A sweet craving that ends with a sweet ending.  I promised Mike to bake something decadent. It was a week ago and he’d probably been wondering what happened to the promise. A recipe that I had been keeping for a while from King Arthur flour website. All of their recipes I’ve tried are fail-proof.  Ingredients and measurements make sense…  oh you know how some recipes are impossible to follow. They all look good in pictures, but once you take it into the kitchen, there seems to be something wrong with the recipe – the dough is too wet or too dry or won’t rise as it should…   you just know this one is not going to work. But I’m glad to find King Arthur website. Great recipes, especially for bread and cake.

Now if you’re tempted to bake this baby, you should keep your scale away, hide it in the basement or somewhere you won’t see again. It’s actually a triple chocolate cake – chocolate cake with creamy chocolate fillings topped with chocolate fudge – then sprinkled with chocolate pearls  (like it’s not enough already).  Don’t forget the little frost of icing sugar on top of that too…   Yups, it’s chocolate heaven!

I ended up with a really messy kitchen – but a seriously yummy chocolate cake.

DOUBLE CHOCO PEARL CAKE

Ingredients for Cake:
*  2 cups all purpose flour
*  1 tsp instant coffee granule
*  2 cups sugar
*  1 tsp baking soda
*  1/2 tsp salt

1.)  Mix 1 cup of melted butter + 1/3 cup of  Dutch cocoa
2.)  Add 1 cup of hot water.  Set aside
3.)  Mix all dry ingredients, add to cocoa mixture
4.)  Add 1/2 cup buttermilk + 1 tsp vanilla
5.)  Add 2 large eggs
6.)  Whisk to a batter
7.)  Line pan with baking parchment. Oven 350F or 180C
8.)  Bake for about 30 mnts. Let cool on a rack

Ingredients for Fillings:
*  1/3 cup Dutch cocoa
*  1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
*  1/4 tsp salt
*  1/2 cup heavy cream
*  1 tsp vanilla

1.)   Place all ingredients in a bowl
2.)  Heat in microwave till chips softened. Stir & set aside
3.)  Whisk 4 tbs butter + 1/2 cup shortening + 2 cups sifted icing sugar till fluffy
4.)  Mix in half of choco mixture. Whisk till smooth
5.)  Add the rest of choco mixture, add 2 cups of sifted icing sugar
6.)  Check consistency, add icing sugar if too soft or add heavy cream if too stiff

Layering Cakes:
1.)   Use long serrated knife, slice through the middle of cake to make two halves (a top & bottom)
2.)   Spread the filling in the middle. Place half of the cake on top of the spread fillings
3.)   Spread the chocolate fudge on the top. I use instant dark chocolate fudge from Duncan Hines
4.)   Top with lots of chocolate pearls and then frost with a little bit of icing sugar
5.)   What are you waiting for….?

**  Recipe is adopted from Choco-Buzz King Arthur