Cafe Latte Turtle Cake

I love chocolate cake... love it! This past week, someone handed me a recipe while I was at the Veterans Hospital with my fiancee and it looked amazing. So, I decided to make it for our Easter celebration. His family had the celebration a week early this year, so it was yesterday.

The cake was a huge success, they ate the whole thing. I love it!! So good. The frosting is like eating fudge and the layers were very moist and chocolaty  without being too chocolate or too rich. This might be the chocolate cake I always make going forward! 

Cafe Latte Turtle Cake: 

Cake Ingredients: 

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup buttermilk

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 cups all purpose flour

1 3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 TBS baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

1. Grease 3 9 inch cake pans with Crisco. Then dust them with cocoa powder as if you were flouring the pan. Preheat your oven to 350.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, and vegetable oil.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. 

4. Gradually beat the egg mixture into the flour. Your batter will have a brownie like consistency at this point. Scrape down the sides of your bowl. 

5. Gradually beat in the hot coffee. This will make your batter much thinner. Be sure to scrape the bottom of your bowl and the beater(s) and mix again to get all the thicker batter incorporated. 

6. Pour into your prepared pans and bake at 350 for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted the center comes out clean. The batter will appear somewhat shallow in the pans. 

7.Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove the layers from the pans to cooling racks to cool completely. 

8. Build your cake, by layering cake, frosting, and caramel sauce as desired. Nuts would be a great addition to this cake. 

Caramel Sauce recipe here. 

Frosting recipe here. 

Chocolate Cake

So, yesterday was St Patrick's Day and I wanted to make a festive desert for the occasion. I looked around for awhile and all the recipes I found were either mint, lime, pistachio or contained alcohol. My fiancee hates mint and lime, so those two were out. We don't keep liquor in the house, so that was out as well.

So, I decided to make a chocolate cake with green frosting. Simple and still festive. Warning... I do not make beautiful cakes, but I make very tasty ones!

 Chocolate Cake:

3/4 cup butter softened (I use unsalted)
3 eggs (at room temp)
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cup milk

1. Bring all ingredients to room temperature. This step applies to all baking. Cold eggs can shock your batter and change to texture of your cake.
2. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans. I use Crisco and flour for this step.

3. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. This step ensures the cocoa is evenly distributed through the batter and makes for a fluffier cake.

4. Cream the butter in a bowl using an electric mixer (I use a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, but you CAN do this with a handheld mixer.)
5. Gradually add the sugar to the butter, beating on a medium speed until the butter and sugar mixture is light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and beat again.
6. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until everything is just mixed before adding the next egg.
7. Add the vanilla and beat until mixed.
8. Add the flour and cocoa mix to the batter (about 3/4 cup at a time), alternating with milk (about 1/2 cup at a time), beating on slow until just mixed after each addition. You should start and end with flour.
9. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds to make sure everything is mixed thoroughly.
10. Pour into your prepared cake pans and bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

I use Wilton Cake strips when baking my cakes. These are strips of fabric that you soak into water and wrap around the cake pans. The make your cake level because they slow down the baking of the outside of the cake. You can find these on Amazon.

11. Once the cake is done, cool in the pans for 10 to 15 minutes. Then remove from pans and cool on a wire rack until completely cooled.

Frost as desired. I made Light Chocolate Buttercream and dyed it green for the holiday.