This is the cake I made for Jessie’s Birthday this year. I will just admit straight out that these pictures look like they could be used in a post titled “What Not To Do When Photographing Cake.”

1. Do not take pictures in direct sunlight.

2. Avoid late-evening-lighting because its likely your image will be dark and blurred.

3. Take pictures of your cake “before” you dig in, blow out the candles, and remove candles (leaving horrible little holes in the icing!)

On the other hand, however, the actual cake was deliciously moist and chocolatey. I used the same espresson glaze in January’s cake for the icing, with a white chocolate mousse on the side. Again, I apologize for not showing this cake in its full glory, you’ll just have to experiment with the recipe below and make a beautifully decorated cake to redeem this one 🙂

<Cake Challenge Series: is a collection of posts which document the cakes I bake each month. More specifically, I have a goal this year to bake at least one (hopefully spectacular) layer cake each month, and photograph/post them here. I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I enjoy baking these delicious desserts!>

Other Cake Challenge Posts:
January 
February
March 
May

Chocolate Cake
2 1/4 cup flour
1 cup unsweetened coacoa powder
2 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cup hot coffee (strongly brewed)
2 eggs
1 cup mayonnaise (sounds weird I know, but this is the secret ingredient to SUPER moist cakes!)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 3, 9-inch round cake pans, line each with parchment paper (cut to fit the bottom of each pan).
2. Sift together all dry ingredients (first 6 ingredients listed)
3. Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring milk to a simmer by heating it in a small saucepan over the stove. Pour hot coffee and milk over the chocolate creating a mocha mixture. Let sit for one minute then whisk to combine.
4. In a mixing bowl beat eggs, mayonnaise,and vanilla together until smooth then add sugar to the mixture. Alternate mixing the dry ingredients and mocha into the egg mixture until smooth. Divide batter into cake pans.
5. Bake for 25-28 minutes. Once cake pans are withdrawn from the oven, let cool 10-15 minutes before removing cakes.

White Chocolate Mousse:
4 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg white
1 tbl sugar

1. Melt white chocolate and 1/4 cup of the heavy cream in a double boiler. Be careful to avoid overheating the chocolate or it will seize. Whisk and set out to cool.
2. In a mixing bowl beat the remaining 3/4 cup of cream until soft peaks form. In a separate bowl whip egg whites with sugar until stiff peaks form.
3. Fold the egg whites into melted white chocolate (make sure the chocolate is cooled). Finally fold the whipped cream in, as well until just combined (err on the side of under-mixing)

~enjoy 🙂