I made this cake for my good friend Lynn on her birthday! This cake is a 4 layer chocolate mud cake with fresh raspberry buttercream. It is frosted with black ganache and decorated with 14 carat gold leaf, pink cyclamens, and a chocolate sail.
It was so fun celebrating with Lynn! She made a delicious dinner of crab bisque, homemade rolls, and salad- yum! I love the Reeves family, they are so great!
I arranged the sail on this cake twice, one with the happy birthday cake topper to the side and one with it right in front. Which way do you like better? I ended up using the second option because I felt you could read the happy birthday better.
The cyclamens were a little difficult to work with, but the color really pops against the black ganache. The cyclamens are unusual because the petals fold in backwards! The stems also break off easily! If anyone has any tips on cake decorating with cyclamens please let me know! 🙂
The inside! Its not a very clear photo, we were too busy enjoying the party 🙂
Chocolate Mud Cake
Ingredients
Cocoa Powder 1/2 cup / 60 grams
Baking Powder 2 tsp
Baking Soda 1/2 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Water 3/4 cup / 180 ml
Soft Unsalted Butter 250 grams
Milk 1/2 cup / 120 ml
Eggs 4
Sugar 2 3/4 cup / 550 grams
Dark Chocolate 220 Grams chopped
Instant Coffee Powder 2 TBSP
Oil 2 TBSP
Preheat oven to 350 *. Line the base and sides of a 20 cm deep round pan with parchment paper. Make sure the parchment comes above the pan, since it will rise so much. You can also choose to spray and flour the pan. For this cake, I used three 8 inch cake pans so I wouldn’t have to tort.
Fresh Raspberry Buttercream
Ingredients
24 ounces fresh raspberries
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice
big pinch of kosher salt
3½ to 4½ cups powdered sugar
Directions
In a medium to large saucepan, cook down the raspberries until they’ve broken down and released their juices. They will be floating in their own liquid – super saucy. If you use frozen, this will take a little longer. Strain cooked down raspberries in a fine meshed sieve into a bowl, pressing down on them to get every bit of liquid out. You should have about 1 cup raspberry juice. Place this back in a clean saucepan and cook down until reduced to ½ cup. It should be thick – like chocolate syrup, and will be dark blood red. Set aside until completely cool (I put it in the fridge).
In a bowl, beat the two sticks of butter until creamy. Add in 2 cups of powdered sugar, the reduced raspberry juice, the lemon juice and huge pinch of kosher salt. Beat until creamy and uniform in color. Continue adding powdered sugar until you get a nice, thick, but still creamy consistency. I used a little less than 3½ cups. If you end up adding too much, drizzle in a couple of tablespoons of milk or cream until you reach the desired consistency. Set aside covered, at room temperature, until ready to assemble the cake.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
- 12 ounces chocolate chips
- 1 cup heavy cream
Directions
- Place the chocolate in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
- Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan and when it begins to bubble up, pour over the chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. Gently stir, starting in the middle and working your way outward, until the cream and chocolate are completely mixed. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside. Let the ganache sit at room temperature overnight.
Enjoy!
