Candy Cane Bark Cake

This candy cane bark cake is a show stopper!
Perfect for any Christmas get together!

One of my favourite Christmas treats is Candy Cane Bark. It is quick and simple to make and oh so delicious! When trying to decide what kind of layered cake I was going to make for the holidays I had a vision of a Candy Cane Bark on top of a cake. I knew it would make for a stunning cake! I also seem to have a thing for 2 in 1 desserts - so this seems fitting. Ha.

The cake itself is a chocolate cake and let me tell you - its really really good. Super chocolate-y and incredibly moist! You’ll love it! I am already dreaming up other frostings and fillings to complement this cake. The frosting is a delicious white chocolate buttercream. It’s smooth and creamy with a hint of white chocolate flavour. You will be eating it by the spoon full!

Assembling this cake can be a bit tricky. The moist chocolate cake paired with a light coloured frosting can lead to lots of crumbs if you aren’t careful. I would recommend making sure your cake is well chilled - I like to freeze mine before frosting. A crumb coat will also help to keep those pesky crumbs at bay.

Candy Cane Bark Layered Cake

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Cake
1c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 c hot coffee
2 ½ c all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking power
2 c sugar
1 c vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ c milk
½ c sour cream

For the Frosting
1 c butter, at room temperature
3 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c white chocolate chips, melted

For the Candy Cane Bark
1 cup white chocolate chips, melted
1/2 c crushed candy canes

To Assemble:
1/2 c crushed candy canes
3/4 c red candy melts
2 tbsp whipping cream

Directions

For the Cake: Pre-heat oven to 350F. Grease three 8 inch round cake pans and dust with cocoa powder. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together coffee & cocoa powder. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, over medium to high speed, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla, milk and sour cream. Whisk until combined. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Slowly whisk in flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Do not over mix.

Bake for 35-40 minute or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

For the Frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and white chocolate until combined.

For the Candy Cane Bark: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, stir together white chocolate chips and crushed candy canes. Pour and spread chocolate mixture onto parchment paper. Chill into firm and break into pieces.

To Assemble: Place one layer of cake on your cake board or serving dish. Top with frosting and crushed candy canes. Top with next layer of cake and repeat. Place the last layer of cake on top and crumb coat. Let cake set up in fridge for 15-30 minutes. Frost cake with remaining frosting. Place crush candy canes along bottom edge of cake and chill cake.

In a heat proof bowl, in 20 second intervals, melt together candy melts and whipping cream. You can either pour over the top of the cake and let the excess drip over the sides, or using a spoon drip chocolate over the sides first then fill in the middle.

Top cake with Candy Cane Bark.

Ferrero Rocher Cake with Nutella Frosting

A rich moist chocolate cake with a Ferrero Rocher crunch filling and frosted in a decadent smooth Nutella buttercream frosting!

Chocolate and hazelnut is one of the best flavour combinations in my opinion. I actually really love hazelnuts (even without chocolate). Give me some hazelnut gelato and I am one happy camper. Add a scope of chocolate to that and I will think I've died and done to heaven.
I grew up eating Nutella. Nutella on toast, Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches, and my personal favourite Nutella cookies. 

This cake is for all you Nutella lovers out there. Or my chocolate and hazelnut fans🙋 (Same thing right?) Ever since the holidays I have been enjoying a single Ferro Roche after dinner. It has become a nightly ritual. I wanted to capture a Ferrero Rocher in cake form. The moist chocolate cake is filled with layers of vanilla buttercream and Ferrero Rocher bits. The Ferrero Rocher bits add a wonderful texture to the cake filling. The whole cake is iced in a delicious, smooth and decadent Nutella frosting.

Ferrero Rocher Cake 

Ingredients

For the Cake

2 c flour 

2 c sugar 

3/4 c cocoa powder 

2 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp salt 

1 c milk 

2 eggs 

1/2 c vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 c hot coffee  

For the Filling

1 c butter, at room temperature 

3 c icing sugar 

1 tsp vanilla 

1 tbsp heavy cream

1/2 c Ferrero Rocherchocolates, chopped 

For the Nutella Frosting

1 c butter, at room temperature 

3 c icing sugar 

1/2 c - 3/4 c Nutella 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease & flour two eight inch cake pans, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Mix until combined. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix on medium speed until just combined. Carefully, add the hot coffee to the batter and mix until combined. 

Evenly divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans. Bake  for 30 - 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

To make the filling, in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment beat the butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.  Beat in the icing sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and heavy cream. Stir in the Ferrero Rocher Chocolates. 

To make the Nutella Frosting, in in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment beat the butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.  Beat in the Nutella until just combined.

Assembling the Cake -  If desired, torte each cake layer, so you have a total of 4 cake layers. Use a dab of frosting to adhere the bottom cake layer to your cake board. Top cake layer with Ferrero Rocher filling, place cake layer on top. Repeat with additional cake layers, ending with your final cake layer. Place filled cake in fridge for 20-30 minutes to set up before crumb coating. 

Coat cake in a thin layer of Nutella frosting to create a crumb coating. Place coated cake in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to allow the crumb coat to set up. 

Frost cake as desired. I used a Patterned Side Scrapper to achieve the design on the cake. I topped the cake with extra Ferrero RocherChocolates and extra frosting, using a Wilton 1M tip.

Hot Chocolate Layered Cake

A rich, moist chocolate cake filled with layers of chocolate ganache and fluffy whipped cream. The cake is topped with gooey homemade marshmallows making it a true show stopper!

This cake is truly like hot chocolate in cake form. It combines all of my favourite elements of hot chocolate.  During the winter months I love cozying up with a mug of hot chocolate and reading a good book. Or as I have been doing lately, watching a cheesy Christmas movie. When trying to decide on a dessert to add to our table this holiday season I knew I wanted to recreate one of my favourite drinks as a layered cake. The cake itself is a rich chocolate cake that is incredibly moist. I knew when I pulled it out of the oven that it would be delicious based on its rich chocolate smell alone. I wanted to add another chocolate element to the cake and I knew a chocolate ganache would be perfect. I spread a thin layer between each layer to add to the chocolate flavour and moistness of the cake. I went with a naked cake to showcase the beautiful homemade whipped cream frosting. I always forget how delicious and special homemade whipped cream is. I really should make it more often considering how simple it is to make. I had to top the cake with homemade marshmallows! You can't have hot chocolate without marshmallows it just seems wrong.  I kept my cake simple, playing off a classic hot chocolate but it would be easy to make even more festive by swapping the vanilla extract in the cake for peppermint extract and adding crushed candy canes to the chocolate ganache filling for a Peppermint Hot Chocolate variation. 

Homemade Marshmallows

The best part of hot chocolate is of course the marshmallows! I highly recommend making homemade marshmallows to top the cake but if you are short on time store bought marshmallows will work as well. You will need a stand mixer to make homemade marshmallows - a hand mixer's motor just isn't strong enough. I killed a few hand mixers that way in university before finally getting my stand mixer. If you have never made homemade marshmallows before they look more intimidating then they are and they taste divine! A few tips for making marshmallows: read the entire recipe through at least once before you start (this is good practice with any recipe but especially helpful for marshmallows), have your pan prepared before you start making the marshmallow, and have a warm wet cloth available to wipe your hands or clean up any spills! These marshmallows freeze great as well - so if you have any extras just pop them in the freezer. 

Making the Cake

Everything for this cake except the whipped cream frosting can be made a day or two in advanced of when you are going to be serving it. The homemade marshmallows can be made in advanced and frozen - they freeze great and can be frozen for up to 3 months! The cake layers and the ganache can be made a day or two before. Be sure to store the ganache in the fridge and tightly wrap the cakes in plastic wrap. 

Hot Chocolate Layered Cake

Yield: Two 8 inch cakes 

Ingredients:

2 c flour

3/4 c coco powder

2 c sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 c butter, room temperature, cut in cubes

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1/3 c vegetable oil

1 c sour cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare two 8 inch pans, grease and coat in coco powder

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment mix together dry ingredients

Cut butter into dry ingredients. Mix until mixture resembles corse sand

On medium speed, beat in eggs, one at a time, scrapping down the side of the bowl after each addition. Beat in vanilla and vegetable oil

Stir in sour cream until just incorporated be careful not to over mix

Evenly divide batter between prepared pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the centre comes out clean

Chocolate Ganache 

Ingredients:

6 oz heavy cream (approx 3/4 c)

6 oz semi sweet chocolate, chopped

Directions:

In a small heavy bottom pan over medium-high heat, heat cream until just before it boils

Poor heated cream over chopped chocolate. Whisk until smooth

Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

2 c whipping cream, cold

1 c powder sugar, sifted

2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Place bowl and whisk of stand mixer in the fridge to chill for a least 10 minutes

Beat cream on high speed until soft peaks begin to form. Slowly beat in powdered sugar and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form, be careful not to over beat or cream will start to separate

Marshmallows 

I followed this recipe from the Kitchn for my homemade marshmallows

Assembling the Cake

To assemble the cake. Torte each cake so that you have 4 layers in total. Spread a thin layer of ganache on each layer. Put a small dab of ganache on your cake board and place your bottom layer on top. Fill with fresh whipped cream frosting. Repeat until your cake is assembled. Frost the top of your cake with whipped cream frosting and pile your homemade marshmallows on top. Drizzle with ganache. Store in the fridge until you are ready to serve.