This cake is delicious. It tastes similar to a Ding-Dong or a Suzy-Q. The cake is moist and has a nice crumb. And the frosting is easy. So, if you like chocolate and marshmallow together, then this is the cake for you. This cake will make an appearance at our vow ceremony this December.
You’ll need 3 9″ishX2″ish round cake pans for a 3 layer cake or 2 9″ishX2″ish round cake pans for a four layer cake. I love to use springform cake pans to eliminate a lot of the hard work getting the cake out of the pan.
Cake
3 cups cake flour
3 cups sugar, combination of white and brown (I do half and half)
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder
3 1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
3 stick unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/2 cups buttermilk*
3 large eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 cup applesauce
*TIP – you can make your own buttermilk from regular milk by adding about 1 TBL lemon juice per cup of milk. Let sit for about 5 minutes.
First preheat your oven to 350, spray your cakepans (or butter and flour) and cut waxed paper for pan bottoms. Spray waxpaper, too.
In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix with hand mixer (or awesome large mixing appliance) until well combined.
Add butter, buttermilk, oil and applesauce. Mix until well blended.
Add eggs all at once and whip on high for about 3-4 minutes until fluffy (er). Scrape sides and slightly mix again.
Place even amount of batter in each cake pan. In 3 pans it should come up about an inch. In two pans it’s about 2 inches. Slap on counter a few times to get air bubbles out and even out the batter.
This is a great time to mix yourself a cool drink to get you through baking in a hot kitchen in the middle of a hot summer.
Bake in oven for 20 minutes. Turn oven down to 300 and rotate pans. Check in 10 minutes for 3 layers an 15 minutes for 2 layers and remove from oven when toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then remove from pans and place on cooling racks paper side up. Wait until completely cooled, about an hour, before removing waxed paper. And then drop one of the layers on the counter if you are me.
At this point, you could make the frosting and complete the cake but it’s much easier to frost and construct if you place the layers in the freezer for an hour.
Carefully wrap the layers in a layer of plastic wrap and a layer of tinfoil. Lay them flat in the freezer. If you want, you can make the layers and freeze them for up to three weeks before completing the cake. If you’re going to leave the layers in for more than a few hours then you need to wrap them with three layers of plastic wrap and 3 layers of foil.
Pull the layers out of the freezer to slightly thaw while you make the frosting.
Frosting (7-minute frosting except it take me longer than that)
4 large egg whites
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup plus one TBL water
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Place all ingredients in a large metal bowl over stove top simmering water. Don’t let the bowl touch the water. Beat with hand mixer at high speed for 5-7 minutes until hard peaks form.
Remove from heat and continue to whip on high for 3-5 minutes until mostly cooled.
Trim to straighten your layers. If you made the cake in two layers, slice the layers in half. As you stack the cake layers, make sure the top layer is flat bottom side up. For the three layer cake, no need to cut. Just layer. I actually didn’t cut any off the tops of my layers this time and just let the shape of the cake be what it was. I do that a lot when I’m going to serve it to the family for dinner.
Do this this prep on a plate that fits in the freezer and not on a pedestal. Place two overlapping pieces of waxed paper under the bottom layer for easy transferring later. (Although this adorable dragonfly plate could be used to serve the cake on. I love it!)
Use an ample amount of frosting in between layers. I did it a little thin this time and everyone made a comment wishing there was more. So, don’t skimp!
Do a very thin crumb coat of frosting around the entire cake. Place back in freezer for 15-30 minutes.
Time to transfer to the pedestal. Place your plate over the pedestal near the edge and use the waxed paper to pull it on. You can also use a spatula to help it move over.
Now is the fun part. Blop all the frosting, minus about 1 cup, on top of the cake.
Use your clean and crumb-free spatula to gently smooth the frosting from the center towards the sides.
Keep pushing downward and then move across the sides around the cake, making the frosting even all the way around. If a few crumbs get on your spatula, immediately remove with a paper towel before continuing. Use the reserved frosting to fix any mistakes.
I like to take a knife and made some little doppy-dos on the top and keep the sides smoother. I think it looks pretty.
Wait about 30 minutes before serving and give the cake layers time to completely thaw before serving.
VARIATIONS – a layer of raspberry filling in the middle is delicious. Chocolate ganache is also a wonderful filling. A light coating of cocoa powder over the frosting is pretty. I haven’t tried it, but oozing a bit of chocolate syrup over the top dripping down the sides might be good, too.
Sorry for the low light in these photos. My kitchen isn’t that well lit but I’ll try and fix that for next time.
The picture in the freezer is heaven to me.
dang, I was going to say that.