Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

This may be my new favorite cake!!!  

The yellow cake is so delicious, and the frosting?  Good god.  It's pure chocolate, and very ganache like.  I love the sprinkles, too, and both kids kept saying "I want my sprinkle cake!"  I made it in 3 6" pans, which made this cake ridiculously tall, which actually was pretty cool.

Yellow Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Adapted from Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1½ cups cake flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1¾ cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1¼ cups milk (I used buttermilk)

For the frosting:

1 lb. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

6 tbsp. Dutch-process cocoa powder

6 tbsp. boiling water

3 sticks (1½ cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Pinch of salt

Make frosting first so it can firm up for icing the cake.

To make the frosting, place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  Heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate has melted.  Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature, about 25-30 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine the cocoa powder and boiling water in a small bowl; stir until the cocoa is dissolved.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, confectioners’ sugar and salt on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes.  Add the melted chocolate; beat on low speed until combined, 1-2 minutes.  Beat in the cocoa mixture until well blended.    Set aside until it firms up somewhat.

To make the cakes, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line the bottoms of two 9-inch round cake pans (or 3 6" cake pans) with parchment paper. Spray pans with baker's joy; set aside.  In a medium bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, and salt; whisk together to blend well and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar.  Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4-6 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed.  Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Blend in the vanilla.  With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk.  Beat each addition until incorporated only.

Divide the batter between the prepared baking pans. It will be about 1500 grams of batter, so that's 3 500 gram pans or 2 750 gm pans. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until the cakes are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes.  If using 6" pans, it's more like 45 mintues.  Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool 20 minutes.  Cover pans with plastic wrap and foil, and stick in the freezer for a couple hours.  Invert the cakes onto the rack and peel off the parchment.  Level the cakes if necessary.

To assemble the cake, place one of the cake layers on a serving platter.  Top with 1 cup of the chocolate frosting and smooth over the top of the cake if using 6" cakes; 1 1/2 cups frosting if using 9" cakes.  Top with the remaining cake layer(s).  Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting as desired.  Refrigerate, covered, for up to 3 days.  Let come to room temperature at least 30 minutes before serving.  This actually makes a big difference in the flavor!