Strawberry Chocolate Buttercream Cake

Strawberry Chocolate Buttercream Cake

A good chocolate buttercream icing is a dangerous thing. After a single serving, I can resist most of the goodies created here but this stuff calls out to me if there are any leftovers at all. Combine it with some ripe sweet stawberries and a dark, moist, chocolate scratch cake and well... that's a recipe for a midnight fridge visit if I ever saw one!

Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup soured milk
1 cup black coffee
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla flavouring

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes.

Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 inch cake pans, or one 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup water

Combine and bring to a boil. Continue to boil over medium heat without stirring until the mixture reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Meanwhile beat together to stiff peaks

6 egg whites at room temperature
¼ tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt

Slowly pour in the sugar syrup hitting the side of the bowl and not the beaters. Continue beating the frosting for 10-15 minutes until the meringue is completely cool. When completely cool, slowly begin to add, a few tablespoons at a time

2 cups softened unsalted butter

Beat until smooth after each addition.

Combine and melt in a double boiler:

1 pound chocolate, chopped in small pieces
½ cup butter

Add to the meringue mixture and beat well until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency. This may take 15 minutes or so and you may have to chill the frosting for several minutes before beating it again to get it to stiffen. Alternatively, you can place the frosting bowl in an ice bath while continuing to beat constantly until the icing stiffens sufficiently.

1 1/2 pounds fresh ripe strawberrues, cleaned , dried and de-stemmed.

Add a thin layer of frosting to the bottom layer of the cake. Arrange the strawberries to cover the entire surface of the bottom layer. Using a piping bag, or just a large ziploc bag with a corner snipped off, squeeze the frosting in and around all of the strawberries until they are completely covered. Top with the second cake layer and frost the entire outside of the cake. Garnish with additional strawberries and a drizzle of chocolate ganache if you like.

Chocolate Ganache

Scald to almost boiling:

1/4 cup whipping cream

Pour the scalded cream over

1 cup chocolate chips

Let stand for 5 minutes before stirring until smooth. You can use a piping bag to drizzle the ganache over the cake or , as with the frosting, just snip a small corner off a ziploc bag to serve the same function.