{Chocolate Cake} with Frangelico & Chocolate Frosting

Man oh man, talk about indulgence. First of all let me just say that I had not planned on making a chocolate cake, let alone one that has frosting on top that is nearly as thick as one of the layers. And layers! Definitely didn’t think about making anything with layers. I love it when non-plans come together!

When I saw this awesome recipe in one of my favourite blogs, I just couldn’t resist. I needed cake. I mean neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeded it. Ok, fair enough that it feels like I need cake pretty much all the time but the week at work felt like it was never going to end. You know what I mean? One of those weeks. Add to that a few sleepless nights…you get the picture.

So I thought, alright let’s make a nice and chocolatey cake with frosting on top. That would cheer me up. I mean chocolate, right? But then I was like, wait a minute! If I am going to make this I may as well go all out. Double everything up? 2 cakes? Stack them? Tons of icing? Now we’re talking. Wait, what? Add some Frangelico? Oh my goodness yes!

For those of you who don’t know what Frangelico is, it’s an italian hazelnut liqueur and it is DELICIOUS! I first had it last Christmas then my brother in law and his fiancé got me a bottle for my birthday and I can honestly say it is almost finished! It added a subtle nutty flavour to the frosting which I loved. Although totally optional to use here, I would highly recommend trying it if you can, even if you drink it rather than use it in the recipe!This cake is seriously lush and it has been voted by Christoph the best ever. That good. Promise.
Recipe slightly adapted from {Smitten Kitchen}. I used 2 x 8″ round tins.

Cake

170g unsalted butter, at room temperature
230g dark brown sugar
50g golden caster sugar
2 large egg
2 large egg yolks
300ml sour cream 50ml milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
85g cocoa powder
250g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table or fine sea salt

Frosting
110g unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
330g sifted icing sugar
230g unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons double cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons Frangelico (optional)

Cake:
Heat oven to 175°c. Line your cake tins with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars until creamy and fluffy. Add the eggs, yolks and vanilla and beat until nicely mixed. Combine the milk and sour cream together and add it to your bowl. Mix everything again.
Sift your flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt and add it to the wet ingredients. Mix it all together until combined. Divide equally between the 2 tins and smooth flat. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a stick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Let them cool in cake tins on a cooling rack, then remove them from tins and leave it to completely finish cooling before frosting.

Frosting:
Place all ingredients in a food processor and mix, making sure that you scrape the sides down so as to mix everything properly! Mix until smooth. Depending on whether you added the Frangelico or not, your frosting may be a bit soft. If too soft to ice your cake, put it in the fridge for 30 min or until you are happy with the frosting ability of your frosting!
Scoop the frosting onto one of the cooled chocolate cake. Don’t be shy with the portion. I was too worried about not having enough for the top that I didn’t put as much in as I would have liked! Top with the other cake and frost the top. I finished with rainbow hundreds and thousands and it looked so cheerful!

I hope you enjoy it, it kept really well outside of the fridge ( I hate putting my cakes in the fridge) for a few days in a cake container, enough time to devour it all between the 2 of us! I’ll be taking this to Angie’s Fiesta Friday #58 this week because it’s just too good not to share! The co-hosts this week a Caroline @Caroline’s Cookingand Elaine @foodbod. Caroline is a new find for me and everything she makes just looks so good. Elaine I have followed for a while now, she not only does lovely food but she is also a really awesome lady. Both worthy co-hosts, do check them out.