TWD Rewind: Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake

November 25, 2011 at 12:15 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 Comments
Tags: baking, cake, chocolate

This week, we are having a rare rewind week for TWD, a chance to make-up something we missed. There was a time when I was making (and eating) layer cakes left and right. Despite the last couple of weeks, they are kind of a rarity around here now (although I wish they weren’t). In fact, I really made this cake months ago..for Easter…in case the pastel Robin Eggs didn’t give that away. Chocolate cake with a chocolate-malt buttercream…I can see why this would be a good birthday cake. Maybe my husband will make it for me next year? Yeah, probably not….I’ll have to make it for his instead.

I made a half recipe of this cake and baked it in my six-inch pans. Any time I have a cake recipe, I pay close attention to it as it bakes. Sometimes it takes just as long as the full recipe, and sometimes it takes ten minutes less….you just never know. I happened to pull this cake out of the oven at the perfect sweet spot. The cake was so moist and velvety…I wish I remembered how long it was in there for! Hopefully I can repeat that success next time. This cake recipe is really just a scaled-up version of Dorie’s Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes. It’s the same thing, but for some reason I liked it much, much more as a layer cake. I think it baked nicer in “real” cake form, but maybe it was really the pairing with the chocolate-malt buttercream that I liked so much. There were some reported troubles with the frosting, but I thought it came out just right, and it was easy to work with. I like when I can get the frosting on a cake without too much mucking about.

For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or look at The Splendid Table’s website (not sure that we had an “official” TWD host/recipe poster that particular week, as it was a recipe for the group’s second anniversary). Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what everyone picked to catch up on this week!

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Looks amazing! I forget how much I like layer cakes until I see a post like this.

Comment by julessomeone— November 25, 2011 #

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This is one gorgeous cake, and I love the robin’s eggs. You’ll have to word up your husband for your birthday 🙂

Comment by Cakelaw— November 25, 2011 #

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Steph, when I first saw your cake I thought you were lamenting the fact that it’s only November by using spring-themed decorations (and I was right there with you). 😀

There is definitely something special about layer cakes…I think it has to do with the contrasting cake/frosting textures. This cake is beautiful!! I love that you used 6-inch cake pans, it gives the cake an enchanted mini-high Alice in Wonderland appearance. Well done!!

Comment by Valerie— November 25, 2011 #

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Oh that looks sinful! I want some.

Comment by sue— November 25, 2011 #

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Beautiful cake! I definitely need to rewind this one, too.

Comment by Jessica @ cookbookhabit— November 27, 2011 #

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Looks beautiful for Easter, a birthday, whenever!

Comment by Spike— November 27, 2011 #

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Your handfrosted cake looks perfectly frosted!

Comment by yummychunklet— November 28, 2011 #

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oh this looks so pretty!

Comment by Maria @ Orchard Bloom— November 28, 2011 #

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