Chocolate Butter Cake with Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream
Look at those perfectly tender and buttery chocolate cake layers. This cake is super soft, yet strong enough for sculpted or wedding cakes. A little rum syrup and Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream are the perfect partners for this dark chocolate cake.
How about we make a perfect chocolate layer cake? This is my go-to Chocolate Butter Cake filled and iced with Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream. This was the standard chocolate cake that I made for 10 years in my cake business.
The gorgeous dark chocolate color on this cake comes from the Dutch process cocoa powder. I love the super-fine texture and deep, dark color of this cocoa.
For years, this brand was only available in restaurant supply stores, but you can buy Cocao Barry Extra Brute on-line. (*Disclaimer, I earn commission for affiliate sales but I truly use and love this brand). It’s the only cocoa I use.
So what is “Dutched” cocoa anyway?
Cocoa beans are naturally on the acidic side of the pH scale. Cocoa that is not treated, often labeled “natural” or simply “cocoa”, is naturally acidic and has an acidic, fruity and slightly bitter flavor.
Dutched cocoa powder has been alkalized to neutralize the acid in the cocoa. Dutched cocoa has a deeper, darker color than natural cocoa and has a lighter, less astringent flavor. I like the gorgeous dark color and fudgy flavor of a cake baked with Dutched cocoa powder.
This recipe is basically a version of my Vanilla Butter Cake. I replaced 1/4 of the flour with cocoa powder, but otherwise it’s the same recipe. You can turn any cake recipe into a chocolate cake by replacing part of the flour with cocoa.
Like flour, cocoa has starches that will absorb water. Cocoa also has some protein, but not gluten. So you can’t replace all the flour with cocoa or you won’t have enough structure in the cake. I generally replace 1/4 of the total flour for a big chocolate flavor without compromising the structure of the cake.
Even though I used Dutch cocoa powder, which is not acidic, I kept the baking soda in the recipe. The baking soda is there to neutralize the acid in the sour cream and also deepens the chocolate color even more.
Because we can never have too many chocolate cake recipes, here are a few other recipes you might want to try: Chocolate Genoise, Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Angel Food Cake, Black Forest Cake, German Chocolate Cake and Sacher Torte.
You might also want to try my Vanilla Butter Cake recipe. If you don’t want to choose between vanilla and chocolate why not make Marble Cake?
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a star rating and a quick comment. Ratings and comments help my recipes show in search results. Thanks!
Chocolate Butter Cake
Ingredients
- 6 large egg yolks (room temperature)
- 8 oz sour cream (room temperature, divided in 1/2)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 12 oz granulated sugar (1 ½ cups, cup separated)
- 6 ¾ oz cake flour (1 ½ cups, see note)
- 2 oz Dutch process cocoa powder (½ cup)
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 9 oz unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 3 large egg whites (room temperature)
Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream
- 1 recipe Italian Meringue Buttercream
- 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate (melted)
- 1 tablespoon dark rum
- 1 recipe Simple Syrup (flavor with 2 T rum)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F regular. Line two 8"x3" round cake pans with a circle of parchment paper round or butter and flour the bottoms of the pans only, not the sides.
- Combine 6 large egg yolks, ½ cup of the sour cream and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract in a small bowl, whisk to combine
- Set aside ¼ cup of the sugar. Into a mixer bowl put the remaining sugar, sift in 6 ¾ oz cake flour, 2 oz Dutch process cocoa powder, ¾ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda and ¾ teaspoon salt. Mix on low speed to distribute the leavening. Add 9 oz unsalted butter to the flour mixture. Mix on low until the butter is incorporated and the batter looks like a paste. Add the other ½ of the sour cream to the flour and butter mixture. Increase the speed to medium and mix about 3 minutes until the batter lightens in texture.
- Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. With the mixer on low, add ½ the egg yolk mixture, mix to incorporate. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the rest of the egg yolk mixture. Scrape the bowl and mix until incorporated. Set the batter aside.
- Whip 3 large egg whites on medium high until they form soft peaks. Turn the mixer to medium low and slowly add the reserved ¼ cup of sugar. Turn the mixer to medium high and whip the whites to full peak. Fold the whites into the batter in 2 parts, folding just until there are no streaks of egg whites.
- Divide the batter between the 2 pans and spread to level. Bake about 25-30 minutes until the center of the cake springs back when lightly pressed or a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
- Cool 10 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a cooling rack. When fully cooled, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 3 hours or over night before assembling.
Assembly
- Make 1 recipe Italian Meringue Buttercream according to the recipe. When the buttercream is done, add 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate (melted) and whisk until combined (see note). Add1 tablespoon dark rum (optional).
- Divide the buttercream in 1/2, reserve one 1/2 for icing the cake, use the remaining for filling.
- Place the bottom layer on your serving platter. Brush the layer generously with rum syrup. Place ⅓ of the filling buttercream on the layer and spread it evenly to the edges. Repeat with the next three layers. Ice the sides and top of the cake with the reserved buttercream
- Serve at room temperature.
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Hi, I’m planning to make a chocolate layer cake, I have a whipped cream frosting recipe which I plan to use, but for the cake, I’m choosing between this recipe, your chocolate chiffon cake, and your chocolate genoise. Can you tell me the differences in texture and flavour between those three cakes and perhaps recommend one? (I tend to like super tender and dark chocolate cakes)
Thanks!
The Genoise is very light and spongy and needs syrup for another layer of moisture. The Chiffon cake is very soft, tender, moist and light. The Chocolate Butter cake is soft and tender and richer in flavor and texture than the other two cakes. Either the chiffon or butter cake would be tender. The chiffon is lighter and the butter cake is richer and more melt in your mouth (thanks to the butter). I think either the chiffon or butter cake would work with whipped cream filling.
@Eileen Gray, I think I will use this butter cake recipe, thanks for the recommendations!