Monday, April 29, 2013

Chocolate Cake with Coconut Pecan Frosting

Chocolate Cake with Coconut Pecan Frosting
 
 
Cupcake Ranking: 4 Cupcakes
 
 
I wasn't sure about this cake.  I had my doubts; mostly because all of the chocolate cake in this series have been, well, awful.  This cake was delicious!  I am not a huge fan of coconut or nuts in cake (I think because of ptsd from past german chocolate cakes, but that is another story).  The cake was moist, spongey, and chocolatey.  The frosting is carmaley, nutty and sweet.  The combination of the cake and frosting was great.  We inhaled it!
 
Ingredients
 

Vegetable-oil cooking spray
2 C Cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for pan
1 tsp Baking soda
3/4 tsp Salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbs) Unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 C Sugar
3 large Eggs
1 1/2 tsp pure Vanilla extract
1 C Buttermilk
5 oz Semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 C Unsweetened shaved or flaked coconut, lightly toasted, for decorating
15 Pecan halves, toasted, for decorating
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Line bottom with parchment paper, and coat with cooking spray. Dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
 
Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk. Beat in chocolate. Pour batter into prepared pan, and smooth top.

 
Bake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 30 minutes. Remove cake from pan, peel off parchment, and let cool completely on rack. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour (or overnight) to make it easier to slice.
Using a serrated knife, slice cake horizontally into 3 layers.
 
Coconut-Pecan Frosting
 
3 Large Egg Yolks
1 Can Evaporated Milk
1 1/4 C Light Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Sticks (12 Tbs) Butter, cut into small pieces
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/4 tsp Salt
2 2/3 C Flaked Coconut
1 1/2 C Pecans, toasted and chopped (I didn't toast the nuts and it still tasted great)
 
Combine Egg yolks, evaporated milk, and brown sugar ina saucepan.  Add butter, and cook until medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick, about 10 minutes.  Pour through a fine sieve into a bowl.
 
Stir in vanilla, salt, coconut, and pecans.  Let cool completely.  Frosting can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 day; bring to room temperature before using.
 
Spread 1/3 of the frosting over bottom layer. Repeat, layering cake and frosting, finishing with frosting. Mound coconut in center, and arrange pecan halves around edge.
 
 
 
Rach's Tips:
 
The cake itself was delicious.  Although, next time I would just use 2 nine inch pans instead of the springform pan.  By taking the cake and dividing into into three, the cake is hard to slice because it crumbles.  By using two nine inch pans you would avoid the crumbly-ness.  All in all, the texture of the cake and the carmel-nut taste of the icing was a perfect combination.  For sure make it again.



0 comments: