Black & White Cake

Ingredients:

For Cake:
- 2 cups cake flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
-10 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
For Dark Chocolate Pudding:
- 2 cups whole milk
- 4 large egg yolks
- 6 Tbsp sugar
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch, sifted
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 7 oz. chocolate (of choice), melted over a double boiler
- 2 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 5 pieces, at room temp
For White Chocolate Whipped Cream Filling & Frosting
- 12 oz. premium quality white chocolate
- 3 cups heavy cream


Directions:

- Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9X2 inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

For Cake:
- Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Working with a stand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes.
- Add the eggs one by one, and then the yolk, beating for 1 minutes after each addition.
- Beat in the vanilla; don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, adding the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the milk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients). Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
- Bake for 28-30 minutes, rotating the pans at the midway point. When fully baked, the cakes will be golden and springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the centers will come out clean.
- Transfer the cakes to a rack and cool for about 5 minutes, then unmold, remove the paper and invert to cool to room temperature right side up on the rack.
For Chocolate Pudding:
- Bring the milk to a boil.
- Meanwhile, in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the egg yolk with the sugar, cornstarch and salt until thick and well blended.
- Whisking without stopping, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of the hot milk-this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won’t curdle-then, still whisking, add the remainder of the milk in a steady stream. Pour mixture into a pot.
- Put the pot over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, constantly and thoroughly (make sure to get into the edges of the pan), bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 minute. Remove the pot from the heat immediately. You may need to take the pot on and off the heat while whisking if it starts to boil to quickly.
- Whisk in the melted chocolate, and let stand for 5 minutes. Then whisk in the pieces of butter, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the chocolate cream is smooth and silky. P
- Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create and airtight seal and refrigerate the cream until chilled, or for up to 3 days.
For White Chocolate Whipped Cream:
- Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler (put the white chocolate in a heat proof bowl and put the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water). Stir frequently to melt the chocolate evenly.
- Meanwhile, bring 1 cup of the heavy cream to a boil.
- When the white chocolate is melted, remove the bowl from the pan. Pour the hot cream into the melted chocolate and let it sit for a minute. Using a small spatula, stir the chocolate gently until it is smooth. Let it sit on the counter until it reaches room temperature-it can’t be the least bit warm when you add it to the whipped cream.
- Working with the stand mixer with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the remaining 2 cups of heavy cream only until it holds the softest peaks. Turn the machine to high, add the cooled white chocolate all at once and continue to beat until the whipped cream holds firm peaks.
- Turn the whipped cream into a bowl, press a piece of plastic wrap gently against the surface to create an airtight seal and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 6 hours.
For Cake Assembly:
- If the tops of the cake layers have crowned, use a long serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion to even them.
- Slice each layer horizontally in half.
- Place on layer cut side down on a cardboard cake round or on a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment.
- Remove the dark and white chocolate creams from the refrigerator and whisk each of them vigorously to loosen and smooth them.
- With a long metal icing spatula, spread enough dark chocolate cream (about 1 cup) over the cake layer to cover it completely.
- Top the cream with another cake layer, cut side up, and cover this layer with white chocolate whipped cream, making the white layer about the same thickness as the dark layer.
- Cover with a third layer, cut side up, and cover with another cup or so of the dark chocolate cream. (You’ll have some dark chocolate cream left over)
- Top with the final layer of cake, cut side down, and frost the sides and top with the remaining white chocolate whipped cream (You'll have some white chocolate cream left over). Decorate with chocolate shaving, curls or drizzle with chocolate ganache, if you wish.
- Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.


Source: Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, Houghton Mifflin Company, November 2006