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Last week I posted a recipe for Orange Whipped Cream Cake. The cake was very moist, tasty and was full of spring flavors…it even made the Foodbuzz Top 9 on Friday. The cake was adapted from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes and the post included a giveaway for Rose’s cookbook. In order to enter the giveaway, I asked my readers to describe the best cake they had ever tasted.
I was excited to read every single comment; all of the cakes sounded divine and I will likely make many of them in the coming months! But one of the cakes would not leave my thoughts, it had me thinking about chocolate and espresso for days. One of my readers, Jessie posted a link to a Chocolate Cake with Espresso Buttercream from Oprah’s website. I was smitten with this cake at first glance and knew I had to make it immediately! Okay, not immediately because Jessie posted it at almost 10 pm, but I did make it a couple of days later! Before I get to the recipe for this fabulous cake, I first want to mention and link you to some (although I would love to list them all) of the other wonderful cakes my readers posted…
Peanut Butter Cake is Allie’s fave
Coconut Cake mentioned by Catey
Apple Pound Cake was Pam’s favorite
LaRae loves her Peppermint Ho-Ho-Ho Cake
Niki adores her Carrot Cake
Maria and her hubby are smitten with her Plum Nectarine Cake
Now I can move on to this stunningly gorgeous and absolutely delicious Chocolate Cake with Espresso Buttercream. This recipe originally appeared in the July 2004 edition of O Magazine and it may seriously be the absolute best cake I have ever made. The cake has a rich, deep, chocolate flavor and the buttercream has an amazing satin-like texture that pairs beautifully with the cake. The ganache, oh the ganache just puts it over the top and into the realm of pure bliss! If you are looking for a show-stopper, definitely give this cake a try! It takes a little time and effort, but it is very much worth every minute! Make this for Valentine’s Day and you will definitely impress your sweetie!
Oh and Congratulations to Sheena of the blog, The Hungry Panda. Sheena is the lucky winner of Rose’s Heavenly Cakes! I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have.
Chocolate Cake & Espresso Buttercream
Ingredients:
For the Cake
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
6 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup very hot water
For the Buttercream
4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter , softened
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon very hot water
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped (I used semisweet)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened and diced
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar
Directions:
For the Cake
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 15 1/2" x 10 1/2" jelly-roll pan with parchment paper; spray paper with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt at medium speed until blended. In another bowl, whisk eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Gradually beat egg mixture into flour mixture, about 5 minutes. Shift mixer to low speed; add hot water until blended. Pour batter into pan. Bake until toothpick comes out of the center clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool cake completely.
3. Invert cake onto a large wire rack; peel off parchment paper. Invert cake again onto a large cutting board. With a serrated knife, cut cake into equal thirds.
4. Set a large wire rack over a sheet of waxed paper. Arrange one cake layer on rack; spread half of buttercream evenly over top. Add another cake layer; spread top with remaining buttercream. Place remaining cake layer on top.
5. Pour ganache over top of cake, spreading with a spatula so it coats the sides. If ganache does not cover sides completely, pour any excess that has collected on the waxed paper back into bowl and spread again. Refrigerate cake until ganache sets, about 1 hour. Use two large spatulas to transfer cake onto a serving plate
For the Buttercream
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat egg yolks at medium speed until they become lemon colored and ribbon like when beaters are lifted, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1/4 cup water. Cook over medium-low heat, swirling pan occasionally, until sugar completely dissolves and syrup just comes to a boil. Increase heat to high; boil syrup until it registers 238°F on a candy thermometer. With the mixer on medium speed, immediately add syrup to beaten egg yolks in a thin, steady stream. Beat mixture until it cools to room temperature and is light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Gradually add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until completely incorporated. In a cup, dissolve espresso powder in hot water; beat into buttercream.
2. In a large bowl, combine chocolate and butter. In a small saucepan, heat cream and sugar over medium-high flame, stirring occasionally, until small bubbles appear around edge of pan. Pour hot cream over chocolate; stir until chocolate and butter melt and mixture is completely smooth. Cool, stirring occasionally, until thickened but not pasty, about 15 minutes.
Notes:
- I used semisweet chocolate for the ganache.
- I used a hot knive to cut the slices.
This recipe is from Oprah.com
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This cake was *so* perfect – gorgeous and delicious! Thanks for sharing!!
Oh my gosh, thank you for giving me this recipe! I absolutely loved it! The cake turned our SO well for me, I made it for my daughter’s birthday party, and her, and her friends loved it! (the parents did too!) It was great, this is the first recipe I have tried from you, and it was such a success, I will have to start using more! I found about this blog through a mom friend of mine, and I can’t wait to get more into it! Thanks!
Never really worked with ganache. Can it be piped??
I must admit I was a bit intimidated by this recipe but my son wanted a chocolate cake for his birthday, I have made numerous recipes from your site and I knew this cake would be out of this world! oh boy was it!! Everyone raved about it and could not believe I made it. It was moist, delicious, so flavorful- truly sinful!!! it will go in my “keep” file and will be making it again- on special occasions. My hips can’t take my making them too often… I made two recipes and the 5 sticks of butter made me a bit nervous….I used 1/2 of one of the recipes and made cupcakes with it, I cut a hole in the middle of the cupcakes for the buttercream, put the chocolate ganache on top, they were awesome as well!!!! the cupcakes disappeared in a heartbeat, i didn’t even get a chance to take a picture of it!! my 5 year old was over the moon asking me to make this for her birthday!!! thank you for sharing it, i am too becoming addicted to baking. You are such an inspiration!
Hi, this cake looks absolutely delicious. I was wondering how much butter is used in making the frosting, and how much butter is used in making the ganache?
I have a few questions, and I hope someone can answer. Will the ganache melt if left outside of the refrigerator? I’m planning to make one for a friend (actually, it’s done, yummy, YUMMY cake), but since he’ll be lagging it around until school’s over (which isn’t until 8pm, I’m giving it to him around 9am), I’m worried the ggnache might melt… Will it melt? I hope someone can reply, thanks!
Lazette-
The ganache shouldn’t “melt” when left at room temperature for such a short period of time. Hope it was delish!
-Jamie
This is definitely a recipe to try! I am always nervous cooking with eggs like that for the butter cream. Does adding the hot simple syrup cook the eggs? How do you avoid ending up with scrambled eggs?
this looks great, will definitely try.
I have a 10×15 Jelly Roll pan. Do you think all the batter will still fit? Or do I need to spring for the slightly larger pan.