Birthday Cake - Chocolate Cake with Sourcream Filling & Ganache Frosting

Hello!! It was my Hubby's birthday on 5th Nov & ever since I started blogging I was waiting for this special occasion to bake this delicious cake all from scratch.  Both of us are chocolate lovers so thought why not make a super rich chocolaty cake thus Chocolate cake with Chocolate & Sour cream filling & Chocolate Ganache frosting.  Total Yum!! Coincidentally this happens to be my 75th post too!

This is a lengthy post as I have tried giving as many details as possible. It may also feel like a lot of effort to make this cake but believe me when you see the final outcome & most important taste it you will feel all this effort is worth it. In-fact you may think twice before  buying any ready made cakes going forward. This cake can stay good for 2-3 days in refrigerator but bet it wont last that long as its too yummy to resist. Now coming to the recipe...

Ingredients:

For Chocolate cake (makes two 9 inch cakes)
1 & ¾ cup of all purpose flour 
¾ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt 
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of buttermilk 
1 /2 cup of oil
1 cup of hot & strong coffee 
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Sour-cream Filling:
6 oz of semi sweet chocolate
4-5 tablespoon of unsalted butter
½ cup of Sour cream
1 tablespoon of corn syrup
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 & ½ cups of powdered sugar

For chocolate Ganache:
1 & ½ cups of semi sweet chocolate chips
⅔ cup of heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon of butter

Other requirement: 
Two 9 inch round baking pans
Angled spatula 
cake stand or serving plate 
parchment paper (optional) 

Method:

For chocolate cake:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Greece two 9 inch round baking pans with some butter & dust some flour. Spread & tap off the excess flour. Alternately you can also place a parchment paper after greacing the pans & again apply some butter over the parchment paper. 

In a large bowl add all the dry ingredients like all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt & sugar. Mix well & keep aside

In another bowl, break the eggs one at a time & whisk gently. Then add the buttermilk, oil & vanilla extract to the eggs & mix well till all is well incorporated.

Now pour the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients. Mix well. Now add the hot coffee into this & again mix till all gets well incorporated & you get a lump free & running batter. 
Distribute evenly into the two round pans & bake for about 25-30 mins. At 30 mins poke a toothpick or knife at the center of the cake, if it comes out clean that means the cake is done. Remove from the oven & allow it to cool in the pan for 10-15 mins. Then transfer onto cooling rack to completely cool off. 

For Sour cream filling: 

Randomly chop the chocolate into small pieces using a knife & then transfer it into a heat proof/safe bowl. To this chocolate add butter. Now using double boiling method (i.e. placing the heat safe bowl on a pot of boiling water) stir the chocolate & butter mixture till smooth & glossy. Keep aside & allow it to cool. 

In another bowl, mix sour-cream, corn syrup & vanilla extract. Mix. Now add the cooled chocolate-butter mixture & mix well. 

Then add the sugar 1 cup at a time & mix till all is well incorporated & you get a smooth & creamy filling. Fill about just less than ½ of this filling into the pipping bag. Keep refrigerated as we will be using this to decorate out cake at the end. Remaining will be used as filling between two cakes. 

For Chocolate Ganache: 

Boil the cream just so it reaches the boiling temperature but its not boiling. To this add the chocolate chips & butter. Allow it to stand for a minute & then start stirring till you get a smooth & glossy ganache. Initially the Ganache will have a more liquidy texture but we will refrigerate it for 30 to 60 mins or until we are ready to use. By this time the texture will be slightly like a cream cheese (i.e. thick)which can be spread easily on the cake. If you are finding difficulty in spreading the ganache, allow it to stand at room temperature for 10 mins & you should get the spreadable consistency. 

For Assembling the Chocolate Cake: 

 Take the cake stand or the serving plate on which you will be presenting your cake. Cut the parchment paper into 4 length wise strips & place it on four sides of cake plate/stand. This will prevent the plate from looking messy when you apply the frosting & filling. Place a tablespoon of the sour cream filling at the center of the cake stand. This will act as a glue to hold the cake in place. Now place the cake on the cake stand/plate by aligning the center. Pour the sour cream filling on the cake & spread evenly starting from inside to out. Apply as thick or thin layer you like. 

Now place the other cake on top of the first one & press gently. Its alright if some of the filling oozes out from the side. Using the angled spatula simply spread it around the cake. Now place ¼ of chocolate ganache on the uppermost cake & spread it evenly. The take the other ¼ & spread it on the sides of the cake starting from top & moving downwards. Make sure you apply a thin coat all over the cake. This will be our first coating. Don't worry about the layer being smooth, but spread it as evenly as possible. Now take the remaining ½ ganache & spread it on top & remaining ½ on all sides.

Now using the angled spatula, start smoothing the ganache. For smoothing the sides, place the angled spatula slant with slight pressure & move the dish in circular motion to even out. Remove the excess ganache from the spatula & dip the spatula in hot water to clean the spatula & then again start smoothing it. Once you think you have achieved the smoothness you wanted, refrigerate the cake for 30 mins as this will help to set the ganache. Now using the piping bag filled with sour cream filling make small flowers on the sides of the cake & some simple boundary at the bottom. I wanted to keep it simple but you could make any decoration of your choice. Now carefully pull the parchment paper strips from all sides. If at all there is any filling or ganache left on the cake plate then wipe it with a clean paper towel. Cover & refrigerate till its time to cut & celebrate. 

Notes: 

• Your cake needs to be completely cool before you apply any filling or frosting to it.  I prefer baking my cake at night & allow it to cool on cooling rack overnight. This way I am all set to fill & frost it the next morning. 
• Also your frosting should not be too cold & hard to work on the cake as that will make the spreading difficult & may spoil your cake. 
• I have used the chocolate sour cream mixture as a filling & chocolate ganache as frosting as I preferred a firm outer cake frosting & wanted it to be really special.  But you could make this same cake using only one of these i.e. using chocolate & sour cream as filling as well as frosting same is the case with chocolate ganache. 
• If at any time when you are working with the filling & frosting you find its becoming runny or liquidy, simply refrigerate the cake & or the filling/frosting for 10-15 mins or till you get a workable consistency. 
•  I've used egg in the chocolate cake recipe but you can definitely replace the chocolate cake with the Eggless Chocolate cake recipe 
• I've used the these portions to make 
• Buttermilk  - adding 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 1 cup of milk. 
• Hot strong coffee -  adding 1 & ½ teaspoon of instant coffee to 1 cup of hot water. 

That's it out yummy & Chocolaty cake with Sour cream filling & Chocolate Ganache Frosting is ready. Serve it cold or if you prefer it warm just microwave it for 10 seconds before serving. 

Happy Baking!!
Shweta