White Chocolate Cake

It’s bakemas 2020!

If it’s your first bakemas here, welcome. It is my annual mini-series in which I show you how to make a various Christmas themed baked goods – perfect if you want to impress your family and/or friends or if you’re hosting a festive get together.

How about this white chocolate cake? a super simple white chocolate and vanilla sponge cake, filled with winterberry jam and finished with a white chocolate buttercream – the perfect cake for those who love white chocolate.

I won’t lie to you, this cake didn’t turn out the way I wanted it but the end result and taste was spot on, so still shared it. Originally, the cake was going to be a white chocolate snowman cake but when the meringue snowmen didn’t work out the way I wanted them to, I quickly scraped the idea and kept the white chocolate element only.

I used my Italian buttercream for this cake as white chocolate can make buttercream very sweet. Using the Italian buttercream takes a majority of the sweetness away, leaving you with the rich and smooth buttercream.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

 

Ingredients:

cake:

200g butter.

250g granulated sugar.

150g white chocolate, melted and allowed to cool down.

4 eggs.

2 tsp vanilla extract.

250g plain flour.

pinch of salt.

1 1/4 tsp baking powder.

100g white chocolate chips.

uptown 100ml milk.

 

buttercream:

250g granulated sugar.

65ml water.

70g egg yolk.

1 whole egg.

500g butter.

 

meringue kisses:

1 egg white.

double the amount of sugar (2 parts sugar to 1 part egg white).

food colouring gel/paste (optional).

 

simple syrup:

150ml water.

150g granulated sugar.

 

methods:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, lining or butter and flour your 6 inch cake tins, line baking trays with parchment and grab any equipment you may need such as a stand mixer, mixing bowls and spatulas. When it comes to preheating your oven, for the cakes it should be 180˚c/350˚f and for the meringue kisses it should be 100˚c/210˚f.

To start on the recipe, I like to start with the cake. Grab a mixing bowl and place in the butter and granulated sugar – beat the two together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency, this usually takes around 7-10 minutes but depends on the mixer speed and softness of the butter.

Scrape the bowl down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Add in your eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. As you add the eggs, you may notice the mixture become looser in consistency and this is completely normal.

Give the bowl another scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in.

Take a sieve and pass through the flour, salt and baking powder. Sieving the dry mix prevents any big lumps making their way into the mixture.

Incorporate the dry ingredients over a low speed to start, working your way up to a medium-high speed and mixing until everything has been incorporated.

To help with the consistency of the cake batter, add in the milk and mix until its incorporated.

Give the bowl a scraping down and add in the white chocolate and chocolate chips – mix until they are fully incorporated throughout the cake batter.

Transfer and divide the cake batter between your 3 x 6 inch cake tins (or like I have done, 2×4 inch and 2×6 inch tins), smooth and level it out as best you can – then place into the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean when inserted into the centre).

While your cakes are in the oven, you can go ahead and get the other elements made – starting with the simple syrup.

Into a medium saucepan, place the water, sugar and vanilla extract and mix until they are combined. Place on the hob over a medium-high heat, allowing it to come up to a boil, then remove from the heat and transfer into a bowl/jug and allow to cool fully. When suitable, store in the fridge.

Next, I’d recommend you make the buttercream – for this recipe I’m using an Italian buttercream. I already have a blog post on how to make the Italian buttercream, so it seems pointless sharing it in this recipe.

The meringue kisses can be made at any time, which is great.

To start on the meringue kisses, take a large spotlessly clean mixing bowl and place in the egg white. Whisk the egg white over a high speed until it becomes frothy.

Add in the food colouring you intend on using and whisk that in until its fully blended in. Then add in the sugar, one teaspoon at a time and add the sugar slowly.

To know when your meringue is done, it should be stiff and hold its shape well. You shouldn’t be able to feel any granules of sugar in the mixture wen you rub it between your finger and thumb – if you do, continue to whisk until you can no longer feel it.

Transfer the meringue mixture into a piping bag and pipe out the kisses onto a sheet on parchment paper (which has been secured down using a small amount of the meringue mixture in each corner to keep the sheet secure).

Pipe out the meringue kisses, I went with two sizes but pipe whatever pleases you. Then place into oven and bake for 60-90 minutes or until they cleanly peal away from the parchment. Now set them aside until they are needed later on.

Whenever you have all the elements ready, you can start to assemble the cake. Level off the tops of all of your cakes and generously brush them over with the simple syrup and give them a couple of minutes to rest, then start to assemble the cake.

To start the assembly of the cake, take your cake board/plate/stand and smear a small amount of buttercream into the centre of it and place your first layer of cake on top, pressing it down to secure it in place. Then go ahead and top that with a good amount of the buttercream and spread that out until its smooth and level.

As an optional filling, you can add a good tablespoon of your favourite flavoured jam, I chose winterberry jam. Spread it out and then place the second layer of cake on and press it down just to secure it in place.

Now you will want to apply a thin layer of buttercream, this is known as a crumb coat – simply a thin layer of buttercream to lock those pesky crumbs in, preventing them from ruining the final layer of cake. Place the cake into the fridge, allowing the buttercream to firm up before you apply the final layer cake.

Repeat the above process with the other cake, I started with the 6 inch cake and then the 4 inch cake – if you’re using 3 6 inch layers, just layer them all in one go.

Once the cake/s have had the crumb coats applied and have had time to chill in the fridge, you can then apply the final layer of cake/s.

Now for the final layer, the mount of buttercream you use is totally up to you. I like Italian buttercream as its not too sweet and is instead rich – so I went with enough to give the cake a semi naked appearance  but it really depends on yourself and what sort of look you’re going for.

However you decide, smooth it out to get the best possible looking cake. Don’t forget to keep the excess buttercream in a bowl, as you should be able to reuse it for the latter decoration. Place back in the fridge and allow enough time to chill fully, so the buttercream has firmed and is easier to work with when we stack the cake.

On the bottom edge of the bottom cake, I like to use some sprinkles to add a little pop of colour.

Don’t forget, you can add a while chocolate drip. It breaks up the plain look, even if it does almost blend in. I take a small amount of white chocolate spread and melt it in the microwave. Use a tea spoon and take varying amounts of the spread and drip it from on top of the cake, down the side – it should guide itself down pretty easily.

Creating drips of varying length add a little quirk but feel free to make them more uniform – the cake is all yours! Repeat this on both of your cakes.

To stack the cake, insert 3-4 dowels or boba tea straws, then place the second tier of cake on top. Try your best to get it perfect the first time around, I tried to get mine as central as possible but if you’re not looking for that, you do you of course.

Take the remaining buttercream and place into a piping bag fitted with an open star tip and pipe a rope border around the top tier, and fill the centre with the matching sprinkles from around the edge of the bottom tier. You can also use some of the meringue kisses on top, just to add a little decoration without it being too much.

Chill in the fridge and then enjoy it!

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.