Neapolitan chocolate fudge cake recipe

Details

• Cuisine: British
• Recipe Type: Cake
• Difficulty: Medium
• Preparation Time: 80 mins
• Cooking Time: 90 mins
• Serves: 12

Step-by-step

1. To make your syrup, place the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat once the sugar has dissolved and the liquid has boiled for 1–2 minutes. Leave to cool. Once cooled to a warm temperature add the vanilla to infuse, ideally overnight in the fridge.
2. To make your three chocolate fudge cake layers, preheat the oven to 160C, and grease three 20cm round cake tins and line them with parchment paper. Alternatively, spray the tins with cake-release spray.
3. In the large bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat together the sugar and eggs until the mixture is thick and pale. Then beat in the sour cream, followed by the oil.
4. In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture in the stand mixer bowl and mix to make a dough.
5. In a separate bowl, pour the hot coffee over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate has melted. Add the vanilla extract, then pour the hot liquid into the mixture in the bowl of the stand mixer while the machine is running on a medium speed until the ingredients are combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula and mix fully.
6. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared tins and bake for 60 to 70 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
7. While your cakes are cooling, make the buttercream. In the large bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat the butter until it is pale. Add half of the sugar and mix it into the butter while the mixer is running on a slow speed. Once combined, add the remaining sugar.
8. Increase the mixer speed to high and beat the mixture for approximately 5 minutes until it is very light and fluffy. Then reduce the speed of the mixer to medium and add the double cream a little at a time until you achieve a smooth, spreadable consistency. Tip: When you add the sugar to the beaten butter, wrap a clean kitchen towel tightly around the top of the stand mixer bowl to avoid a cloud of icing sugar turning your kitchen into a snowy Christmas scene.
9. Divide the buttercream equally into three bowls and add one of the flavourings (strawberry, vanilla, chocolate) to each bowl, mixing them into the buttercream well.
10. Place the buttercreams in separate piping bags, each fitted with a large star-piping tip (or use the same tip for each frosting, washing it well before switching to the next bag).
11. Make sure your cake layers are now entirely cool. Cut the tops off the cooled cake layers using a serrated knife or a cake leveler. Brush the top of each layer with the vanilla syrup.
12. Position your first layer onto the cake stand or a cake board and begin piping. For this bottom layer, use the chocolate buttercream. Pipe circles from the outside to the centre of the top of the layer until you have covered the surface with an even amount of frosting.
13. Carefully position the next cake layer on top, then repeat the piping process with the vanilla frosting. Now carefully position the top cake layer on top and repeat the process, piping neat rings of strawberry frosting.
14. For an alternative finish, you might like to leave a small gap around the edge of the top cake layer and roughly pipe over the strawberry frosting, then smooth this layer flat with a small metal spatula. Then pipe a neat ring around the top edge.