Yellow Cake With Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
This time of year, it’s all about flowers wherever possible. Blooms are popping up everywhere and one of my favorite ways to use delicate and edible blooms, like these wild violets, is in a salad or to decorate baked goods. I recently decided to make this yellow cake with the most delicious chocolate frosting I have ever tried and was so enamored with it, I made it again to share here. Like so many, I have been living and traveling through my cookbooks and two of my favorites from last year are ‘Snacking Cakes’ by Yossy Arefi and ‘Dessert Person’ by Claire Saffitz. The cake requires minimal effort—it can be made in one bowl without a mixer—but the frosting is a bit more tricky but so worth it. I can guarantee this combination will be your new go-to recipe!
Photography & Styling by Alison Engstrom
Yellow Cake With Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
For the Cake (Adapted from ‘Snacking Cakes’ by Yossy Arefi)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 cup buttermilk*
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 8 or 9 inch cake pan with oil and set aside. Add sugar, egg and egg yolk into a mixing bowl. Mix until fluffy, about three minutes. Add buttermilk, melted butter, oil and vanilla extract and stir to combine. Fold in flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix until fully incorporated. Pour batter into pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until a knife can be inserted into the middle and comes out clean. Let cool completely in pan.
For the Frosting (From ‘Dessert Person’ by Claire Saffitz)
Note: This frosting has a few moving parts, where you have to have all elements ready to go. If you are a newer baker, I recommend this recipe which is easier.
2 eggs at room temperature + 2 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, sliced
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Equipment: Candy Thermometer
Directions: Add 1 cup of water into the bottom of a sauce pan over medium heat. Place a heat-safe bowl on top and add chocolate, allow to melt, stir frequently until melted. Set aside. Place eggs into a bowl fitted for stand up mixer and beat on low. Meanwhile, make the sugar mixture with the mixer still running. Place sugar and three tablespoons of water into a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat. Allow sugar to melt and using a candy thermometer monitor until it reaches 238 degrees F, this will take about 6 to 7 minutes.
Once sugar mix is ready, slowly stream into egg mixture, beating over medium speed until the egg mixture gets light and fluffy and the bowl is cool about 7 to 8 minutes. Add butter a few pieces at a time until fully incorporated. Mixture will start to look like frosting. Add cooled, melted chocolate and mix to combine.
Notes: If the butter is too soft or too cold, it might look a bit curdled. As Saffitz recommends in the book, continue to beat and it will come together when the temperature levels out. Also, if you have leftover frosting—because this recipe makes about 4 cups—refrigerate and then let come to room temperate and mix until for use.
Assembly: Place a large dollop on top of cooled cake. Frost and garnish with edible flowers if desired.
*If you don’t have buttermilk, add 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice to the milk and let set for at least five minutes, as I did here.
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