Yellow Cake with Bittersweet Chocolate Buttercream

If Candyland was real, or if Tim Burton had a cupcake shop, the cupcakes might look something like these little monstrosities. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting is my favorite cake combination, but lest a cupcake with classic flavors ever appear to be boring, I went as Sega as possible with the buttercream (and my new, shitty pastry bag from Safeway). This is the best yellow-cake recipe in my (and now your) reperetoire, and the bittersweet tinge to the frosting adds an unexpected and welcome departure from the sticky milk chocolates of childhood.

Check that little guy on the left! It's like Japanime in frosting form.

Awesome Yellow Cake

Using my supreme math skillz, I halved the following recipe to make 18 cupcakes. I haven’t provided the halved quantities since I left my sheet of math skillz conclusions at home (Woo! Blogging from work!). This makes one three-layer 9-inch round cake. Both recipes adapted from

Sky High: Irresistable Triple Layer Cakes.

3 3/4 cups cake flour

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon plus 2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups plus 1/3 cup buttermilk

5 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. Combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and 1 1/4 cup of the buttermilk. Mix on low speed briefly to blend; then raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and the remaining 1/3 cup buttermilk until well blended. Pour one-third of the egg mixture into the cake batter at a time, folding it in completely after each addition. There will be 9 cups of batter; our 3 cups batter into each pan.

4. Bake for 26 to 28 minutes (between 20 and 25 minutes for cupcakes—but start checking at 15 minutes just to be sure!), or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Turn the layers out onto wire racks by placing a rack on top of a pan, inverting it, and lifting off the pan. Peel off backs, let cool, and do what you will with frosting options!

Bittersweet Chocolate Buttercream

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. Melt the chocolate with the cream in a double boiler or metal bowl set
over a pan of simmering water. Whisk to blend well. Remove from heat and let stand, whisking occasionally, until the chocolate mixture thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise (Gross, but true. Be patient, because the thicker this gets, the fluffier your frosting will be).

2. Place the butter in a large mixer bowl and with an electric mixer on medium speed, whip the butter until light and fluffy. Add the chocolate cream and whip until lighter in color and somewhat stiff, about three minutes. Do not whip too long or the frosting may begin to separate.