We’d seen a photo or two of layer cakes frosted in this style on some foodie blogs. At first, we thought it was one of those “in the process” photos that bloggers take when they are trying to show you technique. We were surprised to discover that the photos were of the end product… the cake was meant to look like that. We loved it. How cool and different is THAT?! Not only does it look interesting, but we would venture to say that most people don’t care for gobs of frosting anyway. Well, when the 10 year old asked to make a cake, we invited her to consider this style. Being the artsy little thing that she is, she agreed that it was, indeed, “cool” looking when we showed her a photo of a cake frosted in a similar fashion. We were at the park that day and she brought us this beautiful… well, sprig of dried-out leaves. Living in the desert, we don’t see too many fall/winter leaves, and we marveled at how absolutely stunning the color and shape was. It looked like a miniature version of a large tree, and, having just discussed making a cake, we thought, “how cute would this be atop a chocolate cake with pure, white frosting.” We thought it might be reminiscent of layers of frozen earth and snow in winter time. We know, a little strange, but it sounded like fun to us. This was the result. This chocolate cake recipe of Ree Drummond’s is super good and fudgy. The recipe for the frosting is simple and buttery… and pure white. There are tastier frosting recipes out there, but this one met our criteria for being pure white and easy to mold into our vision. For a chocolate frosting, see this link below for Ree’s recipe. It looks fantastic.
Tip: If you want to frost your cake using this technique, freeze your cake layers before frosting. Doing so will cause the butter in the frosting to freeze slightly against the cake as you frost, resulting in the super smooth finish that you see here. The beautiful thing about this method is that it doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, the more rustic, the better.
From: Big Chocolate Birthday Cake and White Frosting Recipe
- For the cake:
- 4 sticks butter, plus more for greasing
- 8 heaping tablespoons cocoa, plus more for dusting
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 cups sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups boiling water
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 whole eggs, beaten
- For the frosting:
- 4 large egg whites
- ¾ cup sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces, softened
- For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Heavily grease and dust with cocoa four 9-inch round cake pans.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter. Add the cocoa. Stir together. Add the boiling water, allow the mixture to boil for 30 seconds and then turn off the heat. Pour over the flour mixture and stir lightly to cool.
- Combine the buttermilk, baking soda, vanilla and beaten eggs. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the butter/chocolate mixture.
- Divide the batter among the prepared cake pans and bake for 20 minutes.
- Cool completely before icing. Refrigerate (or freeze) the layers after cooling for best results.
- For the frosting:
- Whisk the egg whites, sugar and salt in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the bowl touch the water) until the mixture is warm and the sugar dissolves. Remove the bowl from the pan; let cool slightly.
- Beat the egg white mixture in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or with a hand mixer) on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, 12 to 15 minutes. Beat in the butter a few pieces at a time, then continue beating until smooth. (Don't worry if the mixture looks separated at first-it will come together as you keep beating.)
- Cook's Note: Make sure that your butter is nice and soft (with no chill) or the buttercream may curdled when mixing.
