striped yellow cake with chocolate sour cream frosting
this recipe for golden cake with chocolate sour cream frosting at epicurious.com really caught my eye. i loved the chocolate brown and pink color combination (ahem…see banner above), and the side decorated with stripes and dots was a really fun look.
the recipe utilizes sour cream in both cake and frosting, but i decided to use buttermilk in the cake instead. both cake and frosting were still very tangy. i also spread some raspberry jam in the middle layer, and used rose-colored buttercream for the pink decorations and flowers on top. for various reasons, i used two 10″ cake pans instead of the 9″ pans called for in the epicurious recipe. the 9″ would have created a taller cake with a smaller diameter.
the chocolate frosting consisted of finely chopped and melted milk and bittersweet chocolate, sour cream and vanilla. it was very simple to make (the most labor intensive part was chopping all the chocolate) and spread and piped like a dream.
October 4th, 2007 at 6:43 am
Lovely cake. But I think all of them are amazing.
Mainly how nicely leveled your cakes are is quite impressive, mine always turn out with a domeshaped top or lots of cracks in the top.
Any tips/suggestions on how to get them so nicely even?
October 4th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Hi, thanks for your kind comments.
There are several methods to achieve level cakes. You may want to try one or a combination of these:
- Check to make sure you’re baking at the right temperature. A separate internal oven thermometer is recommended if you don’t already have one. Built in oven thermometers are often not calibrated correctly and you may be baking at too high a temperature, which may lead to a cracked, dome shaped top.
- Make sure you are not over-mixing your batter.
- Using the right kind of pans is really important. For example, I have used the same chocolate cake recipe in both one 9” springform pan and two 9” x 2” high pans. I prefer separating the batter into two 2” pans. I have had a much more success with cakes coming out level when using 2 pans. The cakes come out much moister, as well, as they are not baking as long. Of course, there are times and reasons for using a springform (e.g. if you want a three layer cake) vs. a two layer (which you can further split into 4 layers).
- You may also want to try using magi-cake strips (available at any cake supply store). You wet the aluminized strips, squeeze the excess, and wrap them around your pans. They prevent the sides from heating too quickly during baking so the cakes bake more evenly.
- My cakes don’t always come out dome-free to start (my husband actually likes when this happens as it means cake scraps!). I level the layers using a cake leveler for smaller diameter cakes or with a serrated knife for larger cakes. The less expensive leveler costs $3-5.
Hope this helps!
October 7th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Thank you for the tips! Ill definitely try them out.
Level cakes here I come!
October 23rd, 2007 at 7:13 am
Your cakes are just gorgeous! I am so impressed by cake decorating!
Welcome to The Foodie Blogroll!
October 29th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Simply beautiful! I love your piping!
January 10th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I’m wondering if anyone has tried changing the temperature part way through the bake to get a more level cake without crowning. Would it work to start out at a lower temperature then increase the temperature later on?
January 12th, 2008 at 12:02 am
me and my friend really want to be cake bakers and we love to see the cakes on this website you have beautiful work! we are only 11 years old so we really want to reach our goal and you have really helped us with that.