Love is in the air! With this Chocolate cake you will impress your Valentine for sure! Read also how to make a striped cake without a stripe comb. This is a Valentines Day Design with my favorite chocolate cake recipe because chocolate cake is always a winner!
Simple decorated Chocolate Cake with sprinkles and lots of love for your Valentine!
Read here why this chocolate cake recipe is the best in my opinion!
Striped Cake without Stripe Cake Comb?
You want make a striped cake but you do not have a stripe cake comb handy? I got you! There is a technique called "Ombre Cake" which is basically undefined stripes or color transitions. All you need to do is make two different colored buttercream like white and pink and one mixed shade of the two colors. After the crumb coat layer is cooled add the colors in stripes, one stripe per color. I recommend using the lightest color on top of the cake and the darkest on the bottom. Then scrape it smooth and you will get an ombre styled cake.
Valentines Day Chocolate Cake
Ingredients for 2 6-inch cake layers
Chocolate cake:
1 1/2 cups (300 g) sugar
1 3/4 cups (220 g) flour
3/4 cup (75 g) cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup (250 ml) butter milk
1/2 cup (125 ml) vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup (250 ml) coffee, hot
Strawberry buttercream:
12 large egg whites
3 cups (600 g) sugar
2 cups (454 g) butter, softened
1 cup (200 g) shortening (or butter)
3 tsp vanilla extract
3 cup (30 g) freeze dried strawberries (optional)
pink food coloring
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1:
Start off with a large bowl. Combine the sugar, eggs, salt, and vanilla. Add oil and butter milk. Mix it until fluffy. Sift in flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda and mix until everything is thoroughly incorporated. Stir in the hot coffee; the batter will be very thin.
Step 2:
Divide the batter evenly among 2 6-inch cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each layer comes out clean. Cool the layers in the pans for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 3:
For the Swiss meringue buttercream whisk egg whites and sugar in a fat-free heatproof bowl and place it on a pot with simmering water (bain-marie). Whisk it continually until soft peaks form for about 10 minutes. The mixture is warm enough when the sugar has fully dissolved.
Step 4:
Take the meringue out of the water bath and whisk it with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Mix in the butter in small pieces. Keep mixing it until it comes together in a smooth buttercream. Separate about 1/4 of the buttercream and mix in black food coloring. Add the vanilla, pink food coloring and freeze dried strawberry powder (if desired) into the other buttercream. Mix it until smooth.
Step 5:
To decorate the cake, place the bottom layer on a plate and spread a thin layer of buttercream on top and smooth it out. Top it with the second layer and repeat the step. Cover the cake with buttercream on the top and its sides. Smooth it out and let it cool in the fridge for about 40 minutes or place it in the freezer for 8 to 10 minutes.
Step 6:
When the cake is cooled add a second layer of buttercream and smooth it. With a metal stripe comb make indentations for the stripes. Smooth it out. Let it cool for about 40 minutes in the fridge to make sure the buttercream has hardened. Use a piping bag to fill up the stripes with black buttercream. Do not overfill them or it will be messy. Scrape with a metal cake comb to smooth the sides. Only scrape a little bit, then clean the comb and scrape the next part until smooth. Do not scrape too much as there is a risk of making the stripes disappear! Clean filling of the stripes it the most important part of having a clean striped cake!
Add heart sprinkle confetti on the sides for a nice effect and pipe some buttercream swirls on top.
Enjoy!
**Pro Tips**
Do you want a higher cake with thicker cake layers? Use 1.5 times the cake batter recipe and 1.3 times the buttercream recipe just like here. Divide the cake batter into 3 cake pans. The baking time is the same!
No coffee fan or no coffee at home? Just use hot water instead.
To intensify the color of the buttercream quickly fill about half a cup of buttercream in a microwave save bowl and add a good amount of food coloring. Microwave it for about 10 seconds and stir it. The color has depend and the buttercream softened. Combine it with the rest of the buttercream.
Add another color highlight with different colored buttercream swirls on the top of the cake!
