Recently I was having one of my urges to decorate cakes and become a really great cake decorator and sell my cakes for money and have everyone asking me to make cakes for them.
And then I grew sad when I told myself that we didn’t have enough money to practice decorating a bunch of cakes, and it wasn’t going to be healthy either. Because I’m talking like at least two layers, or even wedding cakes.
Being a poor, health-conscious, decorator of cakes really stinks.
Then I had a thought…
On average, there is about one holiday for every month.
So why not try just doing one holiday-themed cake each month? Ding! That was the lightbulb going off in my head.
Well, I talked with my husband and he agreed that this sounded like a doable plan. Unfortunately, I had this idea in February, but that’s not a big deal right? I mean, I did plan a big birthday party for my son in January, so that should cover it.
Anyway, this is the first of my monthly cake decorating cakes, and I must say, it turned out very, very well! It is so delicious, but very rich and unhealthy. So if you try to make it, I would recommend taking it to a party or work or something with a lot of people…
Although my husband and I didn’t have much of a problem finishing it ourselves.
Well…there goes our diet.
We’ll do better with the next cake.
Now for the cake itself. It consists of:
Chocolate cake
Chocolate fudge buttercream
Fresh Strawberry Buttercream
Homemade truffles
Chocolate covered strawberries
Drooling yet? You should be. The cake itself is chocolate, almost brownie-like, and combined with the two frostings, it tastes like chocolate-covered strawberries.
Perfect Chocolate Cake
I got the recipe for the cake here at goodiegodmother.com
She claims that she tried 10 cakes back to back, and this was the best one. I believe her. The cake is a pretty dark flavor of chocolate, which balances well with the very sweet frosting. It’s nice and dense, so I think it will definitely be a go-to recipe for multiple-tiered cakes. It’s almost as fudgy as a brownie, so be aware of that. As far as baking goes, my cake was done 15 minutes faster than she said it would take to bake, but I used 8x8 squares rather than round, so that may have made a difference.
Strawberry Frosting Click Here
This stuff is delicious, and although it tastes very strongly of butter, it tastes fine when it’s eaten as part of the cake. Plus, the fresh strawberries taste amazing! Some people commented on the frosting “breaking” too early. I assume that is when the frosting starts falling apart when you’re beating it. I found that if I added more powdered sugar, it seemed to solve the problem. Just stop beating when it looks like it’s almost about to start breaking again.
Chocolate Fudge Buttercream Click Here
This recipe was downright perfect! They claim you need to use organic everything, but I was able to use regular shortening etc. without any problems. I also halved the recipe.
Homemade truffles
I got the recipe for the ganache here, but I would NOT recommend using bittersweet chocolate unless you like extremely dark chocolate. I love dark truffles, but bittersweet was too much. Then I tried adding sugar to the boiling mixture –note to self…and everyone else…the sugar does NOT dissolve after you have melted the chocolate and cream and you’re left with a gritty truffle. So save yourself time and just start with semisweet or sweeter. Also, the truffles were formed using a tablespoon instead of two teaspoons.
As for the coating (tempered chocolate), I went to this website to make sure I had a glossy finish on the truffles. I tried halving the recipe, and it worked, but it would be much easier to use the amount she suggests. Otherwise the chocolate cools very quickly, and it’s harder to dip the truffles.
Chocolate dipped strawberries
I used the tempered chocolate recipe from above. But as a side note, I would recommend not washing the strawberries before they’re dipped, or else eating them within a day or two. If the strawberries are washed, mold starts to form on them within a day or two.
So, here is the list of ingredients (as I used them, not exactly how they appear on the websites):
Cake
2 cups (225 g) all-purpose flour
2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
1 cup (approx 88 g - cocoa weights vary slightly) cocoa powder, unsweetened
4 ounces semisweet chocolate or dark chocolate
1½ tsp baking soda
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups (454 g) sour cream
½ cup (118 ml) vegetable oil
2 large eggs*
Strawberry Buttercream
1 and 1/2 cups fresh strawberries
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter , slightly softened
2 1/2 to 3 and 1/2 cups icing sugar , sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon whipping cream depending on consistency
Fudge Buttercream
4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
2 cups powdered sugar,
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
¼ cup boiling water
1 tablespoons corn syrup
½ tablespoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup (1/2 stick) salted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup shortening at room temperature
Truffles (Filling)
12 ounces chocolate, chopped (semisweet or sweeter, NOT bittersweet)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Truffles (Shell)
1 pound tempered chocolate
2 lb clam shell of fresh strawberries
Perfect Heart Template (I found this through a search on Google.)
Assembling:
I made this document you can print off to have all of the recipes in one place. Hopefully it works.
Bake the cake and each frosting according to the directions on the websites, using the measurements I've given. Once the cake has cooled, level each layer and cut into a perfect heart shape. (Don't worry about the extra cake...we can make cake pops out of those.)
Don’t refrigerate the frosting until it is on the cake, otherwise you will have to take it out of the fridge 2-3 hours before frosting.
"Glue" one of the cake layers to a plate or piece of cardboard with a tablespoon or so of frosting. Pipe or spoon a thin layer of strawberry frosting on the top edge of the cake, then fill in the middle with chocolate frosting.
Place the second cake layer on top of the first cake layer.
Spread strawberry frosting around the entire outside of the cake, and make it fairly smooth.
Cover the cake with Saran Wrap and refrigerate until frosting is firm.
Once the frosting is firm, it is time to decorate! If you double the recipe, you'll be able to make the strawberry frosting look perfect. I used one batch and only had about 3 tablespoons leftover.
Pipe the Chocolate Frosting in desired pattern. Use the chocolate frosting to glue the truffles and strawberries in the places you want them.
For the truffles, make the ganache as directed, then put in the refrigerator for an hour or so. When they are ready to dip, make the tempered chocolate. Start dipping the truffles and strawberries immediately after the tempered chocolate is ready, and work quickly or it will become too hard to work with.
DO NOT refrigerate the truffles or strawberries after dipping them in the tempered chocolate, or you'll have done all that work for nothing. The truffles will lose their shine and develop a white film if refrigerated.
Since the truffles will be at room temperature, they will melt the second you touch them with your hands. I used parchment paper to place them on the cake, and that seemed to keep them from melting.
So there you go! This cake isn’t terribly difficult, just time-consuming. I hope you enjoy it!
Please leave your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Want to read more? Check out:
