11 Oct Classic Layer Cakes: Yellow with Chocolate Fudge Frosting
Welp, my rear end has officially been kicked by Austin City Limits Festival. And by that I mean, I am posted up on the couch with a fever, body aches and some intense sinus pain. And yes, that is why this post is going up at 6pm on a Friday.
I suppose I can’t completely blame my festival experience for my illness, but I’m going to anyway. Cram thousands upon thousands of people into a city park where they jostle about, elbow to elbow (or even closer at times) in order to get as close to the stage as possible, compromise their immune systems by ingesting copious amounts of overpriced beer, and use porta-potties for 3 days straight…and you’ve got a breeding ground for germs.
ACL Festival 2013
Thus, I’ve succumbed to what I like to call the ACfLu. (Clever, I know). Further evidence, that I may be getting too old for this kind of thing. At the least, too old for the pulls of warm vodka from a community flask kind of thing. cringe.
The girls at the Passion Pit Show
Let’s talk about ACL Festival for a moment, as I realize some of you may not be familiar. Every October Austin City Limits puts on a 3-day music festival in Zilker Park – think Cochella or Lollapalooza. 8 stages, 100K+ people, 150+ acts. It’s quite the party.
And while I’m suffering the consequences now, it was a great weekend spent with the best of friends, and some new ones as well. May we forever cherish the memories of sloppy nachos and sweet dance moves. Grass between our toes and the sun shining warm on our faces. Sweet Leaf Tea spiked with contraband liquor and singing Disney songs at the top of our lungs on the long walk home. Good times.
All the people! (excuse the blurry cell phone photo)
Zilker Park, ATX
This year’s ACL weekend happened to fall within days of my birthday and on one of by best friend’s birthdays so it was not only a celebration of great music and friends but also a celebration of Beth’s and my 26 years on Earth. Not a bad way to celebrate, eh? (HappyBirthday to Beth, again!) And of course, birthdays mean cake!
Earlier this week I shared the cake I made for my dad on his birthday, Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting. In that post I mentioned my favorite birthday cake is yellow box cake with chocolate frosting from a tub. This Triple Layer Yellow Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting is my attempt at a homemade version, because at some point we all have to graduate to big girl cakes, right?
Plus I recently discovered that those tub icings from the grocery store don’t even contain dairy. Which means no butter…or cream. uhhhh what?
And since I do care somewhat about my health and putting wholesome foods into my body and all that…I’ve decided to make my own chocolate frosting. With real ingredients. The kinds that I can pronounce.
This Triple Layer Yellow Cake with Fudge Frosting recipe is straight out of one of my favorite cookbooks, Vintage Cakes, and is appropriately titled The Classic. I’ve been eyeing it since I was given the book last Christmas, knowing that my birthday would be the perfect time to make it. The recipe is quite different from any cake I have made before. It calls for all the good stuff: all-purpose flour and cake flour, butter and oil, buttermilk and cream. We’re not messing around here, folks.
I’m not going to lie. I was a little worried. There is a lot going on. But everything I have made from this book has turned out absolutely divine, so I marched on. And this cake was no exception. I have learned my lesson not to doubt Julia Richardson. (Side note: I, a college educated person, just typed “lurned”. Oh the things that fever does to your mind.) The cake is incredibly fluffy due to the addition of whipped cream, yet sturdy at the same time so it’s perfect for layering. And just look at that glossy fudge frosting! To die for.
I made my cake layers ahead of time and refrigerated them overnight before frosting. If you plan on making the cakes and frosting in the same day, make the frosting while the cakes are baking so that it has time to set up.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups sifted cake flour
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp
- 2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 4 egg yolks, at room temp
- 3 eggs, at room temp
- 1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temp
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, cold
- 1 lb semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
Instructions
- Grease and line 3 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350. Place a medium bowl in the refrigerator to chill.
- In a separate bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, and salt then whisk by hand to ensure ingredients are well mixed.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high until fluffy, about 5-7 minutes.
- With the mixer on low, drizzle in the oil and vanilla and mix until well combined.
- Blend in the egg yolks and the whole eggs one at a time, adding the next one as soon as the previous has disappeared into the batter.
- With the mixer on low, add in the flour mixture in three parts and the buttermilk in two parts, beginning and ending with the flour and alternating between the two.
- After each addition, stop the mixer and scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula. Do not overbeat the batter!
- In the separate, chilled bowl, whisk the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Fold the cream into the batter.
- Divide batter between your cake pans and smooth the tops. Tap the pans on the counter to knock out any large air bubbles.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If the tops begin to crack the cakes are done.
- Cool cakes in pans on a wire rack for 30 minutes then remove and cool until room temperature.
- Place the chopped chocolate in a medium, heat-proof bowl.
- Combine cream and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until mixture comes to a simmer.
- Once simmering, remove the pan from the heat and pour mixture over the chopped chocolate. Swirl the bowl to make sure all of the chocolate is coated. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for five minutes.
- Remove the plastic and and slowly begin to whisk the mixture starting with small circles and working your way outwards. Continue to mix until you have a smooth, glossy frosting.
- If you are going to frost the cake immediately, put the frosting in the refrigerator and stir with a spatula every 10 minutes until it stiffens to spreading consistency. Note: If the frosting becomes too hard, let it sit at room temperature until it softens to spreading consistency.
- If you have some time, cover the frosting and let it sit at room temperature until it has reached spreading consistency.
- Covered on your countertop, frosting will last up to 3 days.
- Note: my layers baked flat so I did not need to level them. If your layer dome during baking, use a serrated knife to remove the domes and flatten the tops.
- Lay one cake later on a flat plate or 8 inch cardboard round. Using a metal spatula (or a butterknife, in a bind) top the later with a heaping 1/2 cup of frosting. Spread the frosting out to the edges of the cake.
- Stack the second layer on the frosted cake and repeat.
- Stack the last layer and spread and frosting that may be oozing our from between the layers. Spread a thin layer of frosting (a.k.a. crumb coat) on top and sides of cake and refrigerate until frosting is firm.
- Use the remaining frosting to cover the cake, making decorative swirls as desired. This is a classic, retro cake - the "messy look" works!
miss messy
Posted at 17:50h, 12 OctoberI’ve never had ‘yellow’ cake because that just doesn’t exist in the UK. I got a box mix shipped over because I was so curious.. but I haven’t tried it yet. This looks amazing! Box mixes don’t happen that much over here, so I always make from scratch, but this is seriously impressive. It looks so moist and decadent! Yummm.
miss messy recently posted…Easy Overnight Bagels
Shelby
Posted at 02:00h, 06 JanuarySo, I tried this recipe thinking it looks a lot like my grandmother’s cake. Lo and behold, I think this is the EXACT recipe my grandma used, before she got lazy and started going from boxes. Regardless, although I made a couple of mistakes along the way (mixed up the egg yolks vs eggs thing and botched the cold whipped heavy cream aspect), but it still turned out great and tasted amazing! I also found that after an hour and a half of putting the frosting back in the fridge and waiting for the texture to soften, leaving it out for a few minutes allowed it to get to the right texture! Anyway, thank you for the recipe. Again, it’s AMAZING!
KWahlman
Posted at 09:54h, 06 JanuaryShelby – I’m so glad to hear you liked the cake! And it’s great to know the recipe is a little flexible even if you make a few “unexpected adjustments” along the way 😉 Thanks so much for reading and letting me know how it went!
Mariah S
Posted at 21:58h, 17 AugustTrying this tomorrow as I just learned yellow cake mix with fudgey chocolate frosting is my boyfriends favorite! Can’t wait to try it out!