While I still enjoy baking cupcakes, recently I’ve been more excited about baking layer cakes. Last weekend, I set out to bake a layer cake. It took me forever to decide what flavor, but I finally settled on chocolate fudge marble. Then, I spent forever looking for the perfect recipe, only to give up and come up with my own! Luckily, it turned out great! The only issue was the “marble”…which isn’t really marble at all. I divided the vanilla batter among the 3 pans and the poured the chocolate on top, thinking that I could just swirl it around. It didn’t really work out for me, obviously haha. I ended up with a vanilla bottom and chocolate top on each layer. Next time I will definitely alternate pouring the chocolate and vanilla batters into the pans (and that’s what I’ve included in the instructions below).
The taste though was spot-on. The vanilla/yellow cake had the perfect crumb and was soft and moist – no cornbread cake here! And the chocolate was nice and chocolatey =). The frosting was light and fluffy with a rich (but not overly so) chocolate flavor and was the perfect complement to the cake. I made a Rose Cake using THIS tutorial and it couldn’t have been easier. I’m fairy competent with a decorating tip, but this was my first rose cake and I didn’t have any issues. Just make sure your frosting is very smooth and creamy. If you’re looking for a layer cake with some wow-factor, this is it. 😉 Enjoy!
Chocolate Fudge Marble Cake
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2-1/2 plus 2 tbsp cake flour
2-1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
6 tbsp butter, room temperature
3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
6 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 (9 inch) round cake pans with parchment paper and spray with nonstick spray. Set aside.
2. In bowl of stand mixer, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for 3 minutes. You will end up with a very fine crumb.
3. In small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, vanilla, and milk until combined. Add to flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
4. Remove 1-1/2 cups of the batter and mix in 1/4 cup cocoa powder until smooth. Divide both batters evenly among prepared pans, alternating the chocolate and vanilla as you fill the pans. When the batter is divided, swirl slightly with toothpick or knife.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
2 sticks softened butter
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1. In bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add cocoa and beat until smooth, about a minute.
2. Gradually add powdered sugar. Add vanilla and heavy cream. Beat another 2-3 minutes until very light and fluffy, adding additional cream if necessary.
3. Once cake layers have cooled, place first layer on desired serving plate. Top with thin layer of frosting. Repeat with remaining layers. Once all three layers are stacked, frost the sides with a thin layer of frosting. This is the crumb coat. If you plan to make a Rose Cake as I did, you want to keep the amount of frosting between the layers and on the sides to a minimum because you will end up with a very thick layer on the outside.
4. I used a Wilton 1M tip and followed THIS tutorial on YouTube for my “Rose Cake”. If you want to skip the decorating, simply spread the frosting on with a knife, being more generous with the amount of frosting between the cake layers as you stack. (As you can see, my “roses” aren’t perfect. Your frosting needs to be very light and fluffy. If your frosting is “breaking” before you finish your roses, add another tablespoon or so of cream. I should have!)
