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True Birthday Cake- Welcome Hudson!

True Birthday Cake- Welcome Hudson! a little birthday cake for my newborn nephew with chocolate, tangerine buttercream, and marble cake in a heart shape.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Servings: 6
Author: Barrett Bridenhagen

Ingredients

  • Cake: This is for a 2 cup pan- just double the recipe for two 8-inch round cake pans.
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup flour
  • ½ cup hazelnut flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ cup milk
  • ¾ teaspoon vanilla
  • American or French Buttercream make ahead or start while the cake is in the oven.

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350° F.
  • Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You can’t really overdo this step.
  • Beat in the eggs. Add baking powder.
  • Mix in flours until just incorporated. Mix in milk.closeup hazelnut batter
  • Remove ⅓ of the batter to a separate bowl and mix 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder into the batter. closeup chocolate hazelnut batter
  • Place the batters into your prepared pan (either cooking spray or butter to prevent sticking) filling only about ⅔ full (Don't overfill like I always do. Seriously, then you have to cut away the spillover).
  • Swirl together with a knife (place any extra batter into prepared muffin tins). prepared for oven marble hazelnut cake
  • Bake until you can insert a toothpick and it will come out clean. With my small pans, I checked visually at 10 minutes. They ended up requiring about 18 minutes. Let cool completely. marbled hazelnut chocolate cake
  • Trim the overfill edges with a serrated knife so the heart shape is clear. cake ready to be layered Buttercream. You have choices. I personally make French buttercream. It requires some patience and practice, but I really love the results it yields. It’s rich, glossy and it will definitely make people think you’re a baking genius. Another option is American buttercream. It’s a lot less fussy and still really good. And even beginners will be able to execute this cake. The choice is yours.
  • If you used a tall mold, like I did, you’ll need to cut the cake in half horizontally.
  • Then spread the tangerine buttercream over the bottom layer of cake and cover with the top. cake layer with tangerine buttercreamYou’ve now got a cake sandwich. cake layers with buttercream
  • At this point, add about a half cup of just barely melted dark chocolate to the remaining buttercream (If it’s too hot, it will melt the buttercream. If this happens, just beat until it cools and comes back to it’s rich creamy texture). This will be the frosting for the outside of the cake. Because the base is tangerine and then I added chocolate, it creates a very cool layered feel to the flavor.
  • Frost the cake and then let set in the refrigerator.cross section of hudson's cakeServe at just below or room temperature.