Well, here is the culprit of my “buttermilk week” of recipes this week. I was asked by the people over at cakesundertheinfluence.com to give one of their cake kits a whirl. They wanted to see what I thought about them and if I could develop some fun recipes in the process. They can take the shape and look of cocktails, and are baked with alcohol in a slow-proofing process.
Well, fun recipes are just my thing, and add a little alcohol to the fun, and mamma is THERE! Sign. Me. Up.
For inspiration, I looked to some of my favorite libations, and the first one on the docket (and inspired by my recent adventures in the new EATALY shop in Chicago) a Nutella martini came to mind. So I thought that would be my maiden voyage for the large sized martini cake kit.
First off, a Nutella martini is DELISH, and consists of Nutella, Godiva chocolate liquor and Frangelico. I figured if I used my rich chocolate cake pop batter as a base, that took care of the Godiva piece of it. So I just worked with the Nutella and Frangelico. If you want to punch up the liquor, add some Godiva liquor to it. I am sure it would work nicely and pack a bigger punch.
Now to the cake kit.
My first impressions:
Wow, that’s a LARGE cake pan? That looks only big enough for a family of 4-5? Not for big entertaining of 6-8 people…well, unless they are all on weight watchers and having “proper slices”.
Pretty cool how they give you all the pieces, it’s very detailed and good quality.
I am skipping that paper. It will ruin the look. I can figure out how to get the cake out of there without it.
The directions are only around the box cake mix they provide. So it’s gonna be hard to adapt quantity in the small baking mold with my own recipe. I figured it out, but after a lot of my batter overflowed while baking.
Nutella Martini Cake
use a Cakes Under The Influence large martini cake pan kit
Ingredients:
nonstick baking spray
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
Batter:
1/4 cup + 2 Tblsp. Dutch cocoa
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 Tbsp. baking soda
a little over 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. plus a dash of salt
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp. canola oil
1/4 cup + 2 Tblsp. buttermilk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1/4 cup + 2 Tblsp. hot water
1/8-1/4 cup Frangelico
1/4 cup melted Nutella (45 sec. in a microwave does the trick)
Frosting:
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 packet Dream Whip
2 Tblsp. + 2 tsp. Nutella
1 1/2 Tbsp. milk
splash of Frangelico
1 cup powdered sugar
Garnish:
1 Tbsp. Frangelico
pastry brush
1/2 ground hazelnuts
1 Tbsp. Nutella
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
Directions:
Preheat oven to 250˚. The directions say of you have a larger cake, cook longer (2 1/2 hours at 250) and if a smaller cake using the mix provided, it cooks for 275 for 1 1/2 hours. I played it by ear because I was starting mine from scratch.
In a large bowl, mix the flour with cocoa, sugar, baking powder and baking soda and salt. Set aside. Using a paddle, whip the oil with buttermilk and vanilla.
Next add the egg, melted Nutella and the dry ingredients. Then add the hot water and whip until combined. Add the Frangelico last.
Now prep your baking equipment. The process is using water to create a moist baking, therefore making an uber moist cake. The bottom pan has a cylindrical bottom. Put 1-2 oz. water in the bottom. Next, the kit comes with a baking blanket to line the bottom pan. Wet it, and wring it gently. Then lay it inside the bottom pan.
Now there is the actual baking mold cone you need to prep. I decided to use my bundt pan trick for cake releasing. Liberally spray the cone with nonstick cooking spray. Then sprinkle the breadcrumbs along the surface. Shake it around and shake out excess in your sink. Then lay the coated mold in the wet blanket.
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| as you can see half my batter exploded onto the baking sheet. So I cut my recipe in half for you. |
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| Too full! But I was being optimistic. |
So pour your batter into the baking cone. Then place the whole thing on a baking sheet. I did this for 2 reasons. First it would make it easier to move around and also be steady on the racks. And secondly, if you do what I did and fill it too close to the top, the sheet can catch your batter mess-as mine did above! As you can see above, I had too much batter, so I cut the recipe I am giving you in half to work well with the kit.
This amount of batter took a loooooong time to bake-like 3 hours at 250˚! Then I kicked it up to 275˚ for a last 30, and that got the whole thing set and done. With the recipe cut in half for you, I would bake it at 250˚ for the 2 1/2 hours the kit directs. Just keep an eye on it. It’s done when the cake has puffed up and the center is set.
I let the cake sit and cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then I pulled out the mold, and inverted the cake onto a cooling rack to cool completely. It came right out! So if you think the parchment the kit provides looks clunky…skip it and do my breadcrumb trick!
While the cake is cooling, prep the frosting and the garnish for the serving dish provided. Rim the upper sides of the dish with the Frangelico and roll the wet sides in cocoa. Then with a small knife, spread some Nutella along the top and press it into ground hazelnuts. Once the cake is cooled, gently turn into the garnished dish.
Now make the frosting. In a bowl and a hand mixer, whip the butter with Nutella and salt. Whip in the vanilla and the Dream Whip, and add the milk. Now whip in the powdered sugar and a healthy splash of Frangelico. Spread the frosting generously on top of the cake, then sprinkle left over ground hazelnuts. You are all ready to take it to your next party!
All in all, yes, it is fussy, and yes, it take a long time to bake. But the cake was one of the moistest, richest and denser cakes I have ever had. So I plan on refining amounts and trying some other “cocktails” in cake form! So stay tuned!
Campari, Galliano or Sambuca, anyone?
The Nutella Buttercream Frosting is based on a recipe from ChefInTraining.com
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