Chocolate Drip Birthday Cake

This cake was a special bake for a beautiful girl who turned fifteen.  She wanted a cake that was chocolate or maybe vanilla.

I decided to combine both together and make a marbled cake with different elements of chocolate throughout the cake.

This Chocolate Drip Birthday Cake is made of a delicious vanilla marbled cake and filled with a smooth chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream in between the layers.  It's covered in Swiss meringue buttercream and decorated with a chocolate drip, chocolate pieces in the middle of the cake and sprinkles of course.

This cake was fun to make as you can add any of your favourite chocolates as decoration in the middle of the cake.

Happy Baking xo

Chocolate Drip Birthday Cake

Ingredients

· 60 grams unsalted butter
· ¾ cup caster sugar
· ¼ cup oil
· 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons plain flour
· ¾ teaspoon baking powder
· ¼ teaspoon salt
· 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
· 2 eggs
· ½ cup milk
· ¼ cup dark chocolate (melted)

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

· 4 egg whites
· 300 grams caster sugar
· 400 grams unsalted butter (room temperature)
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1 teaspoon cocoa powder

Chocolate Ganache Drip

· ½ cup dark chocolate
· ¼ cup cream

Decorations

· Sprinkles (glamour & sparkle – queenfinefoods)
· Chocolates (your choose of favourites)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Spray three round 6-inch tins with oil and dust some flour around the tins.

3. Place caster sugar, butter and oil into a large bowl and beat until light and creamy. This will take a few minutes.

4. Add one egg at a time and whisk until combined before adding the next egg.

5. Add sifted flour, baking powder and salt a third at a time and mix until combined.

6. Add vanilla extract and milk, and mix until combined. Do not overmix.

7. Divide mixture into four bowls. In one bowl, add melted chocolate and mix well.

8. Spoon the remaining three mixtures into the prepared baking tins. Place a spoonful of the chocolate mixture in the middle of each and using a skewer or butter knife run it through the mixture to create the chocolate swirls.

9. Bake in oven for 18 – 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in pans for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Place egg whites and caster sugar into a large bowl. Place over a pot of simmering water on low. Whisk until the sugar has dissolved completely. To check if the sugar has dissolved, rub a bit of the mixture between your fingers.

Remove from heat and using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat on medium speed for about 10-15 minutes or until mixture has completed cooled.

Remove whisk attachment and replace with the paddle attachment. Slowly add portions of the room temperature butter and beat well before adding next portions.

Once all butter has been added, beat on high for a several minutes and then reduce speed to low speed and continue to beat for another few minutes to remove air bubbles.

Remove a third of the buttercream and add one teaspoon of cocoa powder and mix until combined to make the chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream for in between the layers of the cake.

Both frostings are ready for use.

Chocolate ganache drip

Warm the cream by heating in microwave at 20 second intervals and then pour over chocolate and allow it to sit for 2 minutes.

Stir until all combined. Allow it to cool down to the desire drip consistency.

Assembling the cake

Cut off the tops of the three cakes if needed to make them even.

Place one cake onto the cake board, securing it with a bit of buttercream at the bottom.

Pipe or spread some of the chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream around the top of the cake and stack the next cake and do the same to the remaining cakes.

Lightly crumb coat the whole cake and place into the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

Create the finally coat on the cake using the Swiss meringue buttercream and place cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Pour the chocolate ganache over the cake and allow it to drip down the side.

Pipe swirls around the top of the cake and add sprinkles.

Finally, place some chocolate pieces in the centre of the cake and drizzle some chocolate ganache over the chocolate pieces.

Tips

· Batter makes 3 x 6-inch round baking tins.
· You can also line the bottoms of the tins with some baking paper.
· Allow cakes to cool completely before icing and decorating.
· You can also place the chocolate ganache into a squeeze bottle to help form more even drips.

Did you bake this recipe?

Remember to tag @youcanbakeittoo on Instagram & hashtag #youcanbakeittoo 

so I can see your wonderful bakes.