This is by far the most complicated cake I've yet attempted, and I did it over several days. None of the individual parts were too difficult, although it was the first time I had made real buttercream frosting (with a boiled sugar syrup added to egg yolks as they whip) and it was a little unnerving as I was doing it. But it turned out delicious.
I made a full batch of buttercream, not knowing how much it would make (meaning twice what I've listed below). It called for 15 egg yolks and 4 cups (8 sticks!) of butter. It seemed crazy to be risking so many ingredients on something I'd never done before, but it turned out well. The recipe had a warning about how it could curdle if you chilled it in the fridge - any recipe that comes with a warning tends to put me on edge.
I got the idea for frosting it this way from the cover of a book called Frostings by Courtney Whitmore. It was pretty quick to do, although by the end the frosting was getting too warm to hold its shape (probably just from the heat of my hand) and if I'd been more patient I could have cooled it a bit mid-process.
This was for my mom's 71st birthday celebration and it was a HUGE hit. I have to say, it was delicious. I sent her home with a piece about the size of two slices. She said she didn't have any more the day of her party. She didn't have any the next day either. But after dinner on the third day she sat down with her cake, and ate the whole big piece. Apparently after 15 cakes in 15 weeks, I had leveled up.
We had a family friend in town the next weekend to celebrate his birthday, and my mom suggested that I make the mocha cake again for his party. I had trouble with the remaining frosting which had been in the fridge. Some came out okay, but some seemed to break and get greasy and lumpy. To hide the less smooth frosting, I covered it with crushed chocolate cookie crumbs, which always looks so cool in pictures. I was underwhelmed with how it looked on my cake (and it made a huge mess). Perhaps it would have been better if I'd crushed them in the food processor, so they were more uniform? But I think the mess was unavoidable. The lesson I learned is that you should make a half batch and try to use it all. It would probably be good to do have a small batch of cupcakes on which you can use up any remaining frosting, once you've got the cake covered.
There are pictures of the second mocha cake version at the bottom. This is a hard cake to transport in Arizona in the summer (it really needs to stay pretty cool) but regardless of how the heat impacted its looks, it tasted pretty damn good.
Black Mocha Cake with
Vanilla Whipped Cream Filling and Coffee Buttercream Frosting
For the
cake:
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1¾ cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup fresh strong coffee, at room
temperature
1 cup milk, buttermilk or yogurt (I used
whole milk)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the
whipped cream:
1½ cups minimally pasteurized heavy cream (go to Whole Foods or another
specialty grocer and read the labels carefully – a high quality cream makes a
noticeable difference)
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 rounded teaspoons confectioners’ sugar
For the
buttercream frosting:
8 egg yolks
1 cup water
½ cup sugar
2 cups butter (4 sticks), at room
temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
dissolved in 2 teaspoons hot water
For the
cake:
1.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter the cake pan and line with
parchment paper, then dust with cocoa powder.
2.
In a large bowl, sift together the cocoa, sugar,
flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In another bowl with a whisk or electric mixer, lightly beat together
the oil, coffee, milk (or buttermilk or yogurt), eggs, and vanilla. Pour half of the wet ingredients into the dry
ingredients and mix until smooth. Add
the remaining wet ingredients and stir until incorporated.
3.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a knife
inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pans.
NOTE: You can also make this batter in a different type
pan. The baking time for the cake
depends upon the pan you decide to use.
Here’s a good guide for the different sizes and shapes:
9 x 13-inch pan: 25 to 30 minutes
10-inch bundt pan: 30 to 35 minutes
Two 9-inch round pans: 35 to 40 minutes
Two standard 12-cup muffin tins: about 20 minutes
For the whipped cream:
1.
Whip the cream in a mixing bowl with an electric
mixer or a whisk until soft peaks form.
Add the sugar and flavorings and continue to whip until stiff peaks
begin to form. Do not overbeat or you
risk making sweetened flavored butter.
2.
Serve at once or refrigerate for up to 2 days,
until ready to use.
For the buttercream frosting:
1.
Beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer on
high speed for 2 to 3 minutes until they lighten; set aside.
2.
Combine the sugar and water in the saucepan and
place on medium-high heat. Boil until
the sugar dissolves, 3 to 4 minutes.
Increase the heat to high and boil the syrup another 4 to 5 minutes,
until a candy thermometer registers 239 degrees. Immediately remove from the heat.
3.
With the mixer on high speed, beat the egg
yolks, gradually adding the syrup a few tablespoons at a time. Avoid pouring the syrup on the beaters or it
will end up on the sides of the bowl instead of in the eggs. Continue beating the egg and syrup mixture
until it is no longer hot to the touch, about 5 minutes.
4.
Add the softened butter a few tablespoons at a
time, beating well after each addition.
The consistency will not be frosting-like until the last few tablespoons
of butter are added. When finally thick
and creamy, beat in the vanilla and dissolved coffee granules. Set aside in a cool place until ready to use. [For this design, I tinted half the frosting
with brown food coloring.]
NOTE: If possible, use buttercream frosting soon after it is
made. If stored in the refrigerator,
always let it return to room temperature before spreading, because cold
buttercream is very likely to curdle and become grainy when beaten. Adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of melted butter
may help restore its original satiny texture.
To assemble:
NOTE: This works best as a multi-day process: On the first
day bake and cool the cakes. They can be
stored in the fridge for a day or two.
On the second day cut the cakes, make the whipped cream, layer them in
the spring form pan, wrap and freeze. The
cake can stay in the freezer for several days if well wrapped. On the third day, remove the cake from the
freezer and remove from the spring form pan, make the buttercream frosting, and
frost. Store the cake in the fridge –
remove an hour prior to serving.
1.
After the cakes have cooled completely, divide
each in half. (To do this, I first
measure halfway up the cake with a ruler, and mark that halfway point with
toothpicks at several points around the cake.
Then stack up cardboard cake rounds in the original cake pan, to hold
the cake up so that the toothpicks are even with the top of the cake pan. Remove the toothpicks and with one hand on
the top of the cake, use a long, serrated knife to score the cake all around
using the top edge of the cake pan as a guide.
Then, turning the cake, use the knife to cut evenly through the cake.)
2.
Using a 9-inch spring form pan, place a 9-inch
cake round into the bottom of the pan, and then place one of the bottom slices
of the cake into the pan, bottom-side down.
Put a third of the vanilla whipped cream (about a cup) onto the cake,
and using an offset spatula, spread the whipped cream to the edges. Place a second slice of cake, top-side up on
the whipped cream, and press gently. Put
another third of the whipped cream on top of the cake, spread with spatula, and
top with the next slice of cake (the bottom slice of the second cake,
bottom-side down). Again press
gently. Repeat with the remaining whipped
cream and last slice of cake, top-side up.
3.
Wrap the cake fully with plastic wrap and make
sure it’s completely sealed. Place in
the freezer for several hours or overnight.
4.
To frost, remove the cake from the freezer, use
a hairdryer to warm the edges of the spring form pan, open up the spring form
edge, and remove the cake. Place on a
cake stand (or cake turn table). Fill
two icing bags with different-colored frosting using a star tip. Beginning on the top, starting at the outside
edge, create spiral “flowers,” leaving space between each for a “flower” of the
alternating color. Don’t worry about
being too precise. Once you’ve completed
the entire top in one color, fill in the spaces with the other color, leaving
no blank spaces. Then repeat around the
edges. Place bags of frosting in the
fridge if you’re working in a warm kitchen or the frosting is getting too soft
from the heat of your hand.
Each recipe from Moosewood
Restaurant Book of Desserts by The Moosewood Collective
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