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5 from 2 votes

Chocolate Birthday Cake

My ideal chocolate birthday cake: tender buttermilk chocolate cake, lathered in light-as-air chocolate fudge frosting.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Assembly Time10 minutes
Total Time1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 10 people
Author: Vicki @ Passionate Baker

Ingredients

for the cake

  • 250 g plain flour
  • 300 g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 50 g cocoa powder
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup strong coffee, cooled
  • 120 g salted butter, melted & cool

for the frosting

  • 85 g unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
  • 255 g icing sugar, sifted
  • 170 g salted butter, at room temp
  • 45 g full fat milk
  • 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions

for the cake

  • Preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease and dust the inside of with two 7-inch cake tins with cocoa powder; set aside. 
  • Sift all of the dry ingredients into a bowl and whisk to combine. Add all of the remaining ingredients, and mix with a whisk until homogenous.
  • Divide the batter evenly between the cake tins & bake in the preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out just clean; leave to cool in the tins for 15-minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

for the frosting

  • Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a medium saucepan filled with a few inches of simmering water (not touching) melt. Once melted, set aside.
  • In a large bowl, use an electric whisk to combine the icing sugar, butter, milk, & vanilla. Pour the melted chocolate into the bowl & beat until the frosting is smooth & light brown in color, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

to assemble

  • Using a serrated knife, cut each of the cake layers in half, giving you four even thin layers.
  • Place one layer of cake directly onto the cake stand, spread a layer of frosting smoothly across the top of the layer - I used 2 tablespoons between each layer - , and repeat until you've used up all the layers.
  • Spread a thin layer of frosting all around the cake, place the whole thing in the fridge for 15-minutes ( the crumb coat ), and then it comes out use the remaining frosting to properly frost the outside of the cake. Serve at room temp!