Milk Chocolate Layer Cake
Milk Chocolate Layer Cake
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| Yield: | Two 8" or 9" round layers, one 13" x 9" x 2" cake or 24 cupcakes |
Ingredients
Ganache
- 12 ounces milk chocolate, chopped (about 2 cups)
- 1 cup heavy cream
Cake
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 6 ounces milk chocolate, chopped (about 1 cup) and melted
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour Blend
- 2 tablespoons Cake Enhancer, optional but very helpful
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup dried whole milk
- 1/4 cup King Arthur All-Purpose Cocoa OR natural cocoa
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 cup Marshmallow Fluff, optional for filling one layer
Directions
1) For the ganache: Place the chopped chocolate in a medium-sized bowl. Heat the cream until just boiling and pour over the chocolate. Slowly stir until completely melted and lump-free. Set the bowl in the fridge to chill while you make the cake.
2) Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare your chosen pan(s) by spritzing well with cooking spray.
3) For the cake: Place the oil, butter, sugar, and eggs in the bowl of your mixer. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.
4) Add the melted milk chocolate, salt, flour, Cake Enhancer, baking soda, vanilla, dried whole milk, cocoa powder and 1/2 cup of the buttermilk. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Stop again and scrape the bowl.
5) Add the remaining buttermilk and beat for 30 seconds.
6) Pour the batter into the pan(s), and bake: for 8" rounds, 18 to 24 minutes; for 9" rounds, 20 to 28 minutes; for cupcakes, 15 to 18 minutes. For a 13" x 9" x 2" pan, bake 25 to 35 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, with just a few moist crumbs.
7) Rest the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
8) To prepare the ganache: The chilled ganache should now be the consistency of chocolate pudding. Place it in the bowl of your mixer and whip with the whisk attachment until thick, light, and fluffy. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to fully incorporate all of the chocolate.
9) To assemble the cake: Using a long serrated knife, divide each cake round into two layers. Place one layer on your serving plate and spread with a 1/2"-thick layer of the whipped ganache. Add another layer of cake.
10) If you're using Marshmallow Fluff for filling, pipe a ring of ganache around the top of the second layer as a border, then fill it with 3/4 to 1 cup Fluff. The border of ganache will keep the marshmallow from oozing out the sides of the cake.
11) Add another layer of cake, another layer of ganache, and the final layer of cake. Ice the rest of the cake with the remaining ganache.
12) Serve at room temperature; refrigerate any leftovers, well-wrapped, for up to 5 days.
Yield: one 8" or 9" layer cake; or one 9" x 13" sheet cake; or 24 cupcakes.
Reviews
- 02/15/2012
- I don't have a clue why cake languishes in our home but cupcakes disappear within 24 hours! :) Perhaps portability? Or the frosting/cake ratio? Whatever the reasons, when I'm not baking a cake for an event, cupcakes are the way to go in our home. I deeply appreciate that for cake recipes, K.A. goes that extra step and posts yields on cupcakes. Thank You! I've never made a Milk Chocolate cake so I was excited to try this one out. (My default chocolate cake is Hershey's Dark Chocolate Cake.) The photos shown in the step-by-step process were incredible! I've never made a ganache and the photos made the process very simple. Since I made jumbo cupcakes, I was able to use King Arthur's wicked-cool cupcake corer, and that's where I placed the Marshmallow Fluff FROSTING. Yes, FROSTING rather than straight Fluff. I find Fluff taken right from the jar absolutely impossible to handle and it sticks on many people's dentures or implants, so I take the time to make the double-boiler Fluff frosting. I then frosted them with the ganache and had heart-shaped sprinkles on top of that. You should have seen the smiles from the folks who got these cupcakes...it was worth every single second of making and baking them. :) As always, King Arthur, I bow down to you and your recipes, products and helpfulness! Here's a <3 for you!
