So, we've already discussed how I have a little bit of an over-celebration problem and the birthday cake that I made for my friend Meagan's 24th birthday last weekend is a PERFECT example. Making cakes for my friends has become a tradition with me, but I will openly admit that I went a little bit overboard on this one. But hey, everyone loves a little extravagance on their birthday!
While making and eating this chocolate buttercream cake, we all need to completely erase the word "moderation" from our vocabularies. This recipe calls for so much butter that I'm shocked it isn't one of Paula Deen's recipes. But as every good southerner knows, butter makes it better. And WOW it really does in this case.
I found this recipe for chocolate buttercream cake in a Barefoot Contessa book a few weeks ago when I made a cake for our family friend Suzan Boyce. As delicious as Suzan's cake was, it wasn't that pretty and ended up being a trial run for the version I made the following week for Meagan. Once I had tweaked and mastered the recipe, I went a little crazy. Four tiers of crazy to be exact.
I'll warn you- this is a time consuming recipe, but it is SO worth the effort. The cake itself is the most fluffy, moist cake I've ever tasted. The trick is the cup of sour cream in the batter. On top of the cake itself being unbelievable, the icing is like nothing you've ever experienced. I love it because it really isn't all that sweet (which is dangerous because you're likely to end up eating more of it!)- that and the rum. Ina Garten lists the rum as "optional," but I consider it ESSENTIAL! What could be more indulgent than a whipped mixture of butter, sugar, chocolate and rum? It is truly sinful.
Making a tiered cake with a buttercream icing is much different than most tiered cakes you see with beautiful, smooth fondant icing. Unless you're a pro, which I am not, the buttercream looks a little less perfectly smooth than I would like when I finish icing it. For this reason, I feel that decorations are essential. Those of you who know me know that I'm a little bit Type A, so I need something about this cake to look streamlined and "perfect."
One of my favorite cake decorating tools are dragees- edible little shiny, metallic-colored balls. They are available at any cake decorating store and some specialty grocery stores. They are the perfect way to make something look fancy and special.
On Meagan's cake, I lined the edge of each tier with silver dragees. When doing this on a buttercream icing, I recommend placing the dragees with tweezers rather than your fingers because the heat of your hands will tend to melt the buttercream.
To top the cake, fresh flowers are always a gorgeous (and EASY) option. I grabbed a few different shades of pink roses, rinsed them, cut the stems to about 2 inches, removed the leaves and thorns, and arranged them on the top tier of the cake. For candles, I ALWAYS choose long sparkler candles. There is nothing more special than being presented with a cake that looks like it is topped with fireworks!
Served with pink champagne, this tiered chocolate buttercream cake made Meagan's birthday super special- and was a HUGE crowd pleaser. When I came back into the living room after handing out everyone's cake, I literally found Meagan licking her plate. I would post a picture if I didn't think it would jeopardize our friendship! However, to make my point, I will share a picture of how much the birthday girl still loved her cake the next morning!
I hope that this cake can make a special memory for you and your friends just as it did for us!
Click HERE for the Chocolate Buttercream Cake Recipe!
Click HERE for the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe!
