Sour Cream Chocolate Layer Cake
Incredibly soft and tender chocolate sour cream cake layers filled with whipped chocolate cream cheese frosting that tastes just like chocolate ice cream!
Ingredients
Cake batter:
- 3 ½ oz 100g dark chocolate (60% cocoa), coarsely chopped
- ½ cup 118ml boiling water
- ⅔ cup 150ml full fat sour cream
- 1 ⅔ cups 235g all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoon 18g cocoa powder (I like this one)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup 113g unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ¼ cups 250g granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon 5ml pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
Cherry Filling
- 1 cup pitted and chopped cherries
- 1 tablespoon 12g granulated sugar
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1 pkg 250g cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup 100g sifted powdered sugar
- 3 oz 85g dark chocolate (60% cocoa), coarsely chopped
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups fresh whipped cream note: that means 3 cups already whipped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Butter the sides of two 8-inch round cake pans and dust with cocoa powder. Line the bases with parchment paper.
- Make the cake batter. Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl and pour over boiling water. Let stand for a minute and then whisk until smooth. Whisk through sour cream and set aside.
- Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk to blend.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter, sugar and vanilla for 2-3 minutes until smooth, light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well combined after each addition. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three parts alternating with chocolate/sour cream mixture. Once all ingredients are combined, mix on high speed for 5 seconds to help emulsify the batter.
- Divide mixture evenly between prepared pans and smooth it out. Bake for 25-28 minutes until the tops spring back when lightly touched and the cakes begin to come away from the sides of the pans. A skewer inserted into the center should come out clean. Transfer pans to a wire rack and let cool for at least 30 minutes before inverting. The cakes are very soft and delicate so don’t turn them out too early.
- Make the cherry filling. Combine chopped cherries with sugar and let stand while you make the frosting.
- Make the frosting. Beat soft cream cheese until smooth with an electric hand mixer. Add sifted icing sugar and beat until very glossy, lump-free and a bit fluffy. Add melted, slightly cooled chocolate and vanilla and mix until blended. Add about ½ cup of whipped cream and fold it in quickly until evenly blended to lighten the mixture. Then continue to fold in the remaining whipped cream in two batches until combined. Work quickly because the cold cream can set the chocolate and make the frosting stiff.
- Spread about one-third of the frosting over one cake layer, scatter the cherries on top and poke them in. Place the second layer on top and cover evenly with remaining frosting. Decorate however you'd like, even if you want to scribble all over it with purple icing.
