Sweets – Chelsweets

Easy Chocolate Buttercream Recipe

My classic american buttercream recipe is my top blog post, and is also my most frequently requested recipe!

While I feel comfortable swapping in and out ingredients to make different flavors using this base recipe, I realize that you guys might want to know the recipe for my frequently used variations.

When it comes to buttercream (and baking in general), I always like to keep things simple! While there are tons of delicious types of buttercream out there (Swiss, German, Italian, French…), I prefer American Buttercream!

Why? I don’t like to mess with eggs when it comes to frosting, and I enjoy the way American buttercream tastes.

I find I’m disappointing when bite into a cake with Swiss meringue buttercream (SMBC). SMBC is much lighter and less sweet, and it leaves me feeling unsatisfied. This is just my personal opinion!

It’s definitely the sweetest type of buttercream (Duff Goldman calls it sweetened butter :P), but I grew up eating sweet icing, and have always had a huge sweet tooth!! I grew up loving pop tarts, cans of sugary frosting, and fruity candies!

If you didn’t grow up eating American sweets, or if you don’t have a big sweet tooth, this frosting recipe might be too sweet for you.

However, I do find that my chocolate buttercream tastes a bit less sweet than my vanilla buttercream.

If you’re looking for a rich chocolaty cake filling, or a something that is chocolaty but a bit less sweet, I highly recommend trying ganache!

The cake below is covered in milk chocolate ganache, and it is a really great alternative to chocolate buttercream.

So here you have it, the recipe for my second most popular flavor of buttercream -CHOCOLATE!

It takes my vanilla buttercream recipe, and adds in baking cocoa, and a touch more heavy cream to balance out the thickening effect of the cocoa!

You can also add more cocoa if desired, to get a stronger chocolate taste. Just be sure to add in more heavy cream as well, to maintain the consistency of the frosting.

This frosting is just as easy to make as my vanilla buttercream, and is a dream to frost cakes and cupcakes with.

When using this to frost my favorite vanilla layer cake recipe (which can be used to make four 7 inch or 8 inch cake layers), I usually make 1.5 – 2 batches, depending on how I’m decorating the cake.

NOTE: If you are making frosting for a cake, it is important to mix the buttercream on low at the end of the process for a couple minutes, to get out any extra air that might have be incorporated during the mixing process.

This will make it easier to get super smooth sides on your cake!

Easy Chocolate Buttercream

This chocolate buttercream recipe is so easy, you'll never buy store bought frosting again!! It's made with only 6 ingredients, and takes less than 10 minutes to make!!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword chelsweets, chocolate american buttercream, chocolate buttercream, chocolate cake icing, chocolate frosting recipe, easy choclate frosting recipe

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 1 seven inch layer cake

Ingredients

2 cups (or 4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature (434 grams)
8 cups powdered sugar (907 grams)
1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa (40 grams)
1/2 tsp salt (3 grams)
1/3 cup heavy cream (80 grams)
1 tsp vanilla (12 grams)

Instructions

Beat the butter on a medium speed for 30 seconds with a paddle attachment, until smooth.
Add in the cocoa, and mix on low until the cocoa is fully incorporated, and no clumps remain.
Slowly add in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. Alternate with small splashes of cream.
Once fully mixed, add in the vanilla and salt.
Beat on low until the ingredients are fully incorporated, and the desired consistency is reached.

Recipe Notes

If the frosting is too thick, add in additional cream (1 teaspoon at a time). If the frosting is too thin, add in more powdered sugar (quarter of a cup at a time).

July 31, 2018August 9, 2018

Chelsweets12 Comments

The Best Peanut Butter Buttercream

Peanut butter is one of my favorite flavors. I add it to my oatmeal, my yogurt (Strange, I know! But I swear it’s delicious with honey!!), and I love baking with it! I’ve made several cakes with peanut butter in the past, including my next level honey roasted peanut butter cake, and my PB&J cake!!

While I’ve used peanut butter buttercream on a lot of my cakes, I’ve never really shared my go to recipe! It’s really just adding some peanut butter to my classic american buttercream, but the peanut butter really thickens the frosting! I add in some additional heavy cream and egg whites as well, to make it more spreadable, and easier to frost with.

The Best Peanut Butter Frosting

This is my go to peanut butter buttercream recipe! It’s really just adding some peanut butter to my classic american buttercream, but the peanut butter really thickens the frosting! I add a touch more heavy cream and a tiny bit of egg whites to thin it out, and make it nice and smooth.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
8 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp pasteurized egg whites (room temperature)

Instructions

Beat the butter and peanut butter on a medium speed for 30 seconds with a paddle attachment, until smooth.
Slowly add in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. Alternate with small splashes of cream.
Once fully mixed, add in the egg whites and salt, and beat on low until the ingredients are fully incorporated, and the desired consistency is reached.
If the frosting is too thick, add in additional cream (1 teaspoon at a time). If the frosting is too thin, add in more powdered sugar (quarter of a cup at a time).

Recipe Notes

If you are making frosting for a cake, it is important to mix the buttercream on low at the end of the process for a couple minutes, to get out any extra air that might have be incorporated during the mixing process. This will make it easier to get super smooth sides on your cake!

When using this to frost my go-to chocolate layer cake recipe (which can be used to make four 7 inch or 8 inch cake layers) I usually make 1.5 – 2 batches, depending on how I’m decorating the cake.

June 20, 2018June 24, 2018

Chelsweets4 Comments

Banoffee Cake

Banana cakes are so underrated!! They’re one of my favorite types of cake, but sadly I don’t make very often! I’ve made a few different banana cakes in the past, but wanted to do something different with this one.

I recently tried Banoffee pie for the first time, and realized it would make the perfect cake flavor!! It’s made with a delicious soft toffee filling, bananas, and whipped cream. I’ve incorporated all of these elements into this cake!

Instructions:

To speed up this process, make the “toffee filling” a day in advance!! Place the can on its side in a large pot. Fill the pot with water, making sure the water level is at least 2 inches above the can. Set pot over high heat and allow to come to a simmer. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours; check the pot every 30 minutes to ensure the water level stays above the can, adding boiling water as necessary to top it up.

Carefully remove the can from the water using tongs or a large spoon, and set on a wire rack to FULLY cool to room temperature. It is very important that the can is fully cooled before opening, otherwise the can may explode due to the heat and pressure!

The following day, make the banana cake layers. Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease and line four round 8 inch cake pans. Set aside.

Mash the bananas (you can use a fork or a mixer for this) and set aside. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together on high speed until smooth (about 1 minute).

Use a spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla. Beat on medium speed until combined, then beat in the mashed bananas, and lemon juice. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three installments, alternating with the buttermilk and mixing each addition just until incorporated. Carefully fold in the mini chocolate chips. Do not overmix. The batter will be on the thick side, and there might be a few lumps of banana!

Divide batter evenly between 4 pans. Bake for about 26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out (relatively) clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and set on a wire rack. Allow to fully cool in the pan.

Next, prepare the whipped vanilla buttercream. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter on a medium speed for 30 seconds with a whisk attachment, until smooth. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. Alternate with small splashes of cream. Scrap the sides of the bowl with a spatula, to ensure all the powdered sugar is mixed in. Add in any remaining heavy cream, then whip on high for about 1 minute.

Pour in the egg whites, and beat on high again for about 30 seconds. Add in the vanilla and salt, and mix until fully incorporated. The frosting should be rather thick, like whipped topping!

Stack and frost layers on a 10 inch, grease-proof, cardboard cake round. Frost a ring of whipped vanilla buttercream around the perimeter of the layer, and add a generous scoop of the toffee filling into the center of the layer.

Spread evenly over the cake layer, and top with slices of fresh bananas. Repeat with remaining layers, being sure it the toffee filling and bananas stay within the frosting boarder.

Cover the cake in a thin crumb coat with the vanilla frosting, and chill in the freezer or fridge for about 5 minutes.

Once the crumb coat is firm to the touch, add a second layer of frosting. Smooth using a bench scraper. You can see a full tutorial on how to frost a cake with smooth sides here.

Once smooth, spread a thin ring of toffee around the base of the cake, and then use a large offset spatula to drag the toffee up the side of a cake. Try to keep the angle of each frosting drag the same, to give the cake a cohesive look. I ended up going around the cake twice, to really blend together all my toffee swoops.

Once the sides of the cake are completed, smooth any over hanging frosting at the top of the cake into the center, using a bench scraper. Top the cake with a circle of freshly slice bananas, and a drizzle of warmed leftover toffee (I heated the toffee in the microwave for about 15 seconds).

I’ve really been loving simple cake tops lately, so I was obsessed with the finished look of this cake. If you don’t plan to eat this cake immediately, the bananas on the top of the cake will brown! To trouble shoot, you can either brush the bananas with lemon juice to prevent browning, or use banana chips. This cake is truly delicious, and such a fun spin on a banana cake!!

Banana Cake Layer Recipe (adapted from one of my FAVORITE bakers Sally’s Baking Addiction)

3 large ripe bananas (1 and 1/2 cups mashed)
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (not shown in pictures, but i added them to my livestream version of this cake and they totally make it!!)

Toffee Filling / Dulce to Leche (sourced from Serious Eats)

1 (14-ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk, label removed

Whipped Vanilla Buttercream Recipe:

4 sticks or 2 cups (434 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
8 cups (907 grams) powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp heavy cream
1/4 cup egg whites
2 tsp vanilla

Additional Decorations:

3-4 fresh bananas (optional) or banana chips for decoration

May 30, 2018July 13, 2018

Chelsweets24 Comments

Circus Animal Cookie Cake

For this week’s Food Network Livestream, I am making a cake inspired by the flavor and decoration or circus animal cookies!! While I remember buying these at the grocery store as a kid, I had the hardest time finding them here in Manhattan! After no luck trying three different grocery stores, I ended up buying a few packs on amazon.

To me, there are three things that make circus animal cookies so great; their color, their coating, and all those colorful sprinkles!! The bright white and pink colors are so iconic and playful, and these were the two colors I wanted to incorporate into the decoration of this cake. The next thing that makes them special is the white chocolate coating!!! It takes the cookies from regular animal crackers to whole new level. I chose to add white chocolate into the cake layers, the frosting, and used it to make a ganache drip. I also used a ton of non-pareil sprinkles while decorating the cake, and added them between the layers. The recipe and tutorial can be found below:

White Chocolate Cake Ingredients:

3 1/4 cup (416 grams) all purpose flour
3 cups (600 grams) granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp (13 grams) baking powder
1 tsp (5 grams) salt
1 cup unsalted butter or 2 sticks (226 grams), room temperature
2 tsp. (9 grams) vanilla extract
1 cup egg whites (244 grams) – about 7 large egg whites; I use egg whites from the carton to avoid wasting egg yolks
1 1/2 cups (360 grams) buttermilk, room temperature
1/8 cup (28 grams) vegetable oil
1 cup (6 oz. of white chocolate chips, melted)

White Chocolate Buttercream:

6 sticks or 3 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
12 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp. heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup (6 oz. of white chocolate chips, melted)

Pink, White Chocolate Ganache:

1/2 cup heavy cream (about 4 oz.)
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips (9 oz.)
pink gel food coloring (optional)

Additional Decorations:

circus animal cookies
Non-pareil sprinkles

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line four 7” with parchment rounds, and grease with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt) in a stand mixer with a paddle until fully combined.

Mix chunks of room-temperature butter slowly into the dry mix, on a low speed. Continue to mix until no large chunks of butter remain, and the mixture becomes crumbly.

Pour in egg whites, and mix on low until just incorporated. Mix in the buttermilk in two installments, on a low speed. Add in vanilla and oil, and mix at a low speed until fully incorporated. Slowly mix in the melted white chocolate. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds.

Weight out half of the batter, in a separate bowl. Use pink gel food coloring to color the batter a vibrant shade of pink.

Divide evenly between the prepared cake pans, to make 2 white layers, and 2 pink layers. Bake for about 37 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean). Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then run an offset spatula around perimeter of the pan to separate the cake from the pan. Place cake layers into the freezer for 45 minutes, to accelerate the cooling process.

Once the layers have fully cooled, I like to trim the caramelized bits from the sides of the layers using a serrated knife. While these layers bake pretty flat, sometimes I’ll also trim the top of the layers too. Be sure the layers are completely cooled or chilled before trimming. If you try to trim the layers while they’re still warm, they will crumble apart.

While the layers bake, prepare the white chocolate frosting. Beat the butter on a medium speed for 30 seconds with a paddle attachment, until smooth. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. Alternate with small splashes of cream. Once fully mixed, add in the vanilla, salt, and melted white chocolate. Beat on low until the ingredients are fully incorporated, and the desired consistency is reached. If the frosting is too thick, add in cream (1 teaspoon at a time). If the frosting is too thin, add in more powdered sugar (quarter of a cup at a time).

NOTE: When making frosting for a cake, it is important to mix the buttercream on low at the end of the process for a couple minutes, to get out any extra air that might have be incorporated during the mixing process. This will make it easier to get super smooth sides on your cake!

Next, make the pink, white chocolate ganache! Heat heavy cream in a heat-proof bowl in the microwave for 45 seconds-1 minute, until bubbling. Gently pour white chocolate chips into the heavy cream, making sure they are fully covered with cream. Allow mixture to sit for 2 minutes. Stir slowly until the cream and white chocolate are combined, then heat again for 20 seconds and stir. Repeat as necessary until all the chocolate bits are fully melted and incorporated. Then add gel food coloring, and mix until evenly colored. Allow to cool until desired viscosity is reached.

If it seems too thin or thick, you can add a touch more chocolate chips or heavy cream! The type of cream and white chocolate that you use can affect the consistency, so feel free to adjust as needed. I like to put my ganache into plastic squirt bottles when decorating cakes, but you can also use a spoon to drizzle it over cakes.

Stack and frost layers on a cardboard cake round. Frost an even layer of white chocolate buttercream on top of each cake layer, and add a generous drizzle of white chocolate ganache. Sprinkle with non-pareil sprinkles. Repeat with remaining cake layers, alternating the pink and white layers.

Cover the cake in a thin crumb coat, and chill in the freezer or fridge for about 5 minutes. Once the crumb coat is firm to the touch, add a second layer of frosting. Smooth using a bench scraper. You can see a full tutorial on how to frost a cake with smooth sides here.

To add the pink ganache drips, chill the cake for 10 minutes in the freezer (the cake needs to be cold for the drips to stay in place). Always be sure to do a test drip, to ensure that your ganache is at the right temperature. Place the cake back in the freezer for another 10 minutes, to ensure the drips chill to keep them in place.

Then add frosting swirls around the top of the cake using a wilton 4B tip. Place a circus animal cookie on top of each swirl, and add non-pareil sprinkles around the top, and base of the cake.

Then all that’s left to do is cut into this cake and enjoy it! It’s perfect for anyone who grew up loving circus animal cookies, or really anyone who loves white chocolate!!

April 25, 2018April 25, 2018

Chelsweets6 Comments

Chocolate Blackout Cake

Few things can beat a good chocolate cake. I’d heard of Brooklyn Blackout Cakes before, but I figured it was just a really over the top chocolate cake.

I had no clue it involved pudding, cake crumbs, and that the name in no way relates the chocolate in the cake!!

Here’s a brief snippet of history behind the name of this cake! This cake concept was developed by the Ebinger Baking Company during World War II.

Civilian black out drills were being practiced in Brooklyn to ensure that light from the city wasn’t reflecting on US ships off the coast, giving away their position.

Ebinger got creative with their marketing and named their cake after these drills. Their cake was filled with pudding, covered in a fudge frosting, and coated with cake crumbs!!

To honor the original cake concept, I’ve made this with chocolate cake layers (soaked in chocolate simple syrup), filled with a chocolate pudding, and covered in a milk chocolate ganache.

I used a few of my favorite recipes, along with some new recipes to create this cake. This was my first time making pudding from scratch, and I tried a few recipes before I found one I was happy with.

I highly recommend making it yourself, but if you’re short on time, you can always substitute in boxed pudding.

Recipes:

1 batch my go-to chocolate layer cake recipe
1 cup chocolate simple syrup (1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar dissolved together, + 3 TBSP cocoa)
1 batch chocolate pudding
1 batch milk chocolate ganache (650 grams milk chocolate, melted down with 217 grams heavy cream) – to be made in advance
1 cup chocolate frosting (1 cup American buttercream plus 2 Tbsp cocoa, and 2 additional tsp heavy cream)

Make the milk chocolate ganache first, as it needs at least a few hours to cool and set.

To make, simply place both the chocolate and heavy cream in a heat proof bowl, and heat it for 30 second increments (stirring between).

Usually after about 2 minutes of heat, all the chocolate is melted.

Once the mixture is fully incorporated, place plastic wrap over the top of the ganache, and let it sit at room temperature.

Before adding the room temperature ganache to a cake, I give it a slow stir with a spatula.

I also recommend making the chocolate simple syrup in advance.

It needs time to cool before it can be used, and preparing it ahead of time makes the following day a bit easier.

Place the sugar and water in a pot, and bring to a simmer. Once the sugar has dissolved, mix in the cocoa, and turn off the heat. Pout into a sealed Tupperware container in the fridge overnight.

Bake 4, 7-inch round cake layers using Yo’s chocolate cake recipe and instructions.

Allow layers to cool fully before leveling. Place pans into the freezer for 1 hour, to accelerate the cooling process, and lock in the moisture.

While the layers bake, make the chocolate pudding.

Combine the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt in medium saucepan; slowly mix in the milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring the mixture to a boil, and continue stirring for 1 minute.

Remove the pan from heat, and stir in the butter and vanilla. Pour the pudding into a separate bowl, and press plastic wrap directly onto surface to prevent a skin from forming. Place in the fridge to cool.

After the cake layers are baked and fully cooled, level the cakes by cutting off the tops using a serrated knife.

Place cake tops in a large bowl, and crumb using a fork. Set aside. Use a large, sterile paint brush to douse the cake layers with a generous coat of chocolate simple syrup.

Next, it’s time to assemble the cake! Place the ganache into a piping bag, and pipe a ring around the perimeter of the cake layer.

Scoop about 3/4 of a cup of pudding into the center of the cake layer, and use an offset spatula to evenly spread it out to the ganache boarder.

Repeat this process with the remaining cake layers.

Once stacked, cover the cake with a thick layer of chocolate ganache, and smooth with a bench scrapper.

Place chocolate cake crumbs around the base of the cake.

Use a large frosting tip (I used an Ateco 869) to pipe a boarder of chocolate frosting around the top of the cake, then fill the center with additional cake crumbs.

Then cut in and enjoy! This cake was DELICIOUS! I brought in the leftovers for my coworkers, and they couldn’t get enough of it 🙂

People are still talking about this cake, and ask me all the time when I’m going to make it again!

February 1, 2018August 9, 2018

Chelsweets19 Comments

Ultimate Nutella Cake

Nutella… such a wonderful creation. It holds a special place in my heart, and I absolutely love baking with it! I almost feel like I’m cheating every time I add it to a cake, because I know it’s going to be so delicious!! For this cake I tried out Yolanda Gampp’s chocolate cake recipe, which is such an amazing recipe! The layers are so delicious, and easy to work with. This cake is frosted with a black cocoa buttercream, Nutella buttercream, and vanilla buttercream. I frosted this cake using a textured buttercream look, inspired by the wonderful @KarleesKupcakes! The full tutorial is included below:

Recipes:

4 lbs of Yolanda Gampp’s chocolate cake recipe
1 cup simple syrup
1 1/2 batches of my American Buttercream
1/2 batch of my chocolate ganache drip recipe
1.5 jars of Nutella
1 cup chopped, toasted hazelnuts
8 Ferrero Rocher Truffles

Bake 4, 7-inch round cake layers using Yo’s recipe and instructions. Allow layers to cool fully before leveling. Place pans into the freezer for 1 hour, to accelerate the cooling process, and lock in the moisture.

While the layers cool, make the frosting! Once the vanilla frosting is made, place 1/5 of the frosting into a bowl. Add 1/2 cup black cocoa, and 1 extra Tbsp of heavy cream. Mix until fully combined, then cover with saran wrap and set aside (be sure to place the plastic wrap directly on top of the frosting to prevent crusting!). Place 1/5 of the vanilla frosting into another bowl, and also cover and set aside. Add 3/4 of a jar (roughly 1 cup, give or take) of Nutella into the remaining frosting, plus and extra 2 Tbsp heavy cream. Mix until fully incorporated, and cover with plastic wrap.

Once the layers are fully cooled, remove cake layers from pans and level the tops using a serrated knife. Use a thick, sterile brush to douse the cake layers with simple syrup. Stack and frost they layers, using the black cocoa buttercream on the first layer. Spread a generous layer of frosting, then drizzle warm Nutella over the frosting using a spoon. Sprinkle toasted hazelnuts over this. Repeat on the next layer using the Nutella buttercream, and on the third layer with vanilla frosting.

Cover the cake in a thin layer of frosting (crumb coat) to trap any run-away crumbs. Chill the cake in the freezer or fridge for about 5 minutes, until the buttercream is firm to the touch.

Next, add a thicker, second layer of Nutella buttercream. Use a bench scraper to smooth the sides of the cake, and a small offset spatula to smooth the top of the cake. You can see a full tutorial on how to frost a cake with smooth sides here.

To create a textured buttercream look, use a small offset spatula to spread white s buttercream smears around the cake. Thin these out using a bench scrapper, to created rougher edges on each bit of white frosting. Layer the black cocoa frosting onto the cake next, using the same technique. Chill the cake for 5 minutes in the fridge, the add some Nutella buttercream streaks.

Swirl together the remaining frosting colors into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 4B tip. Pipe buttercream swirls onto the top of the cake, leaving about an inch of open space between each swirl. Top each swirl with a chocolate truffle (I used Ferrero Rocher).

Use a squirt bottle to drizzle the chocolate ganache between the swirls, to make some short drips. To learn my tips and tricks on adding chocolate drips to a cake, you can click here.

It was so fun to mix up the look of this cake with this textured buttercream look! While perfectly smooth sides on a cake are wonderful, it’s exciting to try different techniques. Using three different frosting types inside the cake made the slices look beautiful!! They almost had an ombre effect 🙂

This cake was made to test this cake design for my weekly Food Network Livestream. I never have a hard time dreaming up cake ideas, but making sure I’ll be able to live stream them is a different story! I like to make a test cake the weekend before to ensure my livestream will go smoothly. If you want to see a live demo, be sure to tune into the Food Network Facebook Page at 7:45pm EST this Wednesday 🙂

January 9, 2018February 21, 2018

Chelsweets23 Comments