Chocolate Mochi Cake with Vanilla Buttercream

This week I made chocolate cake... with a twist! Over half of the flour in it is Mochiko rice flour, and it baked up just like a slightly chewier medium-chocolatey cake. 

Some delicious vanilla Italian meringue buttercream, and boom! A fancy schmancy cake. Recipes at the bottom!

Here are a million pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Mochi Cake

1 1/4 cups mochiko
3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup bittersweet chocolate, either in chips or chopped up
12 oz evaporated milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg whites at room temp
pinch of cream of tartar
1 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°. Oil and flour two 9" pans or, if you're doing a little tall cake like me, one 3" tall 6" diameter pan and one 9"x13" pan.
Mix dry ingredients (mochiko, flour, baking soda, and salt). Set aside.
Melt the butter and add in the chocolate, mixing until completely melted. Add evaporated milk and vanilla extract.
Mix the wet into the dry and set aside.
In a super clean bowl, start whipping the egg whites. Add the cream of tartar. When they're completely foamy, start to add the sugar, a little at a time until it is all incorporated. When the meringue keeps stiff peaks when the beater is lifted out of it, it is ready to be mixed into the batter. Fold a third of the meringue into the batter, and then do the same with the remaining meringue.
Pour the batter into the pans. For me, I filled the small pan halfway and put the rest in the large pan.
Bake for 35-40 minutes for a shallow cake and 45-50 for one in which the batter is deeper.

Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream
(makes enough for one 9" cake or a small and tall one like that pictured above)

1 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks) at room temp
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cups water
3 egg whites at room temp
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2 Tbsp vanilla

Beat the butter until light and fluffy, for around 10 minutes with a hand-held beater.
Place the sugar and water in a pan over medium heat and cook, stirring intermittently until the sugar is melted.
While the sugar boils, begin to whip the egg whites in a super clean bowl. Add in the cream of tartar, and whip until the whites are thick and fluffy. Keep the beater going while keeping an eye on the syrup temperature. Once it reaches 238° pour it slowly into the whites with the beater going (being careful not to pour the syrup over the beaters to avoid splatter) and continue to beat until the bowl is cool to the touch. Add the butter in a half cup at a time, add the vanilla and then beat a few more minutes to fluff the buttercream up. Done!


Bake Hard,
Azara