chocolate buttermilk layer cake | the ultimate birthday cake | a donna hay recipe

chocolate buttermilk layer cake | a donna hay recipe

190 grams of butter, chopped in to cubes
1 1/2 cups of water
1/2 cup of cocoa, sifted
3 x cups of plain flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons of bicarb soda, sifted
3 x cups of caster sugar
3 x eggs
3/4 cups of buttermilk*
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

chocolate cream cheese icing

100 grams of butter, softened
500 grams of cream cheese
2 x cups of icing sugar, sifted
1/2 cup of cocoa, sifted

• Preheat the oven to 160℃ and grease and line two small round cake tins.
• Add the butter, water and cocoa to a medium sized saucepan and heat over a medium heat until the butter has melted. (Stirring with a wooden spoon as it melts).
• In a mixing bowl, sift the flour and bicarb soda together and add the sugar.
• Pour the wet chocolate mixture in to the flour, whisking constantly until combined nicely.
• Add the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and continue to whisk until combined.
• Pour the batter in to the prepared tins and bake for 65 minutes or until a skewer is inserted and comes out clean. (Change the cakes around half way through the cooking time so that they cook evenly).
• Once cooked, let the cakes cool still in their tins for ten minutes and then turn them out on a wire rack to cool completely.
• To make the icing – simply add the butter and cream cheese to a stand mixer and beat for 6 minutes until creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to incorporate everything properly. Then add the sifted icing sugar and cocoa and mix for another 6 minutes until combined.
• When ready to assemble the cake, using a sharp serrated knife, slice the cakes in half. You will also need to slice the top of the cake off so that you get each cake round as flat as possible. (Reserve the cake that you discard to dip in the icing as a treat to eat now).
• You want to place the bottom layer of cake on whatever plate or cake stand you want to present the cake on, and then add a good dollop of icing, spreading it as evenly as possible** and going right to the edges of the cake. (It looks nice if the icing spills out over the sides a little bit).
• Keep layering so that you have icing between each cake round and icing smothered over the top. I use my knife to ‘swirl’ the top layer of icing.

Lo’s tips

• *If you don’t have any buttermilk, you can use regular milk and add a dash of white vinegar, to ‘sour’ it.
• **I get a mug of boiling water from the kettle to dip my knife in to so that the icing spreads more easily.
• This is a good recipe to make with the littlies as the cake mixture doesn’t require the mix master so little hands can whisk the batter.
• Obviously go nuts decorating this cake however you see fit. Add sprinkles, smarties, fresh strawberries or whatever you like.
• And don’t forget the birthday candles!