This three-layer chocolate cake is so moist and delicious with a smooth and creamy chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. It’s perfect for a birthday party with anyone who loves a good and classic chocolate cake.
Activating the cocoa powder:
To make this, recipe, you need to add boiling water to chocolate and cocoa powder. You might be wondering why I do this, but I’ve noticed that when adding boiling water to chocolate, its flavor comes out, even more, causing the cake to be even richer and more chocolatey.
Why use oil:
You might have noticed why I’m using oil instead of butter in this recipe. This ingredient changes the entire method of making the cake. If we were using butter, we would, beat the butter and sugar, add the eggs then add the dry ingredients and milk alternating. But instead, we add all the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients at the same time. This method is a lot simpler and saves you a lot of time that you can use while decorating. Oil also tends to make cakes a lot lighter and moist. Butter tends to make cakes heavier perfect for pound cakes or other types of dense cakes. When making a chocolate cake, I love using either vegetable or Canola oil.
Buttermilk:
A good way to make a cake more tender is to use buttermilk. I know, buttermilk sounds weird but it actually tenderizes the gluten in the flour helping the cake be soft and tender. If you don’t have buttermilk at home, you can make it by adding 1-2 tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar to milk. It truly makes a great difference.
Decorating/Crumb Coat:
In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, a crumb coat is a small layer of frosting people would put on the top and outside of their cake before completely frosting it. It helps seal all the remaining crumbs on the outside of the cake before they get all mixed up in your finishing layer of buttercream. It means that if you wanted to put a final layer of frosting on the cake there would not have any crumbs in it. In my case, I won’t be putting a final layer of frosting on the cake because I’m going for the naked cake rustic look. All this means that the crumb coat, I would do for an ordinary cake, is going to be the final layer on this cake.
| Prep Time | 1-2 hours |
| Cook Time | 25-30 minutes |
| Passive Time | 2-3 hours |
| Servings |
Servings
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- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 3/4 cup Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 Large Egg
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- 1/3 cup Vegetable or Canola oil
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla extract
- 1 cup Boiling Water
- 2 cups Unsalted Butter (softened to room temperture
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/8 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 18 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp Unsalted Butter (softened to room temperture
- 4 Large Egg Whites
Ingredients
For the Cake:
For the Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream (Recipe From How to Cake It)
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- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line three round 8-inch- cake pans with parchment paper and non-stick baking spray
- In a heatproof liquid measuring cup, combine ¼ cup of cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and boiling water. Let sit for 3 minutes
- In a large bowl of a stand mixer whisk together flour, ½ cup cocoa powder, granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until combined
- In a smaller bowl combine oil, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk.
- Add wet mixture to dry ingredients on low speed and scrape the edges of the bowl with a rubber spatula if needed
- Then add the chocolate mixture to the batter and beat for 2 minutes, (Batter will be thin)
- Divide evenly betwine 3 baking pans and bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool while making the swiss buttercream.
- Chop the chocolate as finely as you can. Put it in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water (do not let the bowl touch the water).
- Melt the chocolate, stirring until smooth, then remove the bowl from the saucepan and set aside to cool while you prepare the buttercream. Leave the pan of water on the stove, as you will need it shortly.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the sugar, salt, and cream of tartar. Whisk in the egg whites until thoroughly combined.
- Place the bowl with the egg whites over the pan of simmering water (again, do not let the bowl touch the water). Heat the mixture, whisking frequently, until it’s warm but not hot to the touch and the sugar is mostly dissolved (you should feel just a little grittiness when you rub a bit of the mixture between your fingertips), about 2 to 5 minutes.
- Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer and fit the mixer with the whisk attachment. Whip at high speed until thick and glossy and the bowl is no longer warm on the outside, about 5 minutes.
- With the mixer running, add the butter, a piece at a time, whipping until each piece is fully incorporated before adding the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula occasionally.
- After all the butter has been added, continue to whip the buttercream until it’s thick and smooth, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Check the melted chocolate: It should be soft and liquid, not firm; if it’s completely cooled and thickened, set the bowl over the still-hot water in the saucepan for just a few seconds and stir until it’s soft but not warm. Scrape the chocolate into the buttercream and whip on high speed until fully incorporated.
- Fill a piping bag with the buttercream if planning to decorate the cake using that technique.
- Using an offset spatula, spread an even layer of buttercream between the cakes. When adding the last cake round, flip it upside down to have the bottom of the cake facing upwards. Do this to have an even layer for the top of the cake. Make the crumb coat (see notes above) and let cool for at least 30 minutes
- Decorate rosettes on top of the cake using a piping bag and a star-shaped piping tip and top with sprinkles of choice. Enjoy!