Hot Cocoa Cake

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 6oz. unsalted butter, more for pans
• 13.5 oz (3 c.) unbleached all-purpose flour, more for pans
• 3/4 c. canola oil
• 4.5 oz bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
• 3 c. granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 oz. (3/4 c.) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 c. buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 T. pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 t. kosher salt

For the Frosting

• 2 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 3 oz. (6 T.) unsalted butter
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out
• 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 c. granulated sugar
• 6 oz. (2 c. ) natural unsweetened cocoa powder; more for dusting later
• 1/2 c. Golden Syrup
• 1/4 t. kosher salt

Marshmallows

• vegetable oil for brushing
• 4 envelopes unflavored gelatin
• 3 c. granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 c. light corn syrup
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 2 t. pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 c. confectioners� sugar

Directions

1. Cake: Position racks in the bottom and top third of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 3 9�2 pans and line each with a parchment round or just butter and flour thoroughly (that�s what I did and it was fine�just be thorough). Dust with flour and tap the flour around the pans and knock out the excess over the sink.
2. In a 3 qrt. saucepant, combine the butter, oil, chopped chocolate and 1 c. water. Heat over medium heat until melted. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar and cocoa powder. Pour the hot chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture and whisk or use a stand mixer and beat with a whisk attachment on medium until combined. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, then whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans.
3. Frosting: In a 4-quart saucepan over low heat, combine the cream, butter and vanilla bean and seeds and stir until the butter is melted. Remove the vanilla bean and whisk in the chopped chocolate until melted. Whisk in the sugar, sifted cocoa powder, syrup and salt until smooth�be sure the cocoa powder dissolves completely. Pour in a 9�13 pan and refrigerate until firm about 3 hours. Or refrigerate over night, but make sure to cover tightly with plastic wrap over-night. Don�t cover with plastic wrap while it is still warm, only after refrigerating for a couple of hours.
4. Marshmallows: Brush a 9�13 inch glass baking dish with canola oil. Line with parchment, allowing a 2-inch overlap on the long sides. Brush parchment with oil; set aside. I used aluminum foil and while it took a little patience to peel the foil away later, it worked just fine. Put granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and 3/4 c. water into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring only at the beginning to dissolve sugar. Cook until mixture registers 238 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 9 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, put 3/4 c. cold water into the bowl of an electric mixer; sprinkle with gelatin. Let soften five minutes. Using the electric mixer on low speed, beat hot syrup into gelatin. SLOWLY at first�the mixture is burning hot and will scald your skin. GRADUALLY, increase the speed, every minute or so increase the speed one setting. Beat until mixture is very stiff, about 12 minutes Beat in vanilla. Pour into prepared dish, and smooth with an offset spatula. Set aside, uncovered until firm, about 3 hours or over-night like I did. It worked great. I loosely covered it with foil�do not let the foil touch the marshmallow and make sure air can flow through.
6. Sift one c. confectioners� sugar onto a very clean work surface (cutting board or pastry board). Unmold marshmallow by lifting the marshmallow �brick� out of the glass dish and turning it upside down onto the powdered sugar work surface. Peel away the foil or parchment carefully. Be patient. It will happen but ever so slowly. Lightly brush a sharp smooth knife with canola oil. Cut one inch strips of marshmallow and then cut across to make mini marshmallows. Sift remaining 1/2 c. powdered sugar into a small bowl and gently roll each marshmallow in the sugar, tapping to remove excess sugar. Coated marshmallows can be stored in an airtight container up to 5 days.
7. Put the cake together: The tricks�obviously place the bottom layer on a cake stand and frost, next layer, then frost, and final layer and frost the entire cake. Here�s the trick�refrigerate the cake then frost the outside again. Keep the left over frosting in an airtight container in the fridge as well. This frosting tends to be gelatinous and will melt if it�s too warm. So to make the cake prettier and to help it hold up well, we refrigerated it between two coats of frosting. Also, my husband thinks it may help to cut the layers of cake in half. Then just frost four thin layers of cake (you will have one extra cake layer left over but you can always chop that up and make petit fours). This way there is less pressure or weight squeezing out the frosting in between the layers. Our heavy, thick layers tended to make the frosting ooze out in between the layers, and we would have to refrigerate for awhile and then try again with the frosting. We eventually got it to work though.
8. Finally, decorate with mounds of marshmallows and dust or sift with just a touch of cocoa powder. Refrigerate if not eating right away.