Chocolate and Coffee Layer Cake with Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I don’t know many people who don’t love chocolate, but when I run across someone who doesn’t love it as much as I do…I ask myself, how can this be?  To me, chocolate is sublime in it’s richness and depth of flavor.  I love it in all varieties and in all kinds of desserts.  Recently, I discovered the incredibly delicious kul-chocolate.com . It is smooth, dark and so versatile when it comes to creating recipes.  I am also totally in love with  zingermanscoffee.com . The taste is bold, deep and is so perfect to drink by itself or use it to create desserts, as you can see from some of my other recipes.  For this amazing cake, I took my favorite chocolate cake recipe and substituted coffee for water, then created a frosting using melted K’ul baking chocolate.  I dipped some organic strawberries in semi sweet chocolate, put them on waxed paper and kept them in the fridge until I was ready to decorate the cake.  It really makes for a pretty finish!!  Go on and get creative with your decorating!!


Chocolate and Coffee Layer Cake with Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Makes: 1 double layer cake Prep time: 30 minutes Bake time: 25 to 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups granulated sugar

1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cups best quality cocoa powder

1 and 1/2 teaspoons fresh baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup hot coffee, ( I use Zingerman’s )

2 teaspoons best quality vanilla

Organic strawberries

8 ounces semi sweet chocolate for the dipped strawberries

Dark chocolate buttercream

8 ounces unsweetened chocolate ,( I use K’ul brand baking chocolate). melted and cooled

2 pounds confectioners sugar

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1 tablespoon best quality vanilla

2/3 cup half and half

pinch of salt

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. To make the chocolate dipped strawberries, wash and thoroughly dry the berries and set aside.  Leave the stems on for dunking purposes.  Melt the semi sweet chocolate in a pyrex cup.  Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Dunk the berries into the melted chocolate and place them on the prepared sheet.  Place in the fridge while you make the cake. To make the cake:   Butter and flour 2, 9 inch cake pans and line with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and cocoa.  In a large pyrex cup, add milk, eggs, vanilla and oil.  Add to the flour mixture and stir until combined.  Heat the coffee for about a minute in the microwave.  Add to the ingredients and mix until just combined.  Divide equally between the cake pans.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the top springs back.  When the cakes are cool enough to handle, turn them onto a baking rack, take the parchment off, and place them in the fridge while you make your frosting.  For the frosting:  beat the butter until it is soft and creamy.  Add the melted/cooled chocolate and beat until combined.  Slowly add the vanilla and confectioners sugar, alternately with the half and half until you achieve the desired constituency.  Add a pinch of salt to offset the sweetness.

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