This holidays I wanted to bake some special for a dinner party with some of my home town friends.  I knew they wanted something chocolate, but I got my true inspiration when my brother brought home a set of Ferrero Rocher chocolates!  I decided to use a chocolate cake recipe that I love and combined it with a chocolate icing recipes from my favorite baking book ‘Butter’.  To make the cake even more delicious I switched in some Lindt chocolate balls for the chocolate chips in the icing.  Talk about a chocolate coma… :)  For the toppings I sprinkles some chopped nuts on the top before placing each Ferrero Rocher ball and also added some nuts to the bottom of the cake for decoration.  The only downfall of this recipe is that it takes a while to put together since you need to bake the cake and let it cool properly, but other then that its a great recipe that I’ll definitely use for future holiday parties!

RECIPE (9″ cake)

Chocolate Cake
1 cup butter, room temp
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (125 mL) cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups  buttermilk

Chocolate Icing
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups icing sugar
3/4 dark cocoa
3/4 cup chocoalte chips (I used Lindt chocolate ball this time!)
1/3 cup of whole milk

Toppings
6 Ferrero Rocher balls
1 cup of nuts, chopped

PREHEAT: to 350

CREAM: butter with sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time and then beat in vanilla.

COMBINE: flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.

CREAM: together dry and wet ingredients on low by starting with the flour mixture and alternating with the buttermilk.  3 separate additions for flour and 2 for the buttermilk.  Pour into the greased cake pans and smooth out the tops.

BAKE: for 30-35 minutes and let the cake cool in the pans.

CHOCOLATE ICING: cream butter in a bowl for about 5 minutes until it is smooth and light in colour.  Melt the chocolate chips and set aside to cool.  Mix together icing sugar and dark cocoa in a separate bowl.  Then slowly add in icing sugar mixture into cream butter, 1/2 cup at a time and mix for about 10 seconds each time.  Make sure to scrape down your bowl after every addition.  Then add in melted chocolate and mix until combined.  Lastly add in milk slowly and turn on high for 10 – 12 minutes until the consistency is to your liking.

ASSEMBLE CAKE: by first placing the bottom cake layer onto the revolving cake stand.  Spread a large portion of butter cream frosting evenly and smoothly across the cake layer.  Place the second layer of cake on top of the first and repeat the process on the top of the cake until it is frosted.  Thinly coat the sides of the cake with icing to seal the whole cake as smoothly as you can.  This is just the crumb coating so it doesn’t have to be perfect!  Refrigerate the cake for 20 minutes until the icing is firm to help set the crumb coat.  Then apply the final coat by starting with the sides and finishing with the top.  Use a icing spatula and a rotating cake stand to smooth out the icing. Place the cake back into the fridge to keep fresh!

FERRERO ROCHER TOPPINGS: this is an easy way to spruce up a cake!  Add some nuts in each section you’ll place a Ferrero Rocher ball and place the ball on top.  I also added some nuts to the bottom of the chocolate cake for added decoration.

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#HappyHolidays
#ChocolateComa
#HolidayGains