Chocolate Cake w raspberry filling and coffee buttercream

By cuznvin

Cook Notes: I love this chocolate cake recipe and swear by it. If you have a favorite chocolate cake recipe then by all means please use whatever works for you. Devils Food would also work nicely too. Please note this recipe calls for using 3 9-inch pans. I have 2 10-inch pans and used that just fine. If you have 8-inch pans you might have some leftover batter, which you could easily use for cupcakes. If you don’t have a Starbucks Via I guess you could use other espresso granules. Which ones I don’t know, I haven’t tried any others yet. Just taste test as you go along.

Ingredients

• For the chocolate cake
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 3 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 1/3 cups sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups hot coffee
• raspberry filling
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup of red raspberry (seedless) preserves/jam, room temp
• espresso buttercream
• 2 sticks of salted butter, room temp
• 4 ounces full fat cream cheese, room temp
• 2 1/2 - 3 cups of confectioners sugar, sifted
• 1/2 packet of one Starbuck Via (Columbia roast)
• 2 TB all purpose flour (you might need a bit more to thicken it up)
• Tiny pinch of salt
• chocolate ganache
• 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 8 ounces high quality (60% or higher) bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
• (if you want really shiny ganache add in 1 scant tablespoon of corn syrup)

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans. Cut 3 circles of waxed paper or parchment paper to fit the bottoms of the pans, then press them in.
In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or using a hand mixer), cream the butter until smoeoth. Add th sugar and eggs and mix until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla, cocoa, baking soda and salt and mix. Add 1/2 of the flour, then 1/2 of the sour cream and mix. Repeat with the remaining flour and sour cream. Drizzle in the hot coffee and mix until smooth. The batter will be thin. Pour into the prepared pans and bake until the tops are firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are okay), about 35 minutes. Halfway through the baking, quickly rotate the pans in the oven to ensure even baking, but otherwise try not to open the oven. I let my cakes cool in the pan at least 2 hours before using.

make the espresso buttercream:
In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat the butter with the sifted confectioners sugar until well combined. Add in the flour and the Starbuck Via. Do a taste test and see if it needs the salt—mine did; it’s up to you if you want to add it. Recipe from vanillasugarblog.com The frosting is set to spread. If you do decide to wait and frost later, keep in mind the frosting will set up to be very hard in fridge. Just let it come to room temp (about an hour or more) before using later. Stir the frosting really well before using if you did let it sit in fridge.

for the chocolate the ganache:
In a medium saucepan melt the chocolate with the heavy cream over low heat, stirring constantly. Don’t let this burn. Stir until nice and glossy, take off heat, let it rest a bit (about 10 minutes). Stir up again and pour over cake.

to assemble:
Take cooled cakes, spread a thin layer of the seedless raspberry jam over the bottom half of a cake. Top with other half and begin to frost. Once you’re done frosting, put cake in fridge to set up and get a bit firm before pouring the Ganache over. When you are ready to serve cake, make the Ganache and simply pour over the top of the cake (in a thin layer), using a spatula pushing the Ganache to the sides to let it run down.

Storage:
This cake does well in the fridge for a couple days. It does harden up, so if you need to serve it again, just let it come to room temp for an hour or so before using again.