Chocolate & Blackberry Layer Cake
I think handmaking someone a cake can be the perfect way to show them that you love them, or to make them feel appreciated. So this weekend I decided to show my appreciation for a dear friend with a Chocolate & Blackberry Layer Cake complete with blackberries picked right from my front yard, & super rich chocolate layers that are perfectly bitter & sweet. My idea for a perfect treat this weekend, and a something that also appeals to my husbands chocolate favoring tastebuds.
One of the sweet things in this life for me is morning baking. I live this life where getting up and rushing to get on either my computer, my phone, or my Peloton is the routine, so taking a day to break the routine & do something that’s purely fun first thing in the morning is a real treat. & it pairs great with morning coffee. & let’s be honest - you know you’re going to give that batter & frosting a little taste because a little lick of the spoon ain’t ever hurt nobody, and those sweet little taste tests pair very well with morning joe.
This particular cake making journey is the story of a real life cake of a real life home-cook who is not free from from a kitchen disaster every now and then. I went to bed Friday night with big plans to have a cake making session with my morning coffee, and it was a dreamy vision in my mind. Even better, it was my reality for a while. From getting my ingredients together, making my batter + mascarpone cream, & right up until putting my cakes into the oven. All that stuff was going great, and I felt great about this cake. Let’s fast forward to removing what appeared to be beautifully cooked chocolate cakes from their respective pans, and they stuck. Both fucking stuck, so this is particular cake making episode is about prevailing because I looked a bad cake situation right in the face, made frosting my friend, and overcame adversity.
First thing to note, and something I will NEVER SKIP going forward - use parchment paper. Tracing & cutting out little parchment paper circles that nestle perfectly in your cake pan - critical step. I will never again talk myself into believing buttering & flouring a cake pan is sufficient, and if in the middle of cake making I discover I’m out of parchment paper (which is exactly what happened this go around), I will get in the car & go buy some before proceeding. Truly that’s where I went wrong. I buttered and floured the surfaces of my cake pans, something I’ve done a dozen time and it’s always worked just fine, and this go around it was no bueno. Just chunks missing from the bottom, and the problem being the cracks in the top layer making for a very uneven surface, and really presenting an obstacle in achieving that level cake look that makes a cake look semi-decent. So the improvising started. I’ve watched too many episodes of cake wars to know that it can be saved. I turned to frosting to be my glue, praying to god that going this route would secure the right chunk of my top layer that was barely hanging on, and fill in the edges where we had some cake physically missing. I learned three critical things when repairing this cake
Cold frosting is necessary. Essentially, you want it warm enough to be spreadable to get it on the cake, but getting it cold before going forward to the next step is crucial to actually have your frosting hold. For me, globbing in some frosting to secure the bits of cake that were on the verge of totally separating from the cake worked only because I got my frosting into the crack where the repair was needed, and then got it ice cold so it would hold during the rest of the icing process.
If cake repair is on the agenda, go for 2 rounds of crumb coating. Round 1 should be actually repairing the cracks and filling the wholes to create an even surface, and lightly spreading the frosting around the surrounding surface of the cake. Once that is ice cold, then move to a crumb coating where you ice the whole cake. Having ice cold frosting over the more delicate areas will create stability and make it easier to go over the problem spots within the cake.
Go slow. Be gentle with the frosting, and don’t get impatient or discouraged with a slightly misshapen cake. Frosting does have the power to fix some minor flaws as long as you’ve got at least 80% of your cake intact & you give it a chance!
Despite the struggles with this cake, there are 2 things I love about it. First - it’s not overly sweet. I mean let’s not look past the fact that the frosting is straight butter & sugar, and with that rich, but the cake and the mascarpone cream are mildly sweet. & I quite like a cake that isn’t super sweet - it’s what keeps the chocolate flavor unmasked. The other thing - the blackberries are everywhere. In the cream, and the fun surprise is a fruity blackberry flavor in the chocolate buttercream. Blackberry syrup is mixed into the frosting so it has this fruity taste that is like a chocolate covered blackberry effect. So good!
& in the end it wasn’t an imperfect cake. But this isn’t the British Baking show, I was truly the only one clued in on this little cake-tastrophe, and it was good enough for my real life. & I was quite proud to have made the comeback I did. Most importantly, it was the perfect canvas for birthday candles, appreciated by friends & truly enjoyed for an end of the night treat, proving my point that sometimes a homemade treat is a great way to show someone how much you really like them.
For the Cake
1 + 1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 + 1/3 c. sugar
1 + 1/3 c. brown sugar
2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
2 + 2/3 c. flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 + 1/3 c. almond milk + 1 tsp lemon juice
1 + 1/3 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. hot coffee
For the Blackberry Syrup
2 heaping cups fresh blackberries
1/4 c. sugar
For the MascarponeCream
8 ounces mascarpone
3 tbsp powdered sugar
1/2 c. heavy cream
For the Frosting
1 c. butter
1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
6 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp almond milk
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 cake pans, and line the bottoms with a circle of parchment.
In a mixer with the paddle attachment & set on the medium speed, mix together the oil and sugar until combined. Add in the eggs until mixed in. Add in the flour, baking powder + soda, & the salt. Mix in the cocoa & the milk mixture, mixing until there are no lumps. Lastly, mix in the coffee. Pour the mixture evenly amongst the cake pans. Bake for 35 minutes or so, or until the cakes are fully cooked.
**After the cook time has finished, let them cool in the pans for 25 minutes before flipping out to cool on a wire rack.
While the cakes bake, place the blackberries & sugar in a saucepan over medium heat along with 2-3 tablespoons of water. Bring the fruit to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and let them for 10 minutes, watching carefully to ensure the mixture doesn’t burn. You should have a syrup that forms. When the cook time is up, transfer the blackberries to a strainer over a bowl. Let the liquid separate from the berries.
Make the mascarpone cream. Place the cream + sugar in a bowl and whisk until the cream firms up. Whisk in the mascarpone. Gently fold in the blackberries (not the syrup) into the cream.
Last step is making the buttercream. With a paddle attachment, beat the sugar, butter, and vanilla on medium-high speed for about 3-5. Add in the reserved blackberry syrup (about 2 tablespoons + more if desired), and the cocoa. Continue to combine until you have a smooth and fluffy frosting.
Prep your cakes by cutting any peaks off the bakes cakes to have a trimmed and relatively flat. Place the bottom cake on your cake tray. Spread the mascarpone cream right on top. Lay the second layer on top of the cream, placing the layer upside down so the bottom is actually the top of the cake. Continue to dirty ice the cake, and place in the fridge to cool for 20 minutes. Apply the remaining frosting to completely cover the cake.