Dark Chocolate Cake with Fresh Strawberry Buttercream

By LRay

Impress your family and friends with this luxurious Dark Chocolate Cake with Fresh Strawberry Buttercream. Perfect for Valentine's Day.

Ingredients

• STRAWBERRY BUTTERCREAM:
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten and room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
• 3/4 cup canola oil or olive oil
• 8 egg whites, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 sticks (1 1/2 pounds) unsalted butter, cut into 1-tablespoon-size pieces and room temperature
• 1 vanilla bean, split and beans scraped
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, halved

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease three 8x2-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with parchment paper. Grease the paper; set pans aside. Bring water to boiling.

In a very large bowl whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and oil. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir to just combine with a rubber spatula, scraping down the bottom of the bowl to make sure there's no dry bits (mixture will be thick). Pour in the boiling water and stir to just combine, scraping down bottom.

Divide batter between prepared pans, filling pans about 1/2 full (about 3 cups batter per pan). Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center of each comes out clean.

Cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely. Before icing, wrap cooled cakes in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

Place a cake layer on serving platter. Frost layer with 2 cups buttercream. Repeat with remaining cake layers and frosting.

STRAWBERRY BUTTERCREAM:
In a very large heatproof bowl continually whisk egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt over a pan of simmering water until sugar dissolves and mixture reaches 160°F.

Remove. Beat with a hand mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Add butter, a small piece at a time, until mixture thickens and becomes smooth and spreadable (If it begins to curdle, continue to whisk and add another piece of butter until smooth.) Stir in vanilla bean seeds and vanilla.

In a food processor or blender process or blend strawberries until smooth. Press through a fine mesh strainer (you should have 3/4 cup puree). Stir strained strawberry mixture into the frosting.