Yesterday was my friend Noelene’s 50th
birthday party. She had a tea party and I was in charge of the birthday cake. I
love baking but I’ve always struggled with presentation so I was looking for
something that would look effective but be simple to do. I saw this cake and knew I wanted to try and do a
similar icing.
The cake itself is also a mash up of recipes from
Sweetapolita’s blog. I’ve used the chocolate cake recipe several times now and
it’s one of my favourites because it has an almost brownie-ish texture and
because I love telling people it has mayonnaise in it and watching them freak
out. For the icing I decided to try her vanilla buttercream. It’s pretty much
you’re average buttercream but with the addition of actual cream. It’s a great
idea and it definitely makes for a smoother, less sickening icing (as well as a
more calorific one!)
Here's the recipe:
Chocolate cake
255g unsalted butter, softened690g packed dark brown sugar
3tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
330g all-purpose flour
135g cocoa powder
2tsp baking soda
1 ½tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp salt
540ml buttermilk
90ml mayonnaise
1. Preheat oven to 180°c and butter tins and
line with greaseproof paper. This recipe is for a large 4 layer cake. If you are like me and don’t have enough tins you
will have to bake the cake in batches.
2. With
your whisk of choice beat the butter, brown sugar and
vanilla until lighter in color and slightly increased in volume, about 5
minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until each is fully incorporated.
3. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder and
salt into a bowl.
4. Alternate dry ingredients and buttermilk into creamed mixture,
Mix until just incorporated, or finish by hand gently. Fold mayonnaise into
batter with a whisk, until just blended.
5. Divide the batter evenly
into the tins. Bake for about 30 minutes. The cake is a bit gooey in nature so
will stay feeling quite soft to the touch and less springy than a classic
sponge cake. If a knife comes out clean, it’s done.
6. Transfer to wire wrack and leave to cool.
(recipe adapted from Sweetapolita)
Vanilla Icing:
227g unsalted butter, softened
750g icing sugar
125 ml double cream
3 tsps vanilla extract
1. With
an electric whisk, beat butter and icing sugar together on a low speed until
fully combined.
2. Add
cream and vanilla and whisk until fluffy and smooth.
