layer cake tips + the biggest birthday cake yet
My father-in-law, youthful guy that he is, turned 60 this past weekend and if you think I was going to allow my in-laws to purchase him a cake from a bakery, oh, you don’t know how even typing those words caused the shudder to rise up in my chest. A bakery cake! Promise me if I make it to 60, I get a homemade cake too. I hope to have leveraged enough cake-baking karma by then to not even have to ask.
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
Counts 10 of 14 ingredients — the other 4 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume — 10 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Chocolate | 1 oz (28g) semisweet | 155 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Raspberry | 1 cup (123g) | 64 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Cinnamon | 1 tsp ground (2.6g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Coffee | not in our table | 0 |
| Cake | not in our table | 0 |
| Brandy | not in our table | 0 |
| Cognac | not in our table | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- 5 1/3 cups cake flour
- 5 1/3 cups sugar
- 2 2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, not Dutch process
- 6 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 5 1/3 sticks (20 2/3 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 2/3 cups buttermilk
- 5 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
- 2 2/3 cups freshly brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature
- 1 cup seedless raspberry jam (for cake assembly)
- 2 pounds bittersweet chocolate, broken up
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut up
- 2 cups heavy cream, heated slightly to remove the chill
- 1/2 cup brandy or Cognac