Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Best Birthday Cake - made June 3, 2012 from Chocolate American Style by Lora Brody

The original recipe title isn't very descriptive so I'm calling it how I see it: this is a chocolate cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting.  Or, if you want to be a stickler, it's a cocoa cake since the chocolate flavor comes only from cocoa.  And you know what that means: use a good, high-quality cocoa!  Because that'll be what determines the chocolatey-ness of the cake.  I use Pernigotti from Williams Sonoma and it's a winner every time in terms of a dark chocolate fudgy taste.  The batter is thinner than most cake batters but that's to be expected since cocoa is a dry ingredient and sucks out all the moisture in a cake so you want it to have a relatively higher amount of liquid ingredients so your cake won't be dry.

The baking gods were with me when I baked this cake because once again I avoided my usual underbaking problem by not taking it out too soon.  The texture is nice and well, cakey, not too dense or too light. For those of you who persist in liking cake mixes, this has a texture similar to a boxed cake mix but of far infinitely better flavor.  The original recipe below calls for baking in 2 9-inch cake pans but I almost always opt to bake in a 9 x 13 pan for easier packaging and giving away.  It makes one thick layer instead of 2 thinner ones so you just have to adjust the baking time accordingly and take out when moist crumbs adhere to a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake.  The frosting makes a lot because it's meant to frost a 2-layer cake so if you're not a big frosting person and you make a 9 x 13 pan, you can probably get away with only making a half recipe of frosting.  I'm not a huge flavor fan of white chocolate or cream cheese unless they're paired with "real" chocolate and in this case, they were so the frosting worked really well.  The dark chocolatey goodness of the cake was perfectly complemented by the sweetness of the frosting.

Only word of caution is this wouldn't be a good cake to make or serve in extreme heat since white chocolate has a lower melting point and you also don't want to subject cream cheese to hot temps or it'll spoil faster.

Cake

Unsalted butter and flour for preparing the cake pans

2 ¼ cups (18 ounces) sugar

1 ¾ cups (8.25 ounces) cake flour

1 ¼ cups (4 ounces) unsweetened natural cocoa powder

2 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

3 extra-large eggs

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups (12 ounces) buttermilk

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder or granules, dissolved in ¾ cup boiling water, cooled

For the frosting

4 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped

16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 cups (1 pound) confectioners’ sugar

Semisweet chocolate shavings (optional)

1.     Preheat the oven to 350˚F with the rack in the center position.  Coat the interiors of two 9-inch round cake pans with butter.  Line each pan with a 9-inch circle of parchment.  Lightly butter the parchment.  Dust with flour, knocking out the excess.

2.     In a large mixing bowl, sift together the sugar, cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.  Place the eggs in a medium mixing bowl.  With the electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs well, then beat in the melted butter and vanilla.  With the mixer still on medium speed, beat in the buttermilk and espresso, and beat only until they are combined.  The mixture will appear curdled.  Scrape the liquid mixture into the flour mixture, and beat on medium speed just until all traces of the flour mixture disappear.  Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you mix.  Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pans, dividing it equally.

3.     Bake the cakes for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cakes pull away from the sides of the pans and a cake tester inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.  Transfer the cake pans to a wire rack and cool the cakes in the pans for 20 minutes.  Invert the cakes onto another rack, remove the cake pans and parchment, then invert the layers again so that they are right side up.  Allow them to cool completely before frosting.

4.     To make the frosting, melt the white chocolate in a metal bowl set over, but not touching, a pan of simmering water, or in a microwave-safe bowl in a microwave oven.  When the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from over the water and let the chocolate cool while you continue with the frosting.  Place the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl.  With an electric mixer, beat them together on high speed for about 4 minutes, or until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually mix in the confectioners’ sugar.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes.  Add the melted white chocolate and beat until well blended.  Refrigerate the frosting, covered, until it is firm enough to spread on the cakes.

5.     When you are ready to frost the cakes, use a long, serrated knife to split each cake layer in half horizontally.  Place the bottom half of one split layer on a serving plate, cut-side up.  Use an offset spatula or kitchen knife to spread ¾ cup frosting on the exposed surface.  Frosting the cut surface will loosen many chocolate crumbs, but don’t worry about that.  Top this layer with its other half, smooth-side up.  Frost this layer the way you did the first, then stack and frost both halves of the second split layer in the same way, ending with the smooth layer up.  Frost the top and sides.  Scatter semisweet chocolate shavings on top of the cake, if desired.

The cake can be made 1 day ahead.  Refrigerate the cake, in a cake saver.  Let the cake sit at room temperature for 1 hour before serving.