Triple Chocolate Cake
4 layers of dark chocolate cake, rich chocolate buttercream, all covered in mini chocolate chips.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 1 cup dark or semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup hot coffee
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate Buttercream
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
- 3 ⅓ cups powdered sugar
- ⅔ cup cocoa powder
- pinch salt
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup chocolate chips, melted and cooled
- ¼ cup heavy cream or milk
- 12 oz mini chocolate chips
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 and grease (or line with parchment rounds) four 6” cake pans or three 8” pans.
- Place the chocolate chips in a medium bowl. Pour the hot coffee over the chocolate and allow to sit while you prepare the rest of the batter.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Whisk in the eggs, vanilla, oil and buttermilk. The batter will be thick. You can switch to a rubber spatula or mixing spoon at this point if it’s too thick to whisk.
- Return to your bowl of chocolate and coffee and stir until smooth. Gradually pour the coffee mixture into the batter and mix until fully incorporated. Divide batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake for 33-35 minutes for 6" pans or 25-30 minutes for 8" pans.
- Allow to cool a few minutes in the pan and then carefully, using oven mitts if the pans are still warm, invert each layer onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap tightly and place in the freezer until you’re ready to assemble your cake. I store layers in the freezer for up to a week.
Chocolate Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the powdered sugar a cup at a time. *See Notes Below*
- Add the cocoa, salt and vanilla and mix to combine.
- Add the melted chocolate and mix to combine.
- Add the cream and beat on medium for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
Assembly
- Remove the cake layers from the freezer about 30 minutes before you want to assemble the cake. I take them out to thaw while I am preparing my buttercream and ganache. You want the layers to be cold, but not completely frozen to decorate.
- To assemble the cake, place a dab of buttercream on your cake board or plate and then place the first layer of cake on top. Spread a layer of buttercream on top. Stack the next cake layer on top and repeat, ending with the final layer of cake, top side down.
- Using an offset spatula add the remaining buttercream on the sides and top of the cake, smoothing it out with a scraper or icing scraper. It’s ok if it's not perfectly smooth because we are going to cover the cake with mini chocolate chips.
- Using your hand gently press the chocolate chips to the sides and top of the cake until completely covered.
Notes
Buttercream Tips:
To make the buttercream you will need your butter to be soft. You can leave it out at room temperature about an hour before you need to use it, or microwave it for about 15 seconds to soften.
If you are using organic powdered sugar, you will want to sift it first to get out any large lumps. This will help when smoothing your cake.
Nutrition
Calories: 537kcal | Carbohydrates: 72g | Protein: 4.7g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5.7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4.2g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 215mg | Potassium: 33mg | Fiber: 2.7g | Sugar: 56g
This information comes from online calculators and these figures are only estimates.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!