Chocolate Cream Cake/ Bakery Style Chocolate Pastry Cake

Chocolate Cream Cake/ Chocolate Pastry Cake

Chocolate cream cake/pastry cake is easy to make and sure to impress all chocolate lovers! This tiny layer cake is delicious and surprisingly easy to make. Are you looking for a cake that is elegant and easy to put together for Christmas? This chocolate cake is the kind of dessert you need for the holiday season to share with your family and friends. They are neatlyy sliced individual serving portions, and perfect for a party or get together. Chocolate cream cakes are childhood nostalgia, and the sight of these decadent slices of chocolaty goodness, displayed in the windows of pastry shops, and bakeries are hard to resist. They are dressed to impress all chocolate lovers. This is my favorite, easy to make, and the best chocolate pastry cake recipe ever!

The best part of this cake is its light, spongy layers with delightful cream frosting. It has an incredibly luscious chocolate flavor, perfectly soft and moist. It is a light, sponge based batter and can be baked thin in a sheet pan. It is not too-overly sweet chocolate cake. I have been experimenting with this type of cake with different flavors. For this recipe, the flavors used are chocolate and hazelnut, and it is a match made in heaven. You could have fun and get creative with flavors and fillings. Try flavors like rum, orange, caramel, cherry, or raspberry. For the filling, you can use fresh fruits too. Other options are whipped frosting, chocolate mousse, jam, caramel, white chocolate frosting, or ganache frosting. You can make countless variations with it. What you add is totally up to you. So get creative! This cake is worth a try. Make it and share it with family and friends. Let me know how it turned out for you. Enjoy!

The key ingredients to make the cake are cake flour, sugar, eggs, and Dutch-processed cocoa. Cake flour and whipped egg whites give the texture light, spongy texture. Now when it comes to cocoa powder, use unsweetened cocoa or Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Unsweetened cocoa gives the lightest texture, and is often the best choice for soft textured cakes. Dutch-processed cocoa is darker and less bitter than regular cocoa.

Egg whites also help to bring a light texture, to this cake. To ensure maximum lightness, the egg whites, and the egg yolks can be whipped separately, to incorporate air into both. Beating egg whites should always be the last step in preparing the batter. Once the egg whites reach a firm peak fold into the egg yolk, flour mixture in batches with gentle strokes to avoid deflating the egg whites. Pour into cake tins and put them into the oven immediately.
I feel the sheet pan is the best for evenly baked thin cake, but you can use the normal square pan and then slice it evenly.

Chocolate Cream Cake/ Chocolate Pastry Cake Recipe

Ingredients

Cake flour- 2/3 cup
Cocoa powder-1/4 cup
Egg yolks- 5
Egg whites- 4
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Soft room temperature Butter-3 tbs
Vanilla essence-1 tsp
Hazelnut essence- 1tsp
Salt- a pinch

To make the syrup
Sugar- 3 tbs
Water- 3 tbs
Hazelnut essence- a few drops

For the chocolate frosting
Whipping Cream- 1 cup
Powdered sugar- 1 cup
Cocoa powder- 1/4 cup
Semi sweet chocolate chopped- 8 oz
Butter- 3 tbs
Nutella -2 tbs
Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

To make the cake
Preheat oven to 350 F. Set rack in the middle of the oven
Grease pan with butter and layer with parchment paper and again grease with butter and dust with flour and set aside.

Shift all the dry ingredients together and keep aside. Beat room temperature butter and a half cup of sugar till light and creamy. Add egg yolks one at a time and whisk lightly until the mixture is pale and thick. Add vanilla essence and mix well. In another large bowl, beat egg whites at medium speed until soft peaks are formed. Gradually add the remaining sugar and whisk at high speed till the whites form stiff peaks. Add 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Fold gently and add half of the flour and fold in. Add the remaining egg whites mixture and the flour and gently fold everything together, till the batter is blended. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees f. Test whether completely cooked, by inserting a toothpick in the center. It should come out clean. Cool in pan for fifteen minutes and then completely cool on a cooling rack.

To make the syrup
Heat three tablespoons of water and three tablespoons of sugar, on medium flame till all the sugar melts and bring the syrup to a boil. Allow this to cool down a bit. You can add a teaspoon of rum or hazelnut essence if you like.

To make the frosting
Combine cream and sugar in a saucepan. Put it in medium heat and stir continuously until the sugar dissolve. Simmer for one minute. Remove from the heat and cool for a minute. Add the chopped semisweet chocolate and whisk and stir quickly, until chocolate is melted and it attains a silky smooth consistency. Let it chill in the refrigerator. In a large mixing bowl cream butter and then add sugar and cocoa powder. Add the chocolate mixture, Nutella, and vanilla and beat at low speed until the mixture is smooth.

To assemble the cake
Cut sheet cake into even-sized long slices. I got four thin strips. Wait and let cool completely before frosting the cake. You can speed up cooling in the refrigerator. Brush cake slices with sugar syrup. Place one cake slice, flat side up on a plate or cake pedestal. Using a long metal spatula, spread the frosting evenly over the cake layers. Place the second layer on top, and continue spreading frosting evenly for all layers. You can trim off the edges for a clean cut. Cut into small individual serving sizes. You can decorate the cake as you like. Here I used cocoa powder, buttercream frosting, Ferrero Rocher chocolate, and glazed cherries. The frosted cake can be covered and kept for up to 3 days refrigerator.