Three Layer Chocolate Birthday Cake with Chocolate Ganache
Serves 12
25 mins prep
35 mins cook
60 mins total
An essential homemade chocolate cake recipe, with a moist tender crumb and perfect deep chocolate flavor and a creamy ganache frosting.This is the cake to make for family birthdays, as well as for other special occasions that require cake!
Cake:
Chocolate Ganache Frosting:
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Arrange the oven rack to the middle position. Preheat the oven to 350 (175 C) degrees (325 (160 C) for convection}. Butter (3) 8-inch cake pans and line the bottom with parchment paper.
Put the cocoa powder and chocolate in a heatproof bowl or large glass measuring cup and pour the boiling water over. Stir until smooth and let cool to room temperature.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.
In a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until very light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium-high speed. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, stopping to scrape the bowl as necessary. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 3 separate additions, alternating with the cocoa mixture.
Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake 30-35 minutes, shifting the pans from front to back halfway through, until the tops of the cakes spring back when touched in the center. Cool in the pan 20 minutes, then gently turn out and cool completely on a rack. The cakes can be made up to 2 days ahead. Wrap them in plastic and store at room temperature.
Ganache frosting
Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl with the salt. Bring the cream to a boil then pour over the chocolate. Let stand for 10 minutes, then stir until the chocolate melts and the ganache is completely smooth. Cool to room temperature, until it's thickened to a spreadable consistency.
To assemble the cake, spread the cooled ganache over the top of each layer, spreading to the edges. Stack the cakes on a plate and spread the top and sides with more ganache to cover the cake.
