Just in case you still haven’t got a Valentine’s dessert ready for tonight and you don’t have the time to make the strawberry & champagne macarons from last week, I’ve got you covered with a delicious cake. It’s basically the two fillings used in last week’s macarons sandwiched in between and around supremely chocolatey cake layers.
Dream cake.
I made this cake for my best friend’s birthday. I had some leftover jam from making the macarons and the frosting comes together so quickly it just made sense to make it again. There were also a few leftover macarons so they were added to the top of the cake. Only best friends get a ring of macarons on top of their cake.
Not gonna lie to you guys, frosting a cake is not my forte. I can make macarons, bake cookies with my eyes closed, but frosting a cake? Yeah, not my thing. And I get super frustrated with myself which I think only makes it worse. So as I was struggling to frost this cake, I decided that instead of working on my offset spatula I would pipe the frosting on instead. I grabbed the closest piping tip and piped vertical lines around the sides of the cake and some swirls on top. Not my best work but much, much better than my other frosting option.
I’ve got a lot of work to do to try and improve my frosting skills.
If you make this and frost it the traditional way, be sure to send me pictures so I can use you all as inspiration! I’d love to be able to frost a cake without it looking like a complete mess 😉
Have a great Valentine’s Day if you’re celebrating today, and if you aren’t have a fantastic Tuesday! And maybe treat yourself to something sweet!
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake with Champagne Frosting
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 3/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. espresso powder (optional)
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
For the filling:
- 1 pound strawberries
- 1/2 cup champagne
- 5 tbsp. sugar
For the frosting:
- 1 cup + 1 tbsp. champagne
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Strawberry Champagne Macarons (optional)
Instructions
Cake:
- Put oven racks in the centre and upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour three 5-inch round baking pans.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and instant espresso powder, if using.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add half of the flour mixture, and beat until flour mixture is incorporated. Add the buttermilk in a slow stream and beat until thoroughly combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until just combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and finish stirring with a spatula. Divide the batter among the 3 prepared cake pans.
- Bake until golden brown on top and a wooden pick inserted in the centre comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Let cool in the pans for 20 minutes before inverting onto wire racks to cool completely before frosting.
- If you're not frosting the cake right away, double-wrap in plastic wrap and store in the freezer. Will last up to 7 days in the freezer. When ready to frost, remove from the freezer, unwrap and frost frozen!
Filling:
- Place ingredients in a pot and cook on low heat until thick and pasty, stirring to prevent burning.
- Once cooked, transfer to a jar to cool.
Frosting:
- Place 1 cup of champagne in a small saucepan. Simmer until reduced to about 2 tablespoons. Transfer to a small bowl to cool.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, cream together the butter and powdered sugar until light, thick and fluffy. Pour in the reduced 2 tbsp. of champagne and add one tbsp. directly from the bottle. Mix well to combine.
Assembly:
- Once cakes are completely cool, place one layer on a cake stand. Cover with a layer of strawberry champagne jam and put the next layer on top, repeat with the remaining cake layer.
- Put the frosting on top of the top cake layer and use an offset spatula to spread it off the top of the cake to the sides. Spread frosting around the sides.
- If you wish, you can pipe the frosting on the sides of the cake, like I did. Just put the frosting in a piping bag with the tip of your choice and pipe away.
