Strawberry Chocolate Buttercream Cake

Strawberry Chocolate Buttercream Cake – A good chocolate buttercream icing is a dangerous thing. After a single serving, I can resist most of the goodies created here but this stuff calls out to me if there are any leftovers at all. Combine it with some ripe sweet strawberries and a dark, moist, chocolate scratch cake and well… that’s a recipe for a midnight fridge visit if I ever saw one!

Ingredients
1½ pounds fresh ripe strawberries, cleaned , dried and de-stemmed
For the cake
2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup soured milk
1 cup black coffee
½ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla flavoring
For the frosting
2 cups sugar
⅔ cup water
6 egg whites at room temperature
¼ tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
2 cups softened unsalted butter1 pound chocolate, chopped in small pieces
½ cup butter
For the chocolate ganache garnish
1 cup chocolate chips
¼ cup whipping cream

Instructions
To make the cake
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes.
Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 inch cake pans, or one 9x13 pan (You can then cut this rectangular cake in 2 pieces to create a 2 layer cake).
Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil.
Continue to boil over medium heat without stirring until the mixture reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer.
Meanwhile beat together the egg whites, cream of tartar, vanilla and salt to stiff peaks.
Slowly pour in the sugar syrup hitting the side of the bowl and not the beaters.
Continue beating the frosting for 10-15 minutes until the meringue is completely cool.
When completely cool, slowly begin to add the butter, a few tablespoons at a time.
Combine the chocolate and whipping cream a double boiler to melt. Be careful to bring it just to the melting point, don't overheat it.
Add to the meringue mixture and beat well until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency. This may take 15 minutes or so and you may have to chill the frosting for several minutes before beating it again to get it to stiffen. Alternatively, you can place the frosting bowl in an ice bath while continuing to beat constantly until the icing stiffens sufficiently.
To construct the cake
Add a thin layer of frosting to the bottom layer of the cake.
Arrange the strawberries to cover the entire surface of the bottom layer.
Using a piping bag, or just a large ziploc bag with a corner snipped off, squeeze the frosting in and around all of the strawberries until they are completely covered.
Top with the second cake layer and frost the entire outside of the cake.
Garnish with additional strawberries and a drizzle of chocolate ganache if you like.
To make the chocolate ganache
Scald the whipping cream almost to boiling.
Pour over the chocolate chips.
Let stand for 5 minutes before stirring until smooth.
You can use a piping bag to drizzle the ganache over the cake or , as with the frosting, just snip a small corner off a ziploc bag to serve the same function.

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