Ingredients:
2 cups All-purpose flour
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk of your choice
½ cup Vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ cup freshly brewed coffee
For the Chocolate Espresso Frosting:
2 cup unsalted butter, softened
5 cups powdered sugar
5 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
½ Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant espresso
For the Chocolate Ganache:
1 Cup semi sweet chocolate chips
½ Cup heavy whipping cream
For the Topping:
Chocolate covered strawberries
Fresh Strawberries sliced
Ferrero Rochers
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 9in round cake pans with butter and lightly flour. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine.
In the same bowl with the dry ingredients, add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk until just combined.
Stir in the freshly brewed coffee until a smooth consistency is reached. Divide the batter between the 3 cake pans.
Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool for 15 minutes before removing them from the pans to a cooling rack. Do not frost until completely cooled!
To make the frosting, using a small bowl, whisk the heavy whipping cream and the instant espresso until dissolved.
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream, and cocoa powder until combined and stiff with peaks.
Scoop 1 cup of the frosting into a piping bag and set aside. Place one of the cake layers onto a cake board. Using a cake leveler, remove the dome of the cake to make an even layer.
Scoop 1 ½ C of frosting onto the top of the cake and smooth evenly. Repeat the step to make second cake layer even. Place the second cake layer on top and scoop another 1 ½ C of frosting on top.
Smooth the frosting evenly. Remove dome off the third cake layer and place on top. If you have frosting peeking out over the sides of the cake, use a flat spatula or offset spatula to smooth out the frosting. This will give the cake a rough ‘naked’ type look. It’s called ‘crumb coating‘.
Use most of the remaining frosting to frost entire cake and smooth evenly before placing into the fridge while you make the ganache. Set aside enough frosting for piping on later.
To make the ganache, using a small pot, bring the heavy whipping cream to a simmer. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips in a medium bowl.
Allow the hot cream and chocolate chips to sit for 1 minute before whisking until smooth.
Pour the warm ganache into the squeeze bottle. Remove the cake from the fridge and use the squeeze bottle and pour the ganache around the top edge of the cake to create drips.
Pipe dollops of frosting all over the top of the cake with the leftover frosting.
Top with chocolate covered strawberries, fresh strawberries and ferrero rochers.
