Triple Chocolate Cake

This rich layered chocolate cake has a delicious whipped chocolate ganache filling and is frosted with a chocolate buttercream.  The cake is finished with a drippy chocolate glaze and decorated with chocolate balls and buttercream.

This cake is seriously chocolate, chocolate, chocolate-y! I made this cake for my boyfriend's birthday. His one request for the cake was that it was chocolate, so me being me, I decided to make an over the top chocolate cake. I am so happy with how it turned out! The cake itself is a moist chocolate cake with a medium crumb. The cake is filled with a whipped chocolate ganache and topped with a chocolate buttercream frosting. I love the way drippy cakes look and used a chocolate ganache glaze to create this look. I finished the cake off with some chocolate balls and extra chocolate buttercream. 

Making layered cakes can be intimidating. I know I've had my fair share of lop-sided cakes or icing that seems to melt right on the cake - this usually happens when I don't give myself enough time. It is important that your cake cools completely before you assemble it. For this cake - I made the cake and the filling the day before I needed to assemble the cake.  Once I fill my cakes and give them a crumb coating I put them in the fridge to allow them to set up.  A nice stable cake is a lot easier to decorate! Once I frosted the cake, I knew it needed a little something extra and decided to add a drippy chocolate glaze to finish it off.  I love the monochrome look of this cake and that all of the different textures keep it visually interesting.

Chocolate Cake

Yield: Two 8 inch cakes

Time: Prep 20 mins, Bake 36-40 mins

Ingredients:

2 c flour

1 tsp baking poweder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 c butter

2 c sugar

1/2 c coco powder

1/2 c hot water

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 c sour cream

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Prepare two 8 inch cake pans - grease cake pans with butter and coat with flour.

In a bowl, mix together the first four dry ingredients

In a small sauce pan, over medium heat, melt butter complete

Once butter is melted, stir in sugar, mix until combined

In a small bowl, whisk together coco powder and hot water until smooth. Set aside.

Transfer butter and sugar mixture, to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until mixture begins to thicken and pale in colour (approx. 5 minutes)

On medium speed, beat in eggs, one at a time, scrapping down the side of the bowl after each addition

Beat in vanilla and coco powder until incorporated

On medium speed, beat in half of the flour mixture, followed by the sour cream, finally beat in the last half of the flour mixture until just incorporated, be careful not to over mix the batter

Evenly divide the batter between the two pans. ( I use pans that are 3 inches deep and they were about 1/2 full before baking) Use a spatula to smooth out the batter.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 36-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean

Transfer cakes to wire racks. Allow them to cool completely before assembling the cake

Chocolate Ganache Filling

Ingredients:

1/2 c Heavy Cream

4oz semi sweet chocolate

Directions:

Chop chocolate into small pieces and place in the bowl of your stand mixer

Heat cream over a double boiler until hot and just before boiling

Pour hot cream over chopped chocolate. Whisk to combine and mix until all the chocolate is melted

Place bowl in fridge and allow ganache to cool (30mins - 1 hour)

Using a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk ganache on medium-high speed for 5 minutes. Ganache should slightly increase in volume and become lighter in colour

Chocolate Buttercream

Yield: Enough for 1 layered cake, or 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 c butter

5 c icing sugar

1 c cocoa powder

1 c dark chocolate chips, melted

Directions:

In a bowl of stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter on a medium speed until light and fluffy

Gradually beat in the icing sugar and cocoa powder, at a low speed. Occasionally scrape along the sides of the bowl. Mix until blended

Allow the melted chocolate to cool slightly before adding it to your butter mixture - you don't want the hot chocolate to melt the butter! Beat in melted chocolate slowly. Beat buttercream on a medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes, or until light and fluffy

Chocolate Ganache Glaze

See recipe above for chocolate ganache filling and follow up to the third step. Place in a squeeze bottle.

Putting it all together:

If necessary, level each cake layer and torte each layer (cut in half)

Place a small amount of ganache onto your cake board. Place the bottom of one of your cakes onto your cake board. Stack and fill cakes with ganache. Note - for a smooth top - use the bottom (the part of the cake that was in the pan) as the top of your cake

Allow the layered cake to set up in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour

Using an off set spatula frost the cake with the chocolate buttercream. Use a bench scrapper to smooth out the buttercream

To top cake with chocolate ganache glaze use a squeeze bottle to drip glaze along the sides of the cake. Using a clean off set spatula spread the chocolate glaze along the top of the cake in a smooth, even layer

Decorate the top of the cake with alternating chocolate balls (I used Lindt Lindor Milk Chocolate) and buttercream ruffles (Using a Wilton 1B tip) around the perimeter. Using the same tip, place a ruffled border around the bottom of the cake

Share your triple chocolate cakes with me below in the comments or over on Instagram with #ByJaclyn!