Today is Mart's Birthday so I today my goal was to make him a delicious birthday cake! A few days ago Adrienne had made a hot chocolate layer cake with home made marshmallows that they found in a magazine. Not only was it pretty, it was really a good chocolate cake. When I got to school that day, Rex suggested that I make that cake for him.
I was crazy nervous to spend the entire day baking, so I told Adrienne that I was going to just have her hold my hand the entire day. She helped me all day long and didn't complain out loud once. I was so grateful for her help and because of her help, the cake turned out so good. I couldn't have made it any better.
Hot Chocolate Layer Cake with Homemade Marshmallows
For the cake:
6 oz (3/4 cup) unsalted butter; more for the pans
13 ½ oz (3 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more for the pans
¾ cup canola oil
4 ½ oz bittersweet chocolate; finely chopped (I used chocolate chips)
3 cups white sugar
2 ¼ oz (3/4 cup) natural unsweetened cocoa powder (If you use Dutch cocoa powder, don’t use any baking soda. Use baking powder instead and double what it should have been for the soda. i.e. 1 tsp baking soda = 2 tsp baking powder instead)
3 large eggs, at room temperature
¾ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
2 Tbs. vanilla extract
2 ½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp. kosher salt
For the frosting:
2 ½ cups heavy cream
3 oz (6 Tbs) unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla extract (originally called for 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out)
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used chocolate chips)
2 cups white sugar
6 oz cocoa powder
½ cup corn syrup
¼ tsp kosher salt
Position racks in the bottom and top thirds of the oven and heat the oven to 350 F.
Butter three 9x2” round cake pans (springform works best) and line each with a parchment round. Butter the parchment, then dust with flour and knock out the excess.
In a 3 quart saucepan, combine the butter, oil, chopped chocolate and 1 cup water. Heat over medium heat until melted.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar and cocoa powder. Pour the hot chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture and whisk until combined.
Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, then whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla, baking soda(powder), and salt. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans.
Set two pans on the top rack and the third on the lower rack. Stagger the pans on the oven racks so that no pan is directly over another. Bake, swapping and rotating the pans’ positions after 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Cook on racks for 10 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the racks, remove the parchment paper and cool completely.
Make the Frosting:
In a 4 quart saucepan over low heat, combine the cream, butter and vanilla and stir until the butter is melted. Whisk in the chopped chocolate until melted (completely melted! Don’t leave any little tiny chunks). Whisk in the sugar, cocoa powder, syrup, and salt until smooth. Be sure the cocoa powder dissolves completely. Pour into a 9x13 pan and freeze until firm (about 2 hours) or refrigerate overnight.
Remove the frosting from the fridge or freezer. Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium for 2 minutes to soften. Change to a whisk attachment and beat at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Make the marshmallows. (Adrienne made some for her cake so I just used her leftovers). I'm sure you could use store bought as well, but it won't be quite as cool.
Assemble cake.
Here is my cake all frosted after Rex and Adrienne showed me different ways to pipe the edges. I'm very proud of how the piping turned out.
Here is my finished cake with the homemade marshmallows piled on top and dusted with some dutch cocoa powder!
It took me all day long, but I was so proud of my cake and really excited for Mart to see it and taste it. He loved it and it was by far the best birthday cake I have ever made.
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