Chocolate Buttercream Sponge Cake

Chocolate Buttercream  Sponge Cake

Edited :-

You must be wondering what this edited bit is. Well this is my gratitude to a lovely lady who is a wonderful teacher. When it comes to baking and cooking in general I cautiously take advice because taste is very subjective so the only way to take another passionate baker's advice is to trust the person and see his reasoning. I am honestly scared of using syrups because it makes my cakes too sweet and I don't care too much for that intense sweet taste but then when a very seasoned baker advised me to soak the cake in syrup I knew I must do it. By this time exactly half my cake was devoured by friends and family who thankfully liked it. In fact the friend even asked for more . So I took my cake out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature then put a strip of butterpaper on the cake and brushed the sponges with syrup. Now I used the syrup sparingly yet because the sponge was well made it soaked it up very well. Then I refrigerated it for the cake to set and had  a sliver and even though it was a bit sweet than I would have preferred I would recommend the soaking with syrup because it gives the sponge a delightful flavour. I am have mentioned the steps required to soak the sponge in the recipe so please do use it. Of course I doubled the amount of syrup for the whole cake :) Hope you enjoy this sinful indulgence. before I move on to my experience with the cake here is a sneak peak into this talented lady's facebook page Sinfully Your's  and she takes regular cooking classes in our very own city of Dreams, Mumbai . Contact her for a great learning experience. 

I bake for various reasons. Sometimes I bake because I like the idea of having a moist cake to accompany my tea . Usually these cakes are butterbased moist and delightfully fluffy yet rich enough which does not need any frosting and then there are other times for celebration such as meeting one of my closest friends after a long time.

Such special occasions call for a special frosted cake. Funnily both of us love butter based frosting less cakes but I never leave such opportunities to make a nicely frosted cake and usually frosting for me means a silky smooth buttercream.

So lets move on top the cake

I have already shared the recipe for the fluffy sponge cake for which the technique is as important as the ingredients used.

Here is the recipe for the foam sponge cake

Once you have baked the cake let it cool down completely before slicing it. You need to make four rings.

Now for the buttercream and ganache :-

For the buttery chocolaty buttercream

300gm butter softened at room temperature
150gm dark chocolate chopped well
200gm to 300gm icing sugar
2 to 3 tbsp cocoa powder
A few tbsp of milk to loosen the frosting

For the syrup :-

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the ganache

65gm dark chocolate
90ml to 100ml cream

You should ideally soak the cake with the syrup a day ahead of frosting.  Once the cake cools down completely just soak each ring with about Half a tbsp to 1 tbsp with the syrup and then refrigerate.

The next day simply whip the butter to a smooth fluffy consistency add the sugar bit by bit and keep tasting . Now temper the chocolate by chopping it on a clean water-free surface and melting it on a double boiler and then let it cool down and slowly add this to the fluffed up buttercream beating it constantly so that the fluffiness is not hampered. Keep whisking and add the cocoa powder till you have a beautiful fluffy buttercream frosting.

Now spread a thick layer of buttercream on one cake ring and let ti get set in the refrigerator for 15 minutes and do this with all the rings till you reach the final one then give a single coat to the entire cake and let it rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Now make the ganache by warming up the cream and pouring it over the chopped chocolate and stirring ti till you get a smooth consistency. Let it cool down for 5 minutes and give the cake a coat with the ganache and then decorate if desired.

Let this set in the refrigerator. Decorate with some buttercream and enjoy with friend sand family.

Tip :-

This cake is a buttercream lover's delight so use thick layers so that you use up most of the buttercream leaving about 1 cup for decoration.

French Buttercream

French Buttercream 

Its silky, creamy , smooth and one of the best frosting ever 

After refrigeration 

Before refrigeration 

Now here is the only fact that makes any sense when it comes to frosting, it is hugely subjective. So while some like it fluffy , some like it rich and so if you are the kind who loves frosting with whipped cream you might or might not like Buttercream frosting since it is rich, creamy yet fluffy and melts in the mouth but when your base is butter you cannot but have a rice silky taste to it. I for one am crazy for butter cream and after much trial and errors found my favourite Buttercream recipe. You see there are a number of ways to make buttercream, you can use the most simple format of butter and sugar alone which is way too heavy for my taste, then there is the meringue based one which is very light and airy and needs you to whip your egg whites separately but I for one am simply in love with French buttercream, silky, smooth, fluffy which vanishes in the mouth it is a pure sinful delight. Of course I am yet to try the custard based buttercream but well with the huge success of this French sensuous buttercream I for one have the highest respect for French cuisine. This is egg based, more precisely yolk based but as far as the smell is concerned with the whipping that goes in I for one have never found it smelly, besides if you have had egg based mousse you are good to go. Now living in a tropical country means it is hot and humid the entire year round and so I use a little bit of double dairy cream. Besides, since I use a non electrical hand held whisk I have found that this addition of cream results in that homogeneous silky buttercream else it is not homogeneous (all from experience)

So what you need is :-

6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/4th cup water
350 gm butter
120 gm double dairy cream whipped to soft peaks

Whipped cream 

Whip your cream and keep it in the refrigerator. Now prepare your syrup before you begin work and let it cool for a few minutes while you whip your egg yolks to a stage where it is pale and fluffy and then slowly incorporate the syrup bit by bit. You have to be super fast with the whisking else the eggs will scramble  from the heat.  What you shall first have when you have whipped all that syrup with the yolks is a foamy mixture , well you do need a lot of strength (of course if you are using an electric whisk I wouldn't be able to help and it would take you less time and not require too much skill but I for one am with the French when it comes to cooking and like it hand held old fashioned )

Before the addition of syrup 

Whip this till it reaches the stage of whipped cream and then add the butter bit by bit for a homogeneous butter cream once you have incorporated all of this slowly fold in the whipped cream . If you are adding any flavours do it now.  When making caramel flavoured buttercream you have to be extra careful since caramel has a very high temperature which can inevitably result in scrambled yolks. For that make a caramel sauce and incorporate that. If making coffee flavoured butte cream simply make 6 tablespoonful of strongly brewed coffee and whip with the butte cream .                      

Emulsion of egg yolks and sugar syrup 

                                                                                                            
Let it sit in the refrigerator for 5 minutes before using since ours is a tropical country but no more than 5 else it will become stiff  whip and use . With experience I have gained a valuable tip of using frosting in a tropical weather. Apply your first layer on the let it sit in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before applying the second cake base and then the frosting but do not let it sit for too long else it will before stiff and you shall not be able to make the base sit properly on the previous layer of buttercream.

Sample of frosting
(caramel frosting) 

Sample of Chocolate buttercream 

Sample of frosting caramel frosting