Where do I start? I’ve been on the fight bus so far this year. January was a blurry month because I was sick for two weeks of the month, so it took me some time to get my cooking mojo back. When I have a baking slump, I usually bake cookies or examine the instagram or Pinterest for inspiration. While at Pinterest, I came across a beautiful black cake with pink frosting that piqued my interest. I was curious to know how the color of the cake had been achieved. As I read the post, I discovered that the baker was using black cocoa or black cocoa powder to achieve the beautiful black color of the cake. At that time I was sold and did a Google search for this ingredient. I placed my order of black cocoa powder and waited patiently for it to arrive.
Ingredients:
2 cups of sugar
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup black cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup of boiling water
Pink cream cheese frost
2 packages of cream cheese; 8 ounces each.
2 sticks of butter
2 boxes of confectionery sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 drops of red food dye
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans and set aside.
Cake:
In a large bowl with a popsicle attachment, add dry ingredients; sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and black cocoa powder, stir until combined. Then add one egg at a time until combined. Then add the milk, oil and vanilla. Finally, add the boiling water. Once the water is added, the dough will be fine. Pour the dough evenly into each pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick emerges clean from the center of the cake. Cool completely and then glaze with the pink cream cheese glaze.
Glaze:
Note: This is a double recipe from my regular cream cheese frosting recipe. It is double because this cake has a heavy crumb, so you may want to add a layer of crumb first, and then add a second layer of icing. You’ll have plenty of frosting, so don’t worry. 😃
Allow the cream cheese and butter to soften at room temperature. Once softened, add both to the mixer and blend until combined and smooth. Once the butter and cream cheese have slowly combined, add the powdered sugar, then the vanilla. Once the glaze is smooth, add one or two drops of red food coloring. Add more food coloring to obtain the desired pink color if necessary. Frost the cooled cake with a layer and then let the cake sit in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Add the second layer of frosting and enjoy.