Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

If you are looking for a super rich, moist chocolate cake, this is it!

Source: I found it on the internet, and for the life of me I can’t find the site I pulled it from, but I do know it is an adaptation of Smitten Kitchen’s recipe.

The frosting, is a recipe I got a long time ago, and although it has Ovaltine in it (weird I know) it is really, really good.  It is worth it to buy the Ovaltine – you will want to make this one again.

I did not read the recipe very well, because it clearly says to prepare 3 cake pans and for whatever reason I did not see that, and only prepared 2.  So needless to say, I have some over flow, and my cake is only a 2 layer cake instead of a 3. 

Cake layers:

3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 ½ cups hot brewed coffee

3 cups sugar

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

¾ teaspoons baking powder

1 ¼ teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

¾ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ cups buttermilk; well shaken

¾ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 F and butter three 9 inch round cake pans.  Line bottoms with rounds of parchment paper and butter the paper.

Place chopped chocolate into a bowl and pour hot coffee on top.  Let sit, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

In a large bowl mix together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Using your stand mixer, beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon coloured (about 3 minutes).  Slowly add the oil, buttermilk, vanilla and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well.  Add the sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.

Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until tester inserted in center comes out clean, 35-45 minutes.

Cool the layers completely in pans on rack.  Run a knife around the edges and invert layers onto racks.  Carefully remove parchment paper and cool the layers completely.

I always make the cake a day before, so I leave mine in the cake pans to cool completely, then wrap with press and seal wrap, refrigerate overnight, and remove from the pans when I am ready to ice.  Note – if you are going to use this method – your pans have to be very well greased or you will never get the cake out.

Raspberry Filling:

600 g bag of frozen raspberries, thawed

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Puree the raspberries in a food processor.  Press the puree through a fine-mesh strainer with the back of a spoon, removing the seeds.  Heat the puree in a small pot with the sugar and cornstarch until mixture boils, stirring constantly.  As it boils, it should thicken quickly.  Let it thicken to about the consistency of cold maple syrup.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing:

1 ½ cups butter

1 cup cocoa powder

¾ teaspoon salt

4 cups icing sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

¼ cup milk

1 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup Ovaltine

Cream together butter, cocoa powder and salt.  Turn off mixer, scrap down the sides of the bowl and add powdered sugar.

Turn the mixer on low and mix in the powdered sugar while adding the milk and vanilla.  As the sugar incorporates, raise the speed of the mixer to beat the frosting.  Beat until smooth.

In a 2 cup measuring glass, stir together the cream and Ovaltine.  Turn mixer speed to medium and pour cream mixture into frosting in a slow, steady stream, until you’ve reached the desired consistency.  You may not need the full amount of Ovaltine and cream.

To assemble the cake:

Make sure your cake is cold before assembling; this makes it easier to control the crumbs. 

I put a thin layer of frosting on to each layer before toping with raspberry sauce.

If you like a really think icing, you might want to make another half batch to ice a 3 layer cake.