Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Yellow Cake:

 2 ¼ cups cake flour (not self rising) (i prefer Swan brand)

 2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp fine table salt

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar 

 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter room temperature  

 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil

3 large eggs room temperature

 2 large yolks

 1 cup buttermilk (I used lowfat)

Note: (If your eggs and not super yellow and you want your cake yellower in color, you can add a couple drops of yellow food coloring)

Chocolate Frosting-

16 oz of chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (I used 10 oz of Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips and 6oz of Ghirardelli Bittersweet chips)

2 cups of heavy cream 

1 stick of unsalted butter, room temp, cut into cubes

1/3 cup dark cocoa powder (such as hersheys special dark)

Heaping 1/4 teaspoon fine table salt

4 cups of powdered sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Cake steps-

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. 

2. In a large bowl whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or using electric hand beaters, beat together the 1 stick of room temp soft butter, sugar, vegetable oil and vanilla until light and creamy, about 4 minutes.

4. Next, beat in the whole eggs and egg yolks one at a time until combined.

5. On low speed beat in the flour mixture alternating with the buttermilk in 3 installments, just until incorporated.

6. Grease 2,  9 inch round cake pans with butter and line them with parchment paper at the bottom, then grease the tops of the paper. (and can also use 3 smaller round cake pans but watch the baking time) Divide the batter evenly between the 2 cake pans and then place them in the oven on the middle rack. Bake 25-30 minutes or until the cake springs back in the center when you touch it. While you’re baking the cakes you can make the frosting. 

7. Allow the cakes to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes then carefully flip the cakes out onto the rack and remove the parchment paper. Cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting-

1. Pour the heavy cream into a small saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Once its hot and simmering, pour it over the bittersweet chocolate in a heat safe bowl. Let it stand 3-4 minutes then whisk until smooth. 

2. With electric hand beaters or with a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat in the cubes of room temp butter until incorporated. (The butter must be soft and room temp but not melted, I leave mine out overnight)

3. On low speed beat in the cocoa, vanilla and salt until combined. Gradually add in the powdered sugar until smooth and blended. It will be too loose at this stage. Allow the ganache to sit at room temp for 30-45 minutes stirring every so often to allow it to cool and thicken up. You want it to be a spreadable texture. (You can also refrigerate it but you will need to stir it every 7 minutes or so to prevent it from hardening too much. Once a silky, spreadable texture you’re ready!)

4. Once your cakes are cooled and your frosting has thickened you can ice your cakes! If you’d like you can trim the domes off the cake layers to help them stack more cleanly, and or even use a cake dowel in the center to help them stay put. Put about a half inch layer of the frosting in between the two cake layers and then refrigerate about 30 minutes to allow it to set (leave the remaining frosting at room temp or it will harden too much). 

5. Once the filling is set you can frost the rest of your cake and then serve! I leave mine in a sealed plastic cake holder at room temperature to keep its glossy, smooth finish. If you like a firm ganache you can refrigerate it!