After six weeks of world-trotting, I was suffering from severe separation anxiety. This beauty was the result of baking!
I base my creations on a particular recipe or star ingredient. In this case, I had both a chocolate cake that I wanted to recreate and a stock of Fresh As NZ freeze-dried raspberries. Jernej Kitchen and Don’tDTell Charles were my two favorite creatives, and they inspired me to create a mash-up of their recipes. This pairing was a great play between light and dark, which suited me perfectly after my recent travels!
This will be repeated again and again. Dark chocolate combined with meringue and tart raspberries will tickle your tastebuds. If you want to make something both naughty AND nice, give it a try!
I CONFESS
It takes a bit of preparation to make this Jernej kitchen recipe. It is easy to make the chocolate cake. The chocolate cream cheese frosting requires extra preparation time because it must be chilled prior to use.
Don’t Tell ChDon’t has launched a series of online workshops that include step-by-step guides on how to make their buttercream. Check it out. It’s not mine, but I can guarantee that it is super easy and reduces egg yolk waste. Find out what it was like to attend one of Thao’s workshThao’sSwiss Meringue Buttercream makes a wonderful alternative to the recipe below. You should be creative. You can find my recipe for using Fresh As freeze-dried powder in your icing by visiting my post, Taste of the Tropics.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- Two eggs at room temperature
- 250 g Sugar
- 70 g of unsalted butter at room temperature
- All-purpose flour 175 g
- 60 g cacao powder unsweetened
- 10 g of baking powder
- 1 tsp of baking soda
- 150 g full-fat milk
- 100 g yoghurt made from whole milk
Chocolate and Cream cheese Frosting
- 500 g heavy cream
- 400 g dark chocolate (70 cacao)
- 180 g Cream Cheese, room temperature
- 1 Tbsp icing sugar
- Cognac (optional: 1 tbsp)
Chocolate Ganache Drip
- 100ml heavy cream
- 200g dark chocolate
Method
Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- Pour the heavy cream into a pot and bring it to a simmer. Pour the cream over the chocolate, and then remove it from the heat. Stir well to ensure that the chocolate is melted. Add a pinch of salt. Blend the mixture using an immersion blender and let it cool. Cover the cream and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours or overnight. This cream can be prepared up to 3 days in advance.
- Make the cake by preheating your oven to 180 degrees C / 355 degrees F. Whisk the sugar and eggs in a stand mixer bowl with the paddle attachment on high speed for 5 minutes or until pale and fluffy.
- METHOD: Melt butter. Combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Mix the yogurt and milk in a small bowl.
- Add the ingredients alternately by adding both wet and dried ingredients. Add one-quarter of the dry ingredients at low speed until combined. Then add one-quarter of the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Finally, add a little melted butter. Repeat this process until you have incorporated all the ingredients.
- Bake the cake. Line a 16cm ( 6 inch) pan with baking parchment and pour in the batter. Divide the batter evenly between two pans of 6 inches. Bake for 45-60 mins. After removing the cake from the oven, allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Then remove from pan and place on wire rack.
- Make the Chocolate and Cream Cheese Cream In a large bowl, using a stand mixer, combine the chocolate cream, cream cheese, icing, sugar, and optional cognac. Tip: I like to pulse the cream through the mixture just until it is combined.
- Assemble and serve the cake if it is rounded at the top. Use a sharp knife to even out its surface. Use a serrated knife to cut one cake into three layers. If you’re like me and you bake the cake in two pans, half of each cake should be baked in four equal layers. Place the first cake layer on a plate. Repeat. Spread the frosting chocolate-cream cheese over top of it, and then place another cake layer on top. If you’re using Raspbyou’reuttercream, like I did with my cake, alternate between chocolate and raspberry frosting. Decorate the remaining chocolate cake with either the Raspberry or Chocolate cream. Place the cake in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Make Chocolate Ganache Drip Chop the dark chocolate and place it in a bowl. Bring the heavy cream up to a simmer in a pot. Pour the cream over the chocolate. After 30 seconds, stir with a metal spatula until smooth. Let cool. The ganache must be slightly warmer than the room temperature but not too hot to melt your buttercream.
- ACHIEVING DRIP Once the ganache has reached your desired consistency, pour it into a teaspoon or a squirt bottle. You can adjust the consistency depending on what type of chocolate and cream you are using. If you find that your ganache becomes too thick as you work, put it in a hot bowl of water until it melts.