During Christmas, I visited my boyfriend and his family in Allen, TX about 30 minutes from Dallas. His sister was celebrating her 17th birthday, so I thought it would be nice to bake a cake for her. After searching on the internet for about an hour for an idea, I realized that she was picky so I opted for a chocolate cake.I remembered from my first internship, one of my co-workers brought a chocolate sour cream bundt cake that was extremely moist. I loved how it wasn't like other bundt cakes that I tried that are sometimes grainy and dry, so I looked for a chocolate sour cream cake recipe on the internet. I found one at Cooks.com and was pleased with the result. I always appreciate the simplicity of their recipes, and this one was no different.
Chocolate Sour Cream Cake
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups sour cream
- 3 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- dash of cinnamon
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 1/3 cup water
Beat eggs and sugar together until light; add sour cream and dry ingredients.
Dissolve cocoa in warm water and add to batter.
Pour into 3 greased 9-inch layer pans.
Bake at 350°F until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean (about 25-30 minutes).
Because I was layering this cake, I needed some fillings. I decided one layer would be filled with a chocolate ganache and another would be filled with a white chocolate cream. Both are fairly simple and worth the extra few minutes to make your cake absolutely scrumptious. The chocolate ganache increases the moisture and the white chocolate cream is a light, fluffly filling that gives your tongue a taste of something other than chocolate.
Chocolate ganache
- 9 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
Heat heavy cream over medium heat. Let it come to a boil but be sure to watch it as it will easily boil over the pot.
Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until smooth and glossy.
Because ganache is a little runny, you can pipe a rim of frosting before you pour the ganache on one of your layers. I didn't need to, but you can do this to safeguard your cake. The layer of frosting will act as a barrier to prevent it from leaking through the cake.
White Chocolate Cream
- 2.5 cups whipping cream
- 16 oz. white chocolate
- 1/4 cup milk
Pour milk over white chocolate and melt.
Stir in whipping cream and beat until fluffy.
I used a soft spatula to spread the white chocolate cream in between the top and middle layer. To make things easier on myself, I bought a tub of whipped chocolate frosting and frosted the rest of the cake. To decorate, I used the chocolate frosting and the white chocolate cream to pipe stars around the edges with a Wilton 16 tip. Using the Wilton combed triangle tool, I created a pattern in the top of the cake to cover up any imperfections. I pressed mini chocolate chips into the side to finalize decorations.
And no chocolate cake is the same without chocolate-dipped strawberries. I used the Baker's melting chocolate that comes in the microwavable container so you can instantly dip your fruit. I layed them out on wax paper and stuck them in the refrigerator until hardened and placed them neatly around the cake. Be sure to refrigerate this cake before serving or else the chocolate on the strawberries will melt and the heavy cream and whipping cream in the fillings may go bad.
All in all, this was a very tasty cake. It was more dense and rich than I expected, but a great way to finish off a birthday meal. Although it did take 4 hours to complete, it was time well spent. Being able to see people enjoy something you make is always a pleasure.
In my next post, look forward to the creations I make through my Wilton Course 1 class. I will soon be a cake decorating queen!
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