My Life And Good Times: Chocolate Raspberry Cake

BEHOLD!

The best cake ever.

Three layers of chocolate cake.

With raspberry ganache filling.

Raspberry buttercream frosting.

KEEP BEHOLDING!

And...dark chocolate glaze.

This cake was so fun to make. Labor intensive, yes. But oh, so fun.

And just in case you think raspberry truffles would have looked perfect atop this gorgeous cake, you would be right. But on this particular week, no raspberries were to be found in all of southside Indianapolis.

THE CAKE

Ingredients:
1½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ cups boiling water
¾ cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)
1 TB vanilla extract
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups plus 2 TB sugar
3 large eggs
1¾ cups plus 2 TB all-purpose flour
1¼ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt

Directions:
Combine the cocoa and boiling water and whisk together until smooth. Let cool slightly. Whisk in the sour cream.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Blend in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl; stir together to combine. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl in three additions, alternating with the cocoa-sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat each addition just until incorporated.

Grease and dust the edges of three 9-inch round cake pans with butter and cocoa powder. Line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper.

Divide the batter between the prepared baking pans. Bake 30-35 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pans about 15 minutes, then transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

THE FILLING

Ingredients:
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (semi-sweet is fine too)
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Place chocolate and jam in a glass bowl.

Heat the cream in a small saucepan to boiling, then pour over chocolate/jam mixture.

Let it sit for about 3 minutes, then stir until smooth.

If ganache is still lumpy, pop it in the microwave for 15 seconds and give it another stir. Continue to heat and stir until the ganache is nice and smooth.

Put 1/2 cup or so of the ganache in a piping bag and put it in the fridge for about 10 minutes. You want this part to be more firm than the rest.

Let the rest of it sit for 10 minutes or so at room temperature til it has thickened a bit.

THE FROSTING

Ingredients:
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

Directions:
Place the butter and jam in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream on medium-high speed until well incorporated, about 2 minutes. Sift in the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.

THE GLAZE

Ingredients:
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
½ cup heavy whipping cream
¼ cup light corn syrup
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Place chocolate in a glass bowl.

Heat the cream in a small saucepan to boiling, then pour over chocolate.

Let it sit for about 3 minutes, then stir until smooth.

Add corn syrup and vanilla extract.

PUT IT TOGETHER

Bake and cool the three layers of cake. Place first cake on a cake stand (be sure you peel off the parchment paper). Tuck strips of parchment paper between the cake and cake stand to catch any frosting/glaze drips.

Pipe a border of ganache around the edge of the cake. This will keep the rest of the ganache from leaking out when you add the next cake layer.

Spread 1/2 of the ganache within the piped border.

Gently add the second layer of cake. Pipe another border of ganache around the edge and spread the remainder of the ganache within the piped border.

Add the last layer of cake.

Put the cake in the fridge (or freezer) while you make the frosting. The ganache filling will firm up more quickly so your cake layers don't slide around while you are trying to frost it.

Now frost the cake with that beautiful pink raspberry buttercream frosting.

Put the cake back in the fridge while you make the glaze.

Now pour the glaze over the top of the cake, allowing some to drip artistically down the sides. It's harder than it looks to make it look pretty. I did not succeed, better luck next time.

You should have some ganache left in the piping bag. You can use that to make some pretty swirls on the top of the cake.

And if you can find raspberries, they would look awesome on top of the cake.

Now enjoy all your hard work. The best cake you'll ever make. Maybe the prettiest too.