Birthday Cake Week, Episode 2

Deep Dark Chocolate Secrets Cake

This cake has 3 parts: the cake, the filling, and the topping...all made of magic.

Cake Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 3/4 cups sugar (I used 1 white, 3/4 light brown)

2 eggs

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1 4-serving box of sugar-free cheesecake-flavored pudding mix

heaped 3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp Kahlua

1 cup sour cream

1 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease and flour sides and bottoms (or grease and parchment line) 3 8-inch pans.

Beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beat until thick and lemony.

(Your stand mixer is your friend - let it do the work for you here^!)

In a separate bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients.

In yet another bowl (or your two cup liquid measure), mix the vanilla, Kahlua, sour cream and coffee. (Watch out, if the coffee is not cooled, it will curdle/melt the sour cream.)

Alternately add the flour and sour cream mixtures into the sugar mixture, beating on medium all the while.

Mix together well, not forgetting to scrape down the sides.

Pour into pans - mixture is thick, so you'll have to spread it out.

Bake for ~30 minutes. (May be less/more depending on your oven.)

Remove from pans and cool.

Filling Ingredients

1 lb confectioner's sugar

1/2 cup cream cheese

2-4 tbs fruit preserves (I used sugar-free strawberry...I also recommend raspberry)

a couple tbs of butter/margarine

Blend together all ingredients, adjusting levels as necessary. Do this right after you put the cake in the oven and then pop the mixture in the fridge.

Ganache Topping

1 cup semi-/bitter-sweet chocolate chips/squares

2 tbs whole milk or cream

1 tbs butter

1 tbs cocoa powder

(these measurements are approximates, because I don't measure for this anymore...but it should be pourable/spreadable rather than a rollable-truffle-style...)

Melt all ingredients together in a double-boiler.

Assembly:

Trim two layers flat if necessary.

Spread the two flat layers each with half the filling and stack.

Top with the third, untrimmed layer. Pour the ganache over the top...

Enjoy!

(Warning, if you refrigerate the whole cake before serving, the ganache topping may get hard and make the cake too hard to cut...)

This was the cake I made for my birthday...and it was enjoyed by many. And now you can enjoy it too. :D