Chocolate Layered Cake With Fresh Strawberries
GF chocolate layered cake with fresh strawberry buttercream. My FAVORITE strawberries are Bushel Boy Farms- they are always hand-picked out of their high-tech greenhouses in Minnesota – even during erratic spring temps!
Ingredients for the cake:
2 C cocoa powder
3 C GF all purpose flour
2 C granulated sugar
1 1/4 C greek yogurt (*sub V sour cream)
1 1/2 C warm coffee
5 eggs
1/2 C coconut (melted and cooled) or avocado oil
1 T vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Ingredients for the buttercream:
2 C fresh strawberries with stems removed
4 sticks softened unsalted butter (sub V butter)
6 C powdered sugar
Splash of vanilla extract
Ingredients for the ganache:
1/2 C chocolate chips
4 T unsalted butter (sub V butter)
Cake directions:
1. Whisk together cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and soda. Set aside
2. Beat eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla, Greek yogurt until well combined
3. Put mixer on low speed and slowly pour in the hot coffee to the wet mixture
4. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and beat until smooth
5. Divide batter evenly between 2 7-8” round pans at 350 F for 50 min or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean
6. Once done, let cool completely and slice each round cake into 2 layers, for a total of 4 layers. You may have to level the tops as well prior to slicing the layers to have flat tops!
7. Frost between each layer and around, refrigerate for 30+ min to let “crumb” layer firm up, then coat the outside with a thicker layer of buttercream
8. Pour ganache over the top of the cake encouraging it to drip over the sides, Place fresh strawberries on top
Buttercream:
1. Purée strawberries in a food processor until you have a liquid
2. Beat butter & powdered sugar (add sugar in increments) and strawberry purée until smooth
Ganache:
1. Melt chocolate and butter in a microwave safe dish in 30 second increments, stirring each time, until melted and smooth
2. Let cool for 5 minutes before pouring otherwise it will be TOO drippy