Vanilla Cake with Tiramisu Buttercream and Ganache Filling
Already getting a good start tackling my baking resolutions (and it’s not even the new year)… I’ve moved from macarons to fondant. I stumbled upon a fondant cake decorating class in our area, and immediately jumped at the opportunity to get my hands dirty. My first attempt (solo – stupid!) failed so miserably, I realized that just watching people decorating cakes on TV was not a suitable learning tool.
The supply list for this class included a cake. Which makes sense, I guess, it’d be pretty ridiculous if they provided cake for everyone. So Friday night before the class I got to work baking a cake.
I’m sure if this was Taylor taking the class (which, that alone is very unlikely anyway), he would have just thrown together a box mix cake. It’s just practicing after all, why spend the time baking a real cake from scratch. But you know me, a box mix just will not do. I won’t even settle for a homemade cake and quick plain buttercream. Nope. I spent as much time thinking about the inside of the cake as I did decorating the outside.
The result was a delicious yellow cake, filled with a coffee-flavored swiss meringue buttercream and a layer of chocolate ganache. Tasty! The end result reminded me a lot of Tiramisu – the creamy meringue buttercream spiked with coffee, the rich vanilla buttermilk cake… with a chocolaty twist.
The actual decorating was quite a success as well. Actually seeing a cake covered in fondant step by step makes a huge difference. And I could barely believe how easy the bow was. Aside from a few small blips and tears, I think it looks pretty darned nice!
What I need to find are some miniature cake pans. Like, figure out what exactly half of an 8 inch 3-layer-cake recipe would yield (5″? 6″? Math geniuses, help me out!) With a smaller cake I could bake them more often and wouldn’t feel so guilty about just the two of us eating the entire thing. Practice my decorating skills without needing a special occasion as an excuse!
Though, as pretty as the outside looks, I do have to say that the inside just might be the prettiest part. :)
Vanilla Cake with Tiramisu Buttercream and Bittersweet Ganache Filling
Makes one three-layer 9-inch round cake, or a three-layer 8-inch round cake and 6 cupcakes.
Cake recipe adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes. Buttercream adapted from Martha Stewart.Ingredients:
Cake:
3 3/4 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups plus 1/3 cup buttermilk
5 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extractButtercream: (halve this recipe if you will be covering the cake with fondant)
6 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds (5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons warm water
1 tablespoon instant coffeeGanache:
1/3 cup heavy cream
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, choppedDirections:
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.
Combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and 1 1/4 cup of the buttermilk. Mix on low speed briefly to blend; then raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
In a smaller bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and the remaining 1/3 cup buttermilk until well blended. Pour one-third of the egg mixture into the cake batter at a time, folding it in completely after each addition. There will be 9 cups of batter; our 3 cups batter into each pan.
Bake for 26 to 28 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Turn the layers out onto wire racks by placing a rack on top of a pan, inverting it, and lifting off the pan. Peel off the paper liners and let cool completely. When the layers have cooled, place a cardboard cake board on top of a layer, invert again, and lift off the rack. To make the layers easier to handle, wrap them on their boards completely in plastic, so they don’t dry out, and refrigerate them.
To make buttercream, combine the sugar and egg whites in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 5 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like marshmallow cream. Remove from heat and transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer, and whisk on high speed until mixture is completely cooled and stiff peaks form, about 6 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, on low speed, mixing well after each addition. Beat until smooth, about 3 minutes.
Stir instant coffee into warm water until dissolved. Add, 1 teaspoon at a time, to buttercream, mixing well after each addition, until you're satisfied with the strength of the coffee flavor (I added about 1 tablespoon).
To make ganche, place chopped chocolate in a heat proof bowl. In a heavy saucepan set over medium heat, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the stove and pour over chopped chocolate. Let stand 2 minutes and then stir until fully combined. Let cool until just firm enough to spread onto cake layers.
After leveling cake layers as necessary, place one cake layer on a cake board, flat side up. Brush with sugar syrup (if desired, it will help keep the cake moist). Spread half of the ganache evenly over the top, followed by approximately 3/4 cup of the buttercream. Repeat with the second cake layer, by first brushing on some sugar syrup, followed by more ganache and buttercream. Top the cake with the third layer. Lightly crumb coat the the cake with more buttercream. At this point you can either cover the cake with fondant, or frost it with a thick layer of buttercream.
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Looks amazing! I’ve only worked with fondant twice, but loved it. It’s so fun (of course, my cakes were not nearly so elegant – they were for children.)
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This is a lovely cake, both inside and out! I used fondant many years ago for a cake and just remember it being a pain. I keep planning to do the Wilton decorating classes, so maybe one will cover fondant
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I’m not a math genius, but I’ll still help you out! Three four- or five-inch cake pans would work pretty well. Better yet, use two six-inch cake pans. :-)
-Chris
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cute! half a 8-inch recipe will get you a tall five inch cake, or a flatter 6 inch cake… if you could get a 5.5 inch that would be perfect.
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What a gorgeous cake! Simple and elegant and I do like layered ones as well. This is so right for Christmas too.
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Gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful!
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Absolutely beautiful! I’ve only attempted fondant once, and it wasn’t a great success. My bow looked NOTHING like yours. Now you’ve got me wanting to play around again. But you’re right. Just watching it on TV means nothing, so maybe I should sign up for a class too!
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lovely tall cake…. i was captivated to the white and blue…sandwiched tiramisu buttercream, awesome combination indeed… sensational… yumz
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That is a beautiful cake and it sounds delicious as well!
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LOVE it!!! Especially love the bow — so cute and classy!
Bravo on the creative cake as well. Sounds hopelessly delicious. :)
Merry Christmas to you both!
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Very cute! Generally speaking, its often harder to cover a really small cake, although I still think my favorite is a 6″ cake. I just have the wilton pans, I’ve finally given in and learned to torte, so I generally bake 2 layers and split them into 4 for my cakes.
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the inside doeslook fantastic. outside too!`
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Wow. I had to comment on the cake. It is very stunning. I love EVERYTHING about it.
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Lindsay – This is gorgeous! I read all of your blogs and my mouth is usually watering by the time I am done. I rarely have the time to comment — but could not let this beautiful cake get by without a compliment. I would PAY BIG for a slice of this right now!! Christmas Eve morning, at work and raining — but I KNOW this cake would cheer me up! :) I love Tiramisu and this just looks scrumptios! Almost too pretty to eat. Good job! Good luck on all your baking resolutions — we are local, so let us know if you need taste-testers! Merry Christmas to you and Taylor!
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WOW! Looks stunning and sounds delicious!
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This is AMAZING. I’m so impressed!
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That is a truly beautiful cake!!!! Merry Christmas
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wow, the cake looks amazing, i have to try this cake.
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your cake looks beautiful! i have the same problem in that i always want to bake but for me to have an ENTIRE cake sitting around the house would be bad news for hips. luckily, a halved 9-inch 2 layer recipe makes a 6-inch 2 layer- much more manageable and the perfect size for two people. i love this cake pan chart: http://www.baking911.com/pantry/substitutes_pansizes.htm
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BEAUTIFUL photos!! Sounds like the class was successful…and I LOVE the bright teal bow!!
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I would so love a cake like this for my birthday (or any occasion!). Great job!
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This is so gorgeous! I’d say it’s freaking awesome for your second attempt :)
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I made this cake yesterday, and it is amazing! The cake by itself was delicious, but the addition of the coffee buttercream, made it just perfect. I did not use fondant on mine, and it still came out looking quite lovely, and the inside was so pretty.
I am at a relatively high altitude so I put 1 1/4 tsp less baking powder and upped the temp by 25. The cakes came out with lovely domes for me to cut off instead of the usual pit in the middle to fill. I also used semi-sweet chocolate instead as I am not a dark chocolate person. I didn’t think it made it too sweet at all.
Thank you for this recipe. Everyone loved it!
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Here are pictures of my cake inside and out. My terribly photography skills certainly don’t do it justice.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=46993168&l=1a23423a19&id=10133080
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs154.snc3/18161_813064051062_10133080_46993169_8199396_n.jpg
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Just wanted to say “Thanks” for this recipe! I/we absolutely love the combination of flavors, and we’ve made this cake three times in the past 1.5 months to give to our (3 pairs of) newly engaged friends as an engagement cake!
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Another amazing cake…made it last night as a test run, gonna use this one on a dessert buffet as well. Didn’t cover it with fondant, just used the buttercream, but it was still a nice looking cake. Amazing flavors..I used a starbucks coffee, and as a non-coffee drinker I have to say it was fantastic!!
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Can anyone who has made this cake tell me how long the buttercream made from egg whites lasts? I’ve only ever made buttercream using butter and icing sugar (no eggs), and I have a cake to make for Friday, but I don’t want to make it too soon in case the egg buttercream goes off. Thanks!
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I made this cake with the buttercream on Holy Thursday hoping that it would last until Easter Sunday to give to my boyfriend’s family. His grandparents are off the boat Italian and his grandmother is an amazing cook so I was a bit hesitant but i figured that if any recipe would make me look like a good baker, this would be it. Fortunately, yes! The buttercream and perfect lasted until Sunday and were wonderful. Thank you so much for posting this recipe!!
Also, Jenise: I did have some problems with the buttercream while making it, but no problem with it lasting a few days. For whatever reason, my buttercream kept separating with the butter congealing and the liquid separating (apparently that could be due to humidity or letting the butter get too soft?). In any case, I ended up working with it til it was a creamy consistency and put the cake in the fridge until Sunday afternoon. It was a bit more solid because the buttercream hardened, but after sitting out for 20 minutes was perfect.
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I’m trying this tonight. Wish me luck. Ack.
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This cake looks decadent! :) I’m so trying it out sometime!
Thank you for sharing your recipe :D
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