Anyways, here is the recipe! The original recipe can be found here. I did a few different things with it, as you will see, but I was very pleased with the way it turned out, seeing how complicated it was. I also had the help of a good friend for putting on the sprinkles and icing. You may be thinking "That's wayyy too much sprinkles!" It is very complicated and time consuming, but very worth it! I made the cakes the day before and froze them overnight, and I made the icing that morning. It took us 2-3 hours to do after that. Koko was happy with it, and I was very relieved, needless to say! :)
I hope you try this recipe! Happy Eating! (or, should I say, Happy Sprinkling!) :)
Four-layer Chocolate Sprinkle Cake
For the cake:
2 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 cups sugar
1 cup + 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups hot black coffee
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
For the Whipped Birthday Cake Filling:
3 tablespoons cold water
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 heaping tablespoon white cake mix
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Chocolate Icing:
1 lb. butter (4 sticks) at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup chocolate Ovaltine
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
8 oz. Ghirardelli chocolate, melted and cooled (I used 60% cacao bittersweet)
1/2 heavy whipping cream
You will also need:
lots and lots of sprinkles!
Instructions for the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350*. Prepare four 9-inch circle cake pans by greasing, lining with parchment paper, greasing the paper, then flouring. (I used vegetable shortening to grease it.)
In the bowl for your electric mixer, sift all of the dry ingredients, including the sugar.
Combine the eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla and whisk well.
Gradually add this mixture to the dry ingredients, and mix on medium speed until well combined. Divide it evenly among the four pans. The batter will be thin.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. Let them sit in the pans for 10 minutes, then place them on cooling racks until fully cooled. If you want to freeze them, you can find instructions here.
Filling:
Place a stainless steel bowl and hand mixer whisk attachment in the freezer to chill.
Measure the water into a small bowl, then sprinkle it with the gelatin. Let it sit for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat up the heavy whipping cream in a small saucepan until it is simmering. (do not let it boil!) Mix it with the gelatin mixture and put it in the refrigerator, stirring frequently, for about 8 minutes. (It should be cool but not set.)
Mix together the powdered sugar and cake mix in a small bowl and set aside.
Pull your chilled bowl and whisk out of the freezer and beat the whipping cream, powdered sugar/cake mix, and vanilla until it thickens slightly and begins to form soft peaks.
Gradually add in the gelatin mixture and beat it until it forms medium/firm peaks. (Thick enough to spread, but not so thick that it will pull of pieces of cake) Cover it and chill in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. (I thought it tasted like vanilla ice cream)
Icing:
In a mixer, combine the powdered sugar and butter until well combined.
Add in the Ovaltine and vanilla and beat on low until well combined. Add the melted chocolate and beat it until smooth.
Add in the whipping cream and beat on medium speed until spreading texture.
Assembly:
On your cake stand or cake board, spread a spoon of icing onto the bottom as a kind of "glue" so the cake doesn't slide off.
At this point, if you haven't already, you will want to level your cakes. Most people cut their cakes to level them, which you can find out how to do here, OR you could do it a different way right as they come out of the oven, and you can find out how to do that here.
Spread a pretty generous layer of the filling on top of it, then sprinkle some sprinkles on that. Repeat this step until you get to the fourth layer, which you will place bottom side up (because this side is the flattest)
Put a crumb coat on the cake and place it in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes, or until it is dried.
Once the crumb coat is dried, take your cake out of the refrigerator and apply the final layer of icing. This can be as thick as you want, but make sure you leave enough for the border.
Using your sprinkles, carefully put sprinkles going up the side of the cake as far up as you want. What my friend and I did was we got a spoonful of sprinkles and, starting as high up as we were going to go with them, slowly poured it onto the cake. We still had some fall off, but for the most part, they stuck as they fell. This is another way to do it, and it has you just using your hands to press them on. You can find the way that works best for you and go with that! (Whatever you do, do NOT roll the cake in the sprinkles! It will fall to pieces and you will have a huge chocolate mess on your hands.)
Put the sprinkles all around the bottom half of the cake, lightly pressing them into the icing so they don't fall off.
Use a size 1M icing tip, pipe a shell border around the edge of the cake. Be careful that your icing does not get too warm or it will goo...I accidentally messed up part of my border because of that. If it does start to get warm, you can put it in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to cool down a little. (Just don't put it in for too long or it won't come out!)
Sprinkle more sprinkles on the top of the cake, making sure they stay inside the border.
Place the cake in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it.
It is definitely a long, complicated recipe, but it is soo yummy and totally worth it!
I hope you like it! Enjoy! :)
Did you make/decorate it for her? ~Abby
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