Happy Friday! This is the start of our weekly posts with new recipes, all time favorites and maybe a few tutorials on different decorating techniques! If you ever have a request or an idea for this, please feel free to let me know! I love hearing feedback. Also, if you try the recipes I share, let me know how they turn out!! I hope all of my Busy Bakers customers will love these posts and share it with friends and family too! Who wouldn’t love a cake that looks like this!?
I decided to start with a new chocolate cake recipe, courtesy of Hilary from The Sugar Studio in Redwood City. She says this is the best chocolate cake recipe ever and after baking it, I have to agree with her! It is delicious. You should all check out her original blog post about it! I made this a naked cake but filled it with a swiss meringue buttercream and poured a homemade caramel sauce over it as a finishing touch! I will walk you through the process with pictures then there are recipes for everything to follow at the end!
Start with mixing all dry ingredients in your mixer until well combined: 
While that is mixing, brew a fresh cup of coffee to add to the batter and pour it in: 
After that is slightly mixed, add all of the (pre-mixed) wet ingredients to the bowl and let it mix for about 2 minutes. When finished, the batter will be very thing. Do not be alarmed:
Fill your cake pans:
After you bake the cakes, let them cool before you try to release them from the pans! I love the dark chocolate color they have:
While the cakes are cooling, start your swiss meringue buttercream! When this is in the mixer, make your caramel. Here is the finished caramel sauce fresh out of the pot:
After cakes are completely cool and your buttercream is done, it time to assemble your cakes: 
Now drizzle caramel over it and call it a day! Yummy!!! 
I hope all you enjoy this as much as my friends did! Of course, you can get all of your baking supplies at Busy Bakers!! (Including the Guittard Cocoa Powder, Vanilla Bean Paste, Cake Pans, Cake Boards, Spatulas, Bowls and more!)
Best Chocolate Cake Recipe Ever Recipe
1 3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour, Sifted
2 Cups Sugar 3/4 Valrhona Cocoa Powder*
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 Cup Freshly brewed and still hot Espresso Roast Coffee
1 Cup Buttermilk (room temperature)
2 Eggs (room temperature)
1/2 Cup Canola oil
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Bean Paste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and Flour (use cocoa powder instead of flour for an added sheen to finished cake) cake pans.
Sift all dry ingredients into stand mixer bowl then whisk on low with whisk attachment to combine. Separately in a small bowl combine buttermilk, eggs, oil and vanilla bean paste. Set aside. With mixer running add hot coffee to dry ingredients mixture will be thick. (Don’t worry about getting it combined at this point, just moisten most of the batter.) Add remaining wet ingredients and mix for 2 minutes on low speed.
Pour batter equally into either 3 8 inch cake pans OR 4 6 inch cake pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. (If you oven temperature is correct cakes will most likely be done at the 20 minute point. Cake is done with sides pull away slightly from pan and a toothpick when inserted still has crumb clinging to it when removed.
*Please note that I did make one change to this recipe and that was to use Guittard Cocoa Powder! I definitely don’t recommend using a cheap cocoa powder because your cake will only be as good as the ingredients you put in it!!
Salted Caramel Sauce Recipe
1 Cup Sugar
5 Tablespoons Butter
1/2 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Bean Paste
1/2 tsp Salt
Melt the sugar over medium high heat in a decent size pot and constantly stir so the sugar doesn’t burn. The sugar will liquefy and start to turn a light brown, cook until it is a deep amber color. Add the butter and once incorporated, turn off the stove. Then add in heavy cream and whisk until smooth. Add the vanilla bean paste and salt!
You can use this sauce immediately or store in the fridge for about 10 days. It will get thick when refrigerated but you can easily microwave it to thin it out.
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
12 Egg Whites
2.5 Cups Sugar
1 Pound Unsalted Butter
FIll a pot with water and bring to a simmer. Make sure you can put a bowl over this pot without it touching the simmering water! Combine egg whites and sugar in a second bowl then put it over simmering water and constantly whisk until all sugar is dissolved and eggs are foaming and starting to turn white. Pour the sugar egg mixture into your stand mixer’s bowl and attach wire whip. Mix until egg white have formed a stiff peak. This usually takes about 15 minutes so be patient! Then change to paddle attachment and slowly add butter until completely combined. This normally takes another 10-15 minutes. Then you have a deliciously light buttercream! Enjoy.
This is my go to buttercream!! You will never go back to an American Buttercream after you try this! Unless of course you need to pipe roses, ha!
Feel free to comment! Enjoy!!
Happy Baking & Decorating!
~Nicole