This thing is a pure decadence on a plate – over-the-top decadent – but for that rare, special occasion or someone, it represents devotion. Heavy, heavy devotion. Because nothing says ‘love’ like a chocolate butter cake iced with French buttercream, right?
The addition of raspberry jam is due to a dear colleague’s lament over a cake she used to get when she lived in San Diego from Extraordinary Desserts. She missed it, so I made this cake for her birthday… and she was kind enough to say it compared favorably.
If you use room-temperature preserves, you shouldn’t need to heat them, but if the jam is very firm, a gentle heating will help with spreadability. The buttercream is its own entity. Seriously – have a stent and a surgeon at the ready…
Super Rich Chocolate Raspberry Cake
½ c. plus 3 T. Dutch-processed, unsweetened cocoa
1 liquid c. boiling water
3 lg. eggs, room temperature
1 ½ T. vanilla extract
235 grams sifted cake flour (~2 ¼ c., but weighing your flour and sugar is so the way to go)
300 grams sugar (~1 ½ c.)
1 T. baking powder
1 t. kosher salt
1 c./2 sticks softened butter
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Line two, 9-inch cake pans with parchment rounds. Spray olive oil or avocado oil to lightly coat the interiors of the pans. Set aside. Mix the dry cocoa powder and boiling water in a bowl until smooth, then set aside to come to room temperature.
In another bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla, then whisk in half of the cooled chocolate mixture.
In the bowl of your electric stand mixer, add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix for 20 seconds on low using the paddle attachment, then add the butter and rest of the cocoa water until everything is moistened. Increase to medium speed and beat for 1 ½ minutes. Add the rest of the egg/chocolate mixture in 3 batches (it’s okay to eyeball this part), beating 20 seconds between additions.
Pour the batter into prepared cake pans – they’ll be half full – and bake 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Rest the layers in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool on a rack.
Chocolate Buttercream
6 lg. egg yolks
150 grams sugar
½ c. corn syrup
6 oz. melted, cooled bittersweet chocolate
2 c./4 sticks softened butter
2 T. rum
Lightly oil a Pyrex or similar liquid measuring cup and place next to your stove top. In a heavy-duty saucepan, bring the sugar and corn syrup to a rolling boil – the surface will be completely covered with bubbles. You will need to stir constantly. Immediately scrape the syrup into the prepared measuring cup after the rolling boil is achieved.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks until light in color. Carefully (read: pouring along the side of the bowl and not into the whisk, wherein the syrup will splatter the sides of the bowl rather than incorporate into the yolks – in a slow, small, steady stream. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the melted chocolate, then the butter until fully incorporated. Stir in the rum.
Assembly:
2 cake rounds
1 recipe of prepared chocolate buttercream
½ c. chopped semi-sweet chocolate
1 c. good quality raspberry jam
Fresh raspberries
Place one of the cake layers on a plate, pipe a thick rim of buttercream around the top outer edge of the cake round. Fill with half of the jam, using an offset spatula to spread. Fit the second cake round directly over the top of the bottom layer/filling. Crumb coat the cake and place in the freezer until the frosting is hard. Remove from freezer.
Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining buttercream, then press the chopped semi-sweet chocolate around the sides. Spoon the remaining raspberry jam on the top of the cake and dot with fresh raspberries.
Errin Stevens blogs, bakes, gardens, and chases dust bunnies at her home in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her three novels – Updrift, Breakwater, and Outrush – are available everywhere fine books are sold, and you can visit her web site at https://errinstevens.com/
