carrot
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup oil
optional: chopped pecans or walnuts

Icing: 
125g philly cream cheese
3 cups icing sugar
50g butter, room temperature

How to create:
- Oven to 180, lightly grease 22cm cake tin
- Combine all sifted ingredients
- Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well to combine
- Pour into cake tin and bake for an hour or until skewer comes out clean

Icing:
- add all icing ingredients and combine well, this can be done in a mix master or with hand beaters 


Optional: To turn this into cup cakes, make the cake batter the same way, put into patty pans in a muffin tray and bake for about 20-30 mins or until skewer comes out clean.


To assemble:
- Cut the cake in half (horizontally) and ice the center layer, place the top section of the cake back on and ice with remaining icing, you can also ice the sides if you want too. 
- To decorate either sprinkle over some nuts or make some toffee (1/4 cup water, 1 cup sugar in a saucepan, swirl gently until it is an amber colour) sprinkle in some grated carrot, pour onto a tray lined with baking paper and let it set, crack the toffee shard and arrange on the cake.
- The toffee will melt if it is kept moist but this adds a nice caramel sauce over the cake.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Fudge Cake

For my gorgeous girls birthday I let her pick a cake for me to create and of course it had chocolate and caramel in it! It was a day of baking 3 mini cake layers (separately), making the richest caramel butter cream (which is amazing) and the chocolatiest fudge frosting I have ever tasted! Needless to say the cake was delicious and I am so thankful I only made a baby cake as it was super rich and decadent.

        

 *Adapted from  Sweetapolita

3-layer cake

Chocolate Fudge Cake (I used Donna Hays Chocolate Cake)

Ingredients

200g butter, chopped

200g dark chocolate, chopped

30ml water

3 eggs

220g caster sugar

¾ cup self-raising flour, sifted

¼ cup cocoa, sifted

Method

- Oven to 160°

- Place butter, chocolate, vanilla and water in saucepan over a low heat and stir until melted and smooth

- Allow to cool

- Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 6 mins or until pale and thick

- Add the chocolate mixture and beat until combined

- Fold through flour and cocoa, don’t over stir though

- Split the mixture into 3 bowls, pour the first one into a lightly greased 22cm spring form tin and bake for about 45-60 mins (keep checking)

- Repeat this with the other 2 batches of the cake so that you have 3 even cooked layers

- Set aside to cool

Salted Caramel Swiss Buttercream (for the filling)

Ingredients

200g sugar

60 ml water

60ml heavy cream

generous pinch of sea salt 1 1/2 cups (340 g/12 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 large egg whites (120 g)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method

- Place 130 grams of the sugar and the water in a medium saucepan to a boil over medium heat. 

- Brush down the sides of the pot with a dampened pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming. Stop stirring and cook until caramel is dark amber, gently swirling from time to time. 

- Remove from heat, and slowly add cream, whisking by hand until smooth. It will be splatter, so be careful. Whisk in sea salt and vanilla. Let cool.

- Place butter in an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment and beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.

- Wipe the bowl of an electric mixer clean with lemon juice, and place egg whites and remaining sugar into bowl over a pot of simmering water (not boiling–you don’t want to cook the eggs). Whisk occasionally and gently until sugar dissolves and mixture registers 160° on a candy thermometer.

- Remove the bowl from heat, and place back onto the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium speed for 5 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form (about 5-6 minutes). Once the bottom of the bowl is neutral and no longer warm to the touch, reduce speed to medium-low, and add beaten butter, one cup at a time, whisking well after each addition.

- Switch to paddle attachment. With mixer on low speed, add cooled caramel and beat until smooth (about 3-5 minutes).

Dark Chocolate Fudge Frosting

(This makes a fair bit)

Ingredients

45g cocoa powder

90ml boiling water

340g unsalted butter, room temperature

63g icing sugar

pinch of salt

454 good-quality dark chocolate, melted and cooled

Method

- Combine cocoa powder and the boiling water in a small bowl or glass measuring cup, and stir until it cocoa has dissolved.

- In an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment, beat the butter, the icing sugar, and salt on medium-high speed until it is pale and fluffy–about 5 minutes.

- Reduce mixer speed to low, and add melted chocolate (cooled), beating until combined and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

- Beat in the cocoa mixture until well incorporated.

Notes:

Frosting can be refrigerated for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 1 month in an airtight container.

Assembly of the Sweet & Salty Cake

- Trim any doming from the tops of your cake layers with a sharp, serrated knife and place first layer, face up, on your cake board, pedestal, or plate.

- Using a small offset palette knife, spread approximately 3/4 cup of the caramel buttercream evenly on the top.

- Repeat this 1-2 until you come to the final layer, which you will place face down on the top of the cake.

- Place cake on a turntable (if possible), and using a small offset palette knife for the top of the cake, and medium straight palette knife for the sides, cover the cake in a thin layer of chocolate frosting (or chocolate butter cream, if using) to mask (seal in crumbs).                

- Refrigerate for 30 minutes (or more). *This does not need to be perfect, as that will come with the top “coat” of butter cream.

- Once the icing has cooled, ice again over the top, using a palette knife and a glass of warm water to get a smooth clean finish.

- You can keep it in the fridge but keep it out for 2 hours before serving so the butter cream has softened.

- Sprinkle with salt

- Use a sharp heated knife to cut the cake, cleaning it every cut to get a nice clean finish

Double Chocolate, Double Raspberry Layer Cake

This creation was inspired by Donna Hay and designed by my girlfriend Nat and I for our good friend and birthday girl Mishy Lane
With the raspberry and chocolate being the chosen flavours we spent quite a while designing this cake and I must say, I'm quite proud of our creation.


Happy Birthday Mishy!! Hope you enjoyed it!

Chocolate Cake


37g dutch cocoa, sifted
90ml hot water
90g sour cream
175g butter, softened
247g castor sugar (just over 1 cup)
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
225g plain flour, sifted (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 tsp bi-carb soda


Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Place cocoa and hot water into a bowl and whisk until smooth, then add the sour cream and combine well.
Place butter, sugar and vanilla extract in an electric mixer and beat until smooth and creamy.
Gradually add eggs and beat well.
Set the mixer at a low speed and add cocoa mixture, flour and bi-carb, beat until well combined.
Place mixture into a lightly greased 20cm round cake tin (line base with baking paper).
Bake for 50-60 mins or until tested with a skewer.
Cool for 10 mins in tin, then remove and cool on a wire rack.
Cool completely before icing.


Philly Cream Cheese/ Chocolate Icing
50g butter, softened
250g philly cream cheese (original)
160g icing sugar, sifted
handful of white chocolate, melted


Combine butter and cream cheese and combine well.
Add icing sugar and combine until smooth and slightly fluffy.
Stir through the melted white chocolate.


Chocolate Glaze (Donna Hay)
150g dark chocolate
1/2 cup cream (single not dollop)


Stir in saucepan until smooth.
Allow to cool for 10 mins before pouring over a well chilled cake
Raspberry Coulis
2 cups raspberries (frozen or fresh)
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp caster sugar


Place all ingredients into a small saucepan, cook on a low heat until raspberries break down and sugar dissolves.
Blitz using a hand blender then strain out seeds


Sugar Coated Raspberries
Fresh raspberries
egg white
caster sugar


Lightly brush the raspberries with egg white.
Roll in sugar then use for decorating.


To assemble the cake.
You will need to cut the tops of the cake so that each layer is completely level.
Cut the cake into layers, use a ruler and measure to get the layers even.
Once you have the desired amount of layers you want (this cake recipe will give you 2, so you will need to make 2 cakes or double the recipe).
For each level except the top, brush the cake lightly with a pastry brush to remove crumbs, then spread a layer of coulis on base.
Add the cream cheese icing, leave about 1/2 - 1cm around the edge as it will squeeze out with the other layers on top.
Dollop on a bit of the coulis over the icing and using a skewer swirl it through the icing.
Place a few raspberries around the cake then repeat for each desired layer.
Now refrigerate the cake for at least 1/2 hour.
Once it is chilled, pour over the ganache and let it run slightly down the sides of the cake.
Refrigerate for a bit to let the ganache set.
Place the sugared raspberries on the top.


Now enjoy it!


It's truly delicious.