Let me tell you about the time I swore off strawberries for life.
It was 2007, summer break. I needed a job being that I was home from college. So, I worked at a local farm. It was one of the coolest jobs I’ve ever had. And when I say local farm, I mean local, organic, sustainable, large, large, large, grower and processor. After the first two weeks of taking care of their landscaping, (terribly I might add) they put me in an office to assist with some other projects. I was back in my element. For about three seconds, because when strawberry season creeped up and they were understaffed. I was drafted from my comfy office to the cold industrial processing plant.
This help consisted of boots on, hair net up, white coat buttoned, standing in front of a conveyor belt full of strawberries for TWELVE hours. My job, and the job of the other 10 workers (who all looked at me like a spoiled college girl–they were right) was to pick out all the bad strawberries. For those long hours I didn’t look at the beautifully juicy, red, plump and ripe strawberries, I was zoned in on the most disgusting looking strawberries I’ve ever seen. By the end of the longest week of my life, strawberry short-cake and I had a falling out.
It took me a full two years to eat a strawberry again. It was chocolate-covered and when I bit into it, the heavens opened and I was cured. Praise the Lord good God almighty I destroyed ten of those things.
And what is more romantic than a chocolate-covered strawberry? I know, a chocolate covered strawberry cake. This cake is deliciously dense yet fluffy with a satin-like ganache meringue frosting. If you are making a dessert for a romantic Valentine’s Day in, make it this one. Plenty of family members have tried it and agreed–this is the top cake destination of 2016.
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake, the most romantic cake recipe you will ever find. Creamy frosting and dense chocolate cake.
- Prep Time: 50 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Ingredients
|| Cake ||
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup hot coffee, strongly brewed
1 cup buttermilk
2 baskets of fresh strawberries
|| Ganache ||
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup cream
4 tablespoons butter
|| Frosting ||
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup water
5 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
3 sticks of butter
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter 3 – 8 inch cake pans and set aside.
|| Cake || Melt butter and place in a mixing bowl with sugar. Whip together until incorporated then add the eggs in one at a time. Whip together until it becomes slightly pale. Mix in the vanilla and cocoa powder.
In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients together and set aside. While mixing the batter pour in the hot coffee, then the dry ingredients, then the buttermilk.
Divide the cake batter between the three cake pans and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pans and place on a cooling rack until the cake becomes room temperature.
|| Ganache || Melt the chocolate chips, cream and butter together and set aside.
|| Frosting || In a small saucepan, put in 1 1/4 cup of sugar and a half cup of room temperature water and set on medium to high heat on the stove.
Separate egg whites into an electric standing mixer with a whisk attachment and whip on medium speed until foamy. Add the generous pinch of cream of tartar and 1/4 cup sugar. Whip on high until the egg whites form stiff peaks and turn off the mixture.
Once the mixture on the stove is boiling set a candy thermometer in the saucepan and wait for the syrup to reach 245 degrees. Do not leave the room. As soon as it registers that temperature turn your mixer on high and slowly pour into the egg whites. This process will cook your egg whites.
Once the syrup is completely in the egg whites continue to whip on high for another 10-15 minutes or until the mixing bowl is at room temperature.
Once it is completely at room temperature continue to whisk on high and add the butter in two tablespoons at a time. Once the butter is added incorporate 1 cup of the ganache. Your mixture will soften but continue to mix for another 10 minutes or so until the mixture thickens.
Slice about 10 strawberries. Leave some whole for the top of the cake.
Layer the cake with a thick layer of the ganache meringue cream and a layer of the sliced strawberries. Frost the whole cake with the remaining frosting.
Reheat the ganache and dip the whole strawberries in and place on top of the cake.
Keywords: cake, chocolate, chocolate covered strawberry, dense cake, ganache, romantic, valentine’s day
