Cocoa and Cream Cake
"This is a cake that has been made for birthdays for over 50 years in my family. It is 3 layers of dense chocolate cake with a smooth velvety truffle like filling and whipped cream frosting. Sure to please and impress any chocolate lover!"
photo by Lynne the Pirate Queen
- Ready In:
- 1hr
- Ingredients:
- 18
- Serves:
-
16
ingredients
-
Cake
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups water, boiling hot
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 1⁄2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-
Filling
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1⁄2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 eggs
-
Frosting
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3⁄4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (clear if possible)
- chocolate shavings, and curls to sprinkle over top (optional)
directions
-
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl, sift cocoa into boiling hot water, mix well. Let cool completely. Can put in refrigerator to speed cooling.
- Meanwhile, grease and flour or line with parchment paper, three 9x1 1/2" layer cake pans.
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar at high speed until well mixed. Add eggs and vanilla and beat at high speed, scraping the sides of the bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- At lowest speed on mixer beat in alternately starting and ending with the flour mixture in fourths and cooled cocoa mixture in thirds. Scrape sides of bowl after each addition. Do not overbeat.
- Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed with fingertips.
- Cool in pans 10 minutes. Gently remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.
-
Chocolate Filling:
- In a small bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter until smooth.
- Sift in powdered sugar and cocoa, add eggs, and beat until filling is fluffy and smooth.
- Refrigerate until needed and until firmer.
-
Frosting:
- In a medium bowl, combine cream, sifted powdered sugar and vanilla; beat with mixer on high speed until stiff and of spreading consistency.
- Refrigerate until needed.
-
To assemble cake:
- On a cake platter, place one layer of cake, top side up, spread with half of the filling.
- Invert second cake layer on top of first layer and filling, spread with remaining filling.
- Place the third cake layer top side up over the second layer and filling.
- Frost the top and sides of cake with frosting.
- Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.
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Reviews
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This recipe came at the most perfect time. I needed a gigantic chocolate fix for a few different girls. This hit right on. I sprinkled a little cocoa on top before I put the shavings on. Very pretty presentation with a delicious dessert inside. Thanks! Made and reviewed for Fall 2007 PAC. -
Simply marvelous! I can see why this has been your family's go-to birthday cake for over five decades, Engrossed! :) I made this for my fiance's birthday, with only two minor changes: 1) I added 1/4 tsp. almond extract to the truffle filling to give it a subtle yet noticeable depth of flavor, and 2) instead of all vanilla extract for the frosting, I used 3/4 tsp. vanilla and 1/4 tsp. almond... we just find that a hint of almond does wonderful things to chocolate, but I already have in mind so many other flavors that would be phenomenal in this cake (raspberry? mmmmm...) and will experiment the next time I make it. Everyone *loved* this surprisingly easy cake, even our one guest who normally does not care for whipped cream frosting. The truffle filling was perfect, and really puts this cake over the top. Thank you for a cake that will surely become a tradition in our family, too! EDITED TO ADD: I used regular baking cocoa for the cake, but Hershey's Special Dark cocoa for the filling. The contrast of color and flavor was just right! -
Excellent cake! It got a mumbled "yummy" from my resident chocoholic. I liked the lightness of the whipped icing. The filling was rich enough for me. I will absolutely make this delight again, Engrossed, thanks for posting a great recipe. Sue -
Fantastic cake and one that I will certainly make again. This was made for my sweet daughter's 18th birthday brunch today. It served 15 of us with a bit left over for the birthday girl. One of the things I liked most was that it was fluffy and not too heavy. It was also on the "medium" sweet side. I loved the creamy frosting as it had a lower-than-usual sugar content and matched the brunch dishes nicely. Thanks Engrossed. Great recipe. -
I can only think of one description suitable for this cake....Sheer Chocolate Decadence!! This cake is really incredible! It really is easy to assemble and the flavors are absolutely perfect. There is nothing I could change about this recipe to make it better!! Thank you for sharing this with all of us, Engrossed!
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Tweaks
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Simply marvelous! I can see why this has been your family's go-to birthday cake for over five decades, Engrossed! :) I made this for my fiance's birthday, with only two minor changes: 1) I added 1/4 tsp. almond extract to the truffle filling to give it a subtle yet noticeable depth of flavor, and 2) instead of all vanilla extract for the frosting, I used 3/4 tsp. vanilla and 1/4 tsp. almond... we just find that a hint of almond does wonderful things to chocolate, but I already have in mind so many other flavors that would be phenomenal in this cake (raspberry? mmmmm...) and will experiment the next time I make it. Everyone *loved* this surprisingly easy cake, even our one guest who normally does not care for whipped cream frosting. The truffle filling was perfect, and really puts this cake over the top. Thank you for a cake that will surely become a tradition in our family, too! EDITED TO ADD: I used regular baking cocoa for the cake, but Hershey's Special Dark cocoa for the filling. The contrast of color and flavor was just right!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
I'm not as active here anymore, but you can find me playing at the new recipezazz.com. I'm not a great photographer, but I love to take food photos with Freddy Cat to bring a smile to people's day. I love to cook and share good food with other people. I have a very large collection of cookbooks. I used to enjoy being able to look up recipes on Zaar by ingredients I had on hand. I miss the Zaar tag game community. Everyone was so nice, and it was super fun. Ah, the good ol' days.
