Valentine’s is all about love and affection, the day to show your love and the day to express all you feel for that very special person. This Valentine’s Day, make sure that you get pretty gifts for your partner, plan an exciting getaway and all the things that will make her feel special. Make sure that your Valentine is filled with love and also with taste.
Chocolate is the ‘oh so tasty’ solution to all the celebrations and I bet you rely on them for every occasion. No matter you lack time or money, you can always opt for them. So, here’s a guide to your ultimate chocolate cake for Valentine’s Day.
Chocolate cake ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Cocoa powder
- Sea salt
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Buttermilk
Chocolate buttermilk Ingredients
- Large egg whites
- Sea salt
- Granulated sugar
- Chopped chocolate
- Unsalted butter
- Vanilla extract
Directions to bake:
- Start with preheating the oven to 300 degrees F. Then spray the sides and bottom of two 8 inch round pans with nonsticking cooking spray. Set the pan aside.
- Now take a medium bowl and combine flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder to make a mixture. Blend the mixture well and keep it aside.
- Take a bowl with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and keep butter, cream, and sugar on medium speed until they become light and fluffy. Don’t forget to scrape the bowl and remove all the butter accumulated at the sides. Now add one egg at a time and beat the egg each time completely into the mixture before adding the next one. Add vanilla extract into the butter egg mixture and mix until the batter becomes light and creamy.
- Now at a very low speed, add the dry mixture along with buttermilk. Add dry ingredients ending with buttermilk one after another.
- Divide the batter into two pans and make sure that both the pans have an equal batter. Spread the batter well covering the entire bottom of the pan, do it evenly. The cake will be finer and the layers will rise well if you will spread the batter well.
- Place the pans in the oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. You will see that the cake will spring back when you press it lightly and is moved away from the sides a little. You can check with a toothpick to check if it is baked properly if the toothpick comes clean it is done.
- Keep the cake on a rack and cool it down for 10 minutes. Take a knife and run around the corners of the pan and invert the cakes on a cooling rack. Cool it down for 10-15 minutes and your cake is ready to be iced.
Directions for preparing the buttercream
- Take a medium mixing bowl and combine the egg whites, sugar, salt and stir them well. Now place over a pan with gently boiled water and heat the sugar and egg white until the sugar is completely dissolved and the temperature rises to 180 degrees F. Use a meat thermometer to measure the temperature.
- While the sugar completely dissolves, melt the chocolate in a small pan and stir constantly. Let it cool at room temperature.
- Now in a bowl of a stand mixer, transfer the egg white mixture and whip the mixture on high speed until the mixture becomes double thick and shiny and has cooled to room temperature. Add butter to the mixture keeping in mind that the mixture is not too hot. If you add butter to an extra hot mixture, the buttercream will be ruined.
- Keeping the mixer at medium speed, add some butter to the egg white mixture, make sure that you add a single piece of soft butter at a time. Keep the mixer on until the mixture and the butter is incorporated well and you can see a smooth texture.
- Next, add the vanilla extract and melted chocolate and mix them well with the egg white mixture. Beat them well for around a minute and make sure that the butter is well combined with whipped egg white and sugar mixture. Beat the mixture so well that the buttercream looks homogenous.
Since by now you have the cake layers prepared and the buttercream is also ready, you should now focus on assembling the cake. This is how you can do it easily:
- Place the cake layer upside down on a cake board or on a serving tray, whatever you have. If somehow you have not got the perfect dome shape, use a knife to level up the cake layer. Now take the buttercream and spread it evenly on the cake layer.
- Place another cake layer upside down on top of the buttercream and use the extra buttercream to ice the cake. If you are planning to pipe the cake borders and edges, you should ice the borders nicely. For this, use the buttercream and swirl it with a spatula if you don’t need to have a border.
- You can now serve the cake. Make sure to keep it at room temperature for three to five hours before you plan to have the cake served.
You can make it cake at your home and can gift to your love this Valentine’s day. Share it with your friends and family and have a blissful day.
Happy Valentine’s!
