3-layer Dark Chocolate Champagne Frosted Anniversary Cake
3-layer Dark Chocolate Champagne Frosted Anniversary Cake
I’m going to keep this one simple. First of all, if you didn’t catch us during our Facebook Live event, where we celebrated our One Year Anniversary, go watch it here. It was tons of fun, we answered lots of questions, and you’ll get to see where the podcast magic happens!
When you watch, you’ll catch a glimpse of the special anniversary cake that I baked for us. It’s three layers of dark chocolate richness, with a champagne cream cheese frosting, topped with golden prosecco cordials. It was absolutely delicious.
It was also ugly as sin. Y’all. When your frosting skills need practice anyway, Do. Not. Frost. Your. Cake. While. Drunk.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
Three Layer Dark Chocolate Cake with Champagne Cream Cheese Frosting
Shout-out to the Displaced Housewife for the inspiration.
CAKE INGREDIENTS
6 oz of good dark chocolate, chopped (I used a mix of 70%-90% Lindt chocolate bars that I had in my cabinet)
1 Cup neutral-flavored oil (I used sunflower oil; corn oil can also work)
1 ½ Cups granulated sugar
⅓ Cup light brown sugar
1 Cup Greek yogurt, room temperature
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
¾ Cup shaken buttermilk, room temperature
2 Cups all-purpose flour
¼ Cup corn syrup
¾ Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tablespoon espresso powder
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ Teaspoons sea salt
1 Teaspoon baking soda
CAKE INSTRUCTIONS
Make sure that when it says to mix the ingredients on low, you do so. Otherwise, you’ll whip too much air into your cake, and it will fall when it bakes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place a rack in the middle of the oven. Spray with baking spray (or butter and flour) three, 8-inch cake pans.
Place your chopped chocolate + oil in a medium, microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 20 second increments. Don’t exceed one minute. Stir until all lumps are gone and the chocolate is completely melted. If your microwave runs hot, cut back on the time so as not to burn your chocolate. Set aside, stirring periodically, and let cool completely.
Sift and whisk together the all-purpose flour, corn starch, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, sea salt and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.
In an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or you can also use a regular bowl and spatula) add the melted chocolate, granulated sugar and brown sugar and blend on low until blended together. Then add the Greek yogurt, eggs and vanilla. Blend on low until mixed. Lastly, with the mixer on low add in your buttermilk. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is well blended together. Take the bowl off the stand mixer.
Throw your flour mixture into the chocolate-sugar mixture and stir until just blended, in as few strokes as possible. The cake batter will appear lumpy, like muffin batter.
Put about 2 cups of batter into each cake tin. Smooth the tops a bit so they’re level and tap the tins on the counter to release any trapped air bubbles.
Put the tins on a baking sheet and place on the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 20-24 minutes. When done, insert a toothpick into the center of the cakes. If it comes out clean, they are done. If it comes out a little gooey, put them back in for a couple more minutes.
As soon as they’re out of the oven, set the cake pans directly on a cooling rack and let them start to cool down.
After 30 minutes, run a knife along the edge of the cakes. Then, flip them over, with one hand on the cake and gently tap the bottom of the cake round to help release the cake from the pan. If it’s not easily coming out, flip it back over and let it continue cooling. I wrapped my cakes in double layers of saran wrap, and saved the frosting part for the next night. You could too, or continue on to frosting. The important part to remember is, the cakes must be completely cool before frosting.
CHAMPAGNE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING INGREDIENTS
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 Tablespoon vegetable shortening
4 Tablespoons champagne
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon prosecco extract (available on Amazon)
5 Cups powdered sugar, sifted
CHAMPAGNE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING INSTRUCTIONS
Add the cream cheese, butter, and shortening to your mixer and blend on medium until they are totally blended together.
Add in 3 cups of powdered sugar and blend on low until combined. Add the final two cups of powdered sugar.
With the mixer on low, drizzle in the champagne, vanilla extract, and prosecco extract, and mix until everything is smooth, lump free and well combined.
Set aside until your cakes are cool and ready to frost. (At this point, you could put the frosting in an airtight container and store in the fridge until ready to use.)
TO FROST
I’m obviously no frosting expert yet, but follow these tips and see if you can do better:
To frost, set the first layer flat side down. Scoop about one cup of frosting on the top and smooth over. Get down to eye level and make sure it’s level. It doesn’t need to look perfect, just level.
Set the second layer, flat side down, on top of the frosting. Scoop one cup of frosting on top and smooth until it’s covered and even.
Set the third layer on top, flat side down, making sure all of the sides are even and your cake isn’t leaning. Gently adjust if necessary. Put at least 1 cup of frosting on top and smooth until level.
For the sides of the cake, I like to start by filling the area between the layers with big spoonfuls of frosting. Once those cracks are filled, start patching globs of frosting around the cake.
Decorate as you will. I found awesome Prosecco cordial thingys at World Market, and they made adorable and classy cake decorations.