Dark Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Peanut Butter Caramel Mousse Filling and Whipped Dark Chocolate Frosting

I have been playing around with my chocolate cake recipe for around 2 decades now. There was always some little thing I wanted different in it every time I made it. I feel like a go-to chocolate cake that’s easy and quick to make is something everyone should have in their back pocket. One you can whip out for birthdays, special occasions, tuesdays… you know, chocolate cake emergencies.

After making countless trials over the years when I made this one I wrote on the recipe “THIS IS IT!” and is it ever! For me, this is exactly what I want in a chocolate cake. Moist, super chocolaty, easy enough my kids or husband could make, and could be made with all manner of fillings to change it up.

I used this Wilton 10″ x 4″ cake pan set (makes 4 layers, plus a little extra for a few cupcakes) for pictures but it can be made into 2 (8 inch) rounds as well or a 9 by 13 pan, just bake longer.
You could easily adapt this recipe using a different type of chocolate. Milk chocolate will obviously be sweeter, I would use semi sweet for a pretty similar result to the dark chocolate. My go-to is the big pound plus dark chocolate bar from Trader Joe’s. (Just the plain dark chocolate, not the extra dark).
For the caramel sauce I used my homemade pink salt caramel sauce but you could also use a premade caramel sauce, I won’t tell.

Assembly goes quick, just make a dam of frosting around the outer edge:

Fill with mousse:
(This is really a flavored Chantilly cream)

Drizzle with caramel sauce:

And repeat. Frost outer cake with frosting. Add fancy shards if you’re feelin fancy.
Cupcakes are easy , just remove a hole of cake and fill with mousse. Overfill if you want extra mousse… and yes, you do! Top with frosting and a fancy shard!

Whipped Chocolate Frosting

This is my go to chocolate frosting. It is super fluffy and chocolaty but it when refrigerated it will set up a little so it’s great for piping too.

I usually use semi sweet chocolate chips but any will work. Milk chocolate will be sweeter of course and dark chocolate will have a deeper flavor.

My girls love it on a graham cracker if I have left over or it can be frozen in containers and leave on the counter to thaw overnight before using.

Spread on cake, sandwich between the best ever peanut butter cookies or my personal favorite, on angel food cake topped with lots of strawberries!

Best Ever Peanut Butter Cookies

I made it my mission to make the best every peanut butter cookies and while none of the batches were bad, these ones definitely reigned supreme.
Every way we made them: plain, with chocolate chips, with chopped dark chocolate, sprinkled with sea salt, sandwiched with fluffy whipped chocolate frosting. Every time and in every way they were amazing!
They even freeze really well which is always a bonus. Whenever I make treats I put some in small freezer containers for impromptu afternoon tea with my daughters or even just a quick treat.

Adding cornstarch to cookies makes them more tender and similar to using cake flour (which I never have on hand anyway).
For baking I usually use fine sea salt anymore because it disperses nicely throughout a dough but I’ve also used kosher salt with good results.
These cookies won’t need any flattening and while they will look a little puffy when they come out of the oven as they cool they will settle and flatten out.

Nut Free Dark Chocolate Cherry Macarons

Nothing quite says I love you like spending months figuring out how to make something safe for someone with allergies they otherwise wouldn’t be able to have. And honestly, I have yet to meet someone who does NOT like macarons, allergies or not. Once you have the method down they really are not difficult and no other cookie is quite so satisfying to master!
If you want to make these with almond flour you would just substitute that in place of the homemade pumpkin seed flour. I’ve also made them with sunflower seed flour but these are my favorite and the most mild if flavor (so you can pair them with a variety of fillings).
Macarons are best enjoyed the day after they are made after a rest in the refrigerator. I like to keep some in the freezer as well, just take out 20 minutes before serving.

If you want some more help making them read this post here with lots of pictures of the different steps to help walk you through it.

Sourdough Chocolate Cake

If nothing has convinced you that you need a sourdough starter in your life yet, this will. At least it convinces me that I can’t do without one!
This started as a recipe from King Arthur Baking and after I made some tweaks it is the favorite chocolate cake recipe in our house.
When I was a teenager working in a historical tea house I learned the trick of adding coffee to chocolate recipes. Since we don’t drink coffee I keep Pero (a coffee substitute) on hand for the trick but if you don’t have coffee or Pero it will still be one amazing chocolate cake!
This cake freezes very well too and keeps tender and fluffy and stays fresh much longer because of the sourdough.

Chocolate Carrot Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

I considered saving this recipe for next Easter… but there’s no way I’m waiting that long! Besides Mother’s Day is this weekend and this would make any mother happy! Unless she’s one of those people who don’t like chocolate… do those people really exist?
Anyways, last week I promised my daughter we could make a dessert one night. I had carrots that needed used up and my husband voted for carrot cake and my daughter wanted chocolate. So we mashed the 2 ideas together and this is my favorite chocolate cake now.
Super moist, flavorful, with a great texture. I resisted adding my usual excessive spices like I would a carrot cake since I wanted the chocolate to shine here. Just a bit of cinnamon compliments the chocolate.
And the chocolate cream cheese frosting is my new favorite child.
Not too sweet, with a little tang. Perfect.

A note on sifting. If you don’t have a sifter just use a fine sieve. Or even whisk together well. Cocoa powder tends to clump so this step helps make sure you don’t have any clumps of cocoa in the cake.

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