Hard to believe but this recipe honestly didn't seem to call for that much chocolate at the outset. Once I got going though, there was an explosion of chocolate errywhere!! Since baking this cake, I have found chocolate frosting in my hair, all over my refrigerator shelves, on a hoodie and some shorts, and last but not least, on my car door. Oh wait, just spotted some on this keyboard as well. Oi vey! :)
The other day, I was perusing through Pinterest of all places and stumbled upon this recipe from the Liv for Cake blog. I fell in love with her website, mostly because it is an endless stream of beautiful cakes one after another. The ingredients are pretty straight forward - I just used the real basic Hershey's cocoa powder and I honestly think the taste came out just fine. Some may disagree and say go big or go home with the fancy brand cocoa powder, but hey, I'm on a budget. Now, that baking has entered into my life by storm - I ESPECIALLY need a baking budget alone. I'm sure I'm not the only one haha!
As for the french silk icing, I did end up using caster sugar, even though she says you can use granulated. I mentioned in a previous post about how to make caster sugar in a food processor and it's now my go to. I love the smooth and seamless look it leaves with icing - no granules in sight! I forewent the chocolate sprinkles - mainly because I just forgot them and just now discovered that on there NOW as I review the recipe. Woops :)
Onto decoration - this was a first for me and boy, did I learn a lot of lessons the hard way! The chilling process for the frosting is definitely there for a reason. I found that if I even let the piping bag sit out too long, my pretty little spiky star shapes turned quickly into floppy-looking lily pads within seconds. I definitely recommend keeping all of your frosting chilled until you are absolutely ready to use it. If you've got a horrendous mess to clean up (like yours truly did), pop that icing bag right back in the fridge and let it cool. I found that when I did - my stars were back and at it! Here's a little vid of my process:
This recipe shows putting a layer of the star decoration on the first cake and then again, on top of the second layer. I attempted this and it initially looked great, until my whole cake started to sag and lean to the right. One of my bottom layers had a huge chunk missing from the baking process and I ended up having to fill it with frosting to even it out, then frost the sides. It was a honest to goodness HOT mess. The end result did not look as pretty as the picture in the recipe... I couldn't even post the final product on here but eh, I guess it could be a good contribution to the Netflix show Nailed It! :)
The taste made up for my decoration woes. The chocolate was rich, not overpowering, and definitely moist and silky as the recipe claims! I would definitely make this again for a decadent affair. Check out more of Liv for Cakes recipes on her blog!
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