Today I have the day off from my student teaching position at Columbia Middle School AND no SJSU classes AND I've just finished 6 weeks of long-term substituting and a weekend at the Western Cup Quidditch Tournament. In short, it is a day for relaxing and doing some tasty baking to reward myself for several jobs well done. I decided to combine a few different recipes I read about and create a tasty layer cake, half vanilla and half chocolate, with rose filling and a chocolate ganache frosting. All my favorite things! Introducing: The Black and White Rose Cake.
Vanilla Bean Cake Recipe
(makes one round 9" cake)Original recipe here
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare pan. I like to cut a piece of parchment paper for the bottom but if I don't have any, I grease it with butter or Crisco and sprinkle flour on it.
Combine in a small bowl and set aside:
3 egg whites (room temp)
2 tbsp milk (room temp)
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
Innards of 1 vanilla bean*
In a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, mix:
1 1/2 cups of cake flour
3/4 cup, plus 2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
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| Such! Pretty! Batter! |
Add and mix on medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes:
6 tbsp butter, at room temperature and cut into cubes
1/4 cup, plus 2 tbsp milk
Scrape sides of bowl. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla mixture in three separate batches, mixing at medium for 20 seconds after each.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes in pan and then slide knife around edges and turn cake out onto plate or your hand. Flip onto rack to cool all the way.
*Not sure how to get at the tasty vanilla bean goodness? Take out a cutting board and push the bean down, straight and flat. Take a small knife and slice it long-ways, down the center. Open in up with your fingers and scrape out all the bean-y goodness into your bowl with the back of the knife. When you're done, you can throw away the bean OR you can use it to start making your own homemade vanilla extract. Save it in a little spice jar (cut it up if you need to). Once you have 6-8 beans in there, add clear vodka and let it sit for 5-6 weeks. When it smells more like vanilla and less like vodka, use it :)
Chocolate Cake Recipe
(makes one round 9" cake)
Original recipe here
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare pan. I like to cut a piece of parchment paper for the bottom but if I don't have any, I grease it with butter or Crisco and sprinkle flour on it.
Chop up:
1 12/ oz semi-sweet chocolate
Fill a saucepan with about 2-3 inches of water and place a metal bowl (larger than the saucepan) in/on it. Fill the bowl with chopped chocolate and place the whole thing on the stovetop. Turn on the heat and let the chocolate melt, scraping the bowl occasionally with a silicon spatula. When the chocolate is melted, remove it from the heat and let it cool somewhat (but not too much - remember, it is solid at room temperature).
1/2 cup, plus 1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
Mix in a stand mixer, 4-5 minutes:
1/2 cup butter (room temp, cut in cubes)
1 1/2 cup sugar
Add, one at a time:
2 eggs (room temp)
Add the melted chocolate to the stand mixer. Be careful that it isn't hot enough to cool the eggs.
Combine in a small bowl:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
Alternate adding to the stand mixer the bowl of milk/water and the bowl of dry ingredients, mixing between each addition, and beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
Pour batter into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. In this recipe, I thought it was a bit much batter for one pan. I only used about 2/3 of the batter for the cake and the rest I poured in a donut pan and made 6 donuts with it.
Cool for 10 minutes in pan and then slide knife around edges and turn cake out onto plate or your hand. Flip onto rack to cool all the way. Be careful! This cake was a bit crumbly for me and I was really worried it would fall apart. If it does, do not despair! You can put it back together when you make the layers by gluing it with frosting :)
Rose Buttercream Filling Recipe
(I made 2 batches of this to fill the cake and have a crumb layer)Mix in stand mixer:
1/2 cup (2 sticks) butter (room temp)
4 cups confectioners sugar
After 2 minutes, scrape sides of bowl and mix in:
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
pinch of salt
After 2 more minutes, scrape sides of bowl and add:
1/2 tsp rosewater
A few drops of food coloring (until you have desired shade of pink)
Mix until combined.
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| Freezer ready cakes |
Assembly:
Wrap cooled cakes in plastic wrap and place in freezer for ~30 minutes. This makes them easier to trim.
When they are cold, use a long serrated knife to slice off the rounded top. My cakes turned out pretty flat, so I didn't have to do this. I did, however, have to trim the edges of the vanilla cake, because they were a but dark and crusty. So I trimmed the chocolate cake too, to fit. Then, cut the cake across the middle, creating two 9" circular layers. Do this to each cake.Next, place the bottom layer of vanilla bean cake on the cake plate, cut side up. Spread a layer of rose butter cream on top, making sure you take it to the edges and try to keep it level.
Place the top layer of chocolate cake on top. Spread a layer of rose butter cream on top.
Place the other layer of vanilla bean cake on top and spread on more rose buttercream.Finally, place the bottom layer of chocolate cake on top, cut side down. Patch up the side of the cake so there are no buttercream-less holes and there is no buttercream sticking out where it doesn't belong.
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| Crumb layer! So important! So helpful! |
Now, use the remaining frosting to make a crumb layer on your cake - a thin layer of frosting all around that will allow you to spread the ganache evenly without the cake crumbling and ruining the smooth look. When you are finished, wrap plastic wrap around the cake and refrigerate it for another 20 minutes or so while you make the ganache.
(For more detail instructions on layered cake building, with more and better photos, check this site out).
Chocolate Ganache Recipe
Chop up:
8 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate
Set aside in a heatproof bowl.
Heat in a saucepan, while stirring:
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| In the middle of ganache-spreading |
When the whipping cream is boiling, pour it over the chopped chocolate and stir with a spatula, until the chocolate is melted and combined. Let is rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. Then remove your cake from the refrigerator take off the plastic wrap, and pour the ganache on top. Spread it with a knife so it runs down the sides of the cake and make sure the cake is evenly covered. You can eat it immediately, but I like to let it sit until it firms up a bit (you can speed this up by putting it in the refrigerator again, but don't plastic wrap it this time).
And we're done!
Ta-Da!
