Chocolate Vanilla Celebration Cake Recipes

CHOCOLATE-STRAWBERRY CELEBRATION CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Combine the first seven ingredients; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Transfer to two greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans., Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 28-32 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely., In a large bowl, cream butter, confectioner's sugar and cocoa until light and fluffy. Beat in milk until smooth. Spread frosting between layers and over top and sides of cake., For ganache, place chocolate in a small bowl. Heat cream just to a boil; pour over chocolate and whisk until smooth. Drizzle over top of cake, allowing ganache to drape down the sides. Arrange strawberries on top of cake. If desired, brush jam onto strawberries.

CHOCOLATE & VANILLA CELEBRATION CAKE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil three 20cm cake tins and line with baking parchment. Weigh out the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarb and sugar into a large bowl, add a pinch of salt and whisk gently to combine. Shake the bowl to bring any lumps of sugar to the surface and squeeze these with your fingertips.
• Measure the oil, milk, vinegar, coffee and vanilla into a jug, then add the eggs and whisk to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir with a whisk until smooth, making sure there are no pockets of flour at the bottom of the bowl - the mixture will be quite runny. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared tins, then bake on the middle shelf of the oven (or middle and top if they don't all fit on one shelf) for 25 mins. Swap the tins around and bake 5 mins more.
• Check the cakes are cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre of each - if any wet batter clings to the skewer, return the tins to the oven for another 5 mins, then check again. Leave to cool in the tins for 30 mins, then turn the sponges out onto wire racks to cool completely. If making ahead, wrap the cooled sponges well and store in an airtight container for up to three days, or the freezer for up to two months.
• For the buttercream, beat the butter using an electric whisk or in a stand mixer for a few minutes until smooth and creamy. Add half the icing sugar and beat again to combine. Add the remaining icing sugar, the vanilla and 4 tbsp milk and beat again to combine, adding a splash more milk if needed to make a smooth, fluffy buttercream. Divide between three bowls. Add a few drops of different food colouring paste to each bowl, then mix well - we used pastel pink, purple and yellow.
• Spoon the coloured buttercream mixtures into three separate piping bags and snip off the tips. Pipe a dot of buttercream onto a cake stand or board and place a sponge on top to help keep it in place. Pipe small blobs of purple buttercream all over the top of the sponge by holding the piping bag directly above the cake, about ½cm from the surface, and squeezing the bag while pulling upwards to create a small peak.
• Place the second sponge on top, then repeat the process with the pink buttercream. Add the third sponge on top, then neatly pipe blobs of yellow buttercream over the surface. Decorate with edible flowers, sugared almonds or mini chocolate eggs, if you like. Will keep in a tin at room temperature for up to five days.

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT CELEBRATION CAKE

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease four 6-inch-round, 3-inch-tall cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment.
• Put the hazelnuts in a food processor and grind them until you have small crumbs. Measure out 1/4 cup of the hazelnut crumbs and set them aside for the frosting.
• Pour the remaining hazelnut crumbs into a large bowl and whisk in the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, vanilla and eggs. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and then stir in the hot coffee. It will be a very thin batter.
• Pour into the prepared cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Begin checking for doneness at 25 minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn them onto a greased cooling rack.
• For the frosting: While the cakes are cooling, use an electric mixer to beat together the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and salt until smooth. Mix in the heavy cream until smooth. Scoop out a tiny amount of frosting for the mustard-colored dollops, add the mustard yellow food coloring and mix until combined. Transfer the yellow frosting to a piping bag with a small round tip. To the remaining frosting, add the dusty rose pink food coloring and mix until the desired shade of pink. Measure out 1 cup of the pink frosting and transfer it to a small bowl. Fold in the reserved 1/4 cup ground hazelnuts.
• Level your cake layers and spread the top of one of them with the hazelnutty frosting. Place a second layer on top, then frost the top with more of the hazelnutty frosting. Continue with the remaining 2 layers. Frost the top and sides with the remaining pink frosting without nuts.
• For the decorations: Decorate with mustard dollops of frosting around the edge. Add marzipan house cutouts of white houses with green shutters, crushed hazelnuts, green grass sprinkles, orange sun sprinkles or whatever else you'd like!

CHOCOLATE CELEBRATION CAKE

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F
• Sift the flour twice with the cocoa powder and 1/2 cup of the sugar.
• With an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt until soft peaks form when the mixer is removed from the batter.
• Add half of the remaining sugar and beat for 1 minute. Add the remaining sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating after each addition.
• Stir in the vanilla.
• Fold the flour and sugar mixture into the egg whites, 1/4 cup at a time, until just incorporated.
• Put the batter in an ungreased 10" tube pan and bake until the cake is springy to the touch, about 1 hour. Invert the pan and let the cake cool completely before removing from the pan. (This can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days.)
• For the icing and oranges: Whisk the sugar, milk and vanilla or rum extract together in a mixing bowl. Stir in the coconut.
• Drizzle the icing over the cake.
• Serve each slice of cake with orange sections arranged like a fan on the side of each piece.