HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARJI!
My little brother turned 15 on Monday (23rd). Yeah I know 2 days before Christmas, ain’t he a lucky fella.
For months Arji has asked me to make him a fudge cake. And for months I have mugged him of. So since it was his birthday I thought he deserved a homemade chocolate birthday cake (marks & spencer’s can suck it!). This is a 6 layer chocolate cake filled with marshmallow and ganache frosting, yum. I feel bad since with Ajay’s birthday cake, it kinda went downhill (I’ll give you the dets later. All I’m say is look at the pics below.
Okay so this recipe is from ‘Sweetopia’. Not sure if you’ve heard of them. I was basically looking for ‘inspirational’ cakes when I went through all the bakeries I stalk and found this recipe on foodnetwork. It’s known as a s’more cake, but I like to think of it as Arji’s cake! It literally is him all over; he loves fluff, and eats more chocolate than a girl during her sensitive time of the month.
so what you see here is chocolate letters which i made. Hah just joking i brought them from Sainsbury’s, for like £3. worth it though?and then i found a box of chocolate letters for 2 pound something. I originally wanted the candles but then Debden Sainsbury’s is so shit they don’t sell ’em. But the chocolate was just as good. please don’t laugh at the slant! you’ll see how it became like that!
So as you cut into this beast you get this. Now I don’t know about you but this reminds me of Matilda. You know when Bruce has top eat the whole cake. That’s what I said to Arji, “I put my blood, sweat and tears into that cake. So EAT IT!” if you don’t remember it, then what is wrong with you? And if you haven’t watched Matilda, you have had a sad childhood.
The BEAST of all cakes.
Okay this slice is a little ‘damaged’. it shows 5 layers instead of 6, sorry i pulled the cake away to soon and forgot about the bottom layer.
Aimee was right, i could make it look like it does on the recipe. they had clean layers and everything. yet mine look like they’re mushing together. Sorry folks, maybe next time.
Ingredients:
Sponge Cake
- 330g plain flour
- 600g GRANULATED SUGAR (not caster)
- 135g cocoa powder (please no hot chocolate powder)
- 1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 3 eggs always keep out of fridge!)
- 360ml buttermilk (or yoghurt mixed with a little milk to thinen)
- 360ml strong BLACK coffee, warmish-hot
- 180ml veggie oil
- 1 ½ tbsp. vanilla extract
Chocolate ganache frosting
- 450g butter, room temperature
- 500g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 250g dark chocolate, melted and slightly cooled (PLEASE USE 70%+ otherwise its gonna taste like shit)
- 120ml whipping cream
Marshmallow frosting
- 125g icing sugar
- 225g room temperature butter (make sure its not straight from fridge as it wont blend together and will become lumpy. Trust I’ve been there)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract (none of that essence shit please)
- 1 tub of Fluff
Instructions:
For the chocolate cake: Preheat oven to 350° F. Prepare three 8″ round cake pans (butter, line bottom with parchment paper, butter paper, dust with flour).
In bowl of electric mixer, sift all dry ingredients. Combine eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla in a measuring cup and beat lightly with a fork.
Add milk mixture to the dry ingredients mix for 2 minutes on medium speed (you may need the plastic splash-guard that comes with mixer). Divide batter evenly among prepared pans. (Batter will be thin.)
Bake for 20 minutes and rotate pans in oven. Continue to bake until toothpick or skewer comes almost clean (a few crumbs), about 12 more minutes. Cool on wire racks for 20 minutes then gently invert onto racks until completely cool.
I would make this a day in advance, so the cake is easier to trim after.
For the Chocolate Ganache Frosting:
In a bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine the icing sugar and butter and beat on low speed for about 1 minute.
Add vanilla and salt, and beat on low until well combined. Add the melted chocolate and beat on medium speed until smooth (about 2 minutes).
Add whipping cream and beat on med-high speed for another minute.
Use it when you are definitely going to use it right away as it stiffens up and turns into set ganache. I’m serious please use it right away, no faffing about!
For the Marshmallow Frosting:
In an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine butter and icing sugar on low until blended, about 1 minute. Add vanilla and mix on med-high for about 3 minutes.
Add marshmallow cream and mix on lowest setting for about 1 minute.
originally this recipe uses real marshmallows that you toast. I ended up taking them out. look at pictures below!
Assembly of the Campfire Delight Cake:
On cake board bigger than the cake! Put a small dollop of frosting. Cut your 3 cake layers each once horizontally with a long, serrated knife, so you have a total of 6 layers. i would suggest you place it on a turn table and keep the knife dead horizontal and light engrave around the cake. then slice through.
Place your first layer face-up on the board and cover with an even layer of the Marshmallow Frosting, leaving about 1/2″ around the edge. Place another cake layer face-up and repeat with Chocolate Frosting.
Repeat until you come to your final layer, which you will place face-down. If you find the cake too soft and unstable, put in refrigerator for a few moments to firm it up, then resume.
Frost entire outside of cake with remaining Chocolate Frosting. with any leftover frosting pipe on the top edge. i used a large plain nozzle and roughly looped the shell like piping. you can even make some plain butter cream and pipe pretty patterns etc. i’m making this again for Carol’s friend so i’ll show how else to decorate a cake.
I would recommend you crumb coat the cake first. that means ice it but using a thin layer of frosting. bung it in the fridge to firm up for 1/2 hour and then frost it properly. This way you don’t have to fight the crumbs away from spreading into the frosting.
excuse the fridge being cluttered, don’t forget it is Christmas time so my buddy the fridge is always stocked up! Plus i had to take a whole load out to make space for this bad boy!
see this is my disaster with the marshmallow frosting. i had to take out all the marshmallows because they were rock solid bits.
Handy tip for the butter to be room temp instantly is: stick it in warm water. this was given to me by Pat (my cake dec tutor). it honestly works and the butter doesn’t dissolve into the water, duh, because its fat!
okay so the original recipe is….
please don’t laugh at mine compared to theirs. Don’t forget i am a Amateur and they are professionals!
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