Chocolate Cake With White Chocolate Icing Recipe

Take a basic one layer chocolate cake and frost it with white chocolate icing, chocolate shavings and you have a beautiful dessert presentation!

Ingredients

Cake:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup warm water

White Chocolate Icing:
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
2.5 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 ounces white chocolate
1-2 Tablespoons milk

Directions

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

With butter, grease an 8 or 9-inch round cake pan.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, and baking soda.

In your mixer, or a larger bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and water. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until the batter is smooth.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a rack to completely.

White Chocolate Icing:

Melt the white chocolate . (see melting instructions below)

Cream butter with a hand or stand mixer till fluffy. Add vanilla.

Slowly mix in powdered sugar, then white chocolate.

Add the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Spread onto cooled cake.

Directions on how to melt chocolate:

Using a sharp kitchen knife, chop the white chocolate into fine, even pieces, measuring about 1/4-to 1/2-inch in size, or you can use a large grater.

If using chocolate chips or melts, you can melt them as they are.

Heat the chocolate in the top of a double boiler and stir occasionally until it melts.

Remove the top pot from the double boiler before totally melted as the heat will continue to melt the chocolate and you don't want to overheat the chocolate as it can become lumpy and grainy and once that happens you can not usually restore it. Do not get even a drop of water in it as it will also ruin the melted chocolate.

Chocolate Shavings:

Chocolate Bars - Use good quality of at least 70%

White and milk chocolate are the easiest to work

Dark chocolate is rich and beautiful will readily curl as well once you get the technique down.

Start by placing your chocolate bar on a plate and leaving it in a warm location for about an hour to soften just a bit.

NEVER put the chocolate to warm in the in the microwave. It will destroy the texture and will not work for this process.

TOOLS:

A vegetable peeler -Be sure it is dry, sharp and a little bit warm when you use it.

Aluminum Foil or Parchment Paper - This will be your working surface and where the chocolate shavings and curls will fall onto.

Airtight Container with a lid - You will be able to store the chocolate shavings and peels in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Grater - There are a variety of sizes, all of which you can use, be sure the grater is dry, sharp and a little warm with you use it.

TECHNIQUE:

Vegetable Peeler.

Tear off a good size piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper and place on the counter.

20 inches is a good size.

Holding the far end of the chocolate bar, pull your peeler from the far end toward you.

You will find some pieces will curl right away, while others may break off as flecks or shavings.

Using the tip of your peeler or a wooden skewer, move your curls and flecks and shavings to the side, then dig back in for more.

The long curls you will carefully move with the wooden skewer. You do not want to touch them with your fingers as they will be delicate and the warmth of your fingers can break them. Either use the long curls right away to decorate, or you can place them in a sealed container and keep up to a week.

Grater; your choice of size.

Tear off a good size piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper and place on the counter.

20 inches is a good size.

Grate your chocolate with your selected grater. Scoop up the grated chocolate with a flat tool and either use immediately or or you can place in a sealed container and keep up to a week.

The White Chocolate wafers on top is just white chocolate that has been melted and a thin layer has been poured onto parchment paper, left to harden and cut or broken into pieces.

The fancy chocolate chunks are melted chocolate that has been drizzled onto parchment paper, making the woven pattern, left to harden then cut or broken into sections to decorate.