My brother just got back from his sleep away camp which serves as a reminder to me that summer is coming to a close. It’s stressing me out because I’m starting to get really worried about this coming school year. I feel like I chose classes with a big workload and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to have time for all of that.
But we aren’t thinking about that now because it’s still break. I still have a few more weeks of carefree-ness. Plus, as I’ve said before, the end of summer means FALL!
I am at the point in my recipe testing schedule that I am slowly starting to work on my fall recipes. As I’m writing this now, I have a pumpkin thing in the oven and it is smelling really good I must say.
We’ve been lucky the past few days and it’s rained a bunch. It was looking really dry but now it’s a little better, and a little less hot. I think it’s supposed to rain this afternoon, though looking out the window it looks like a pretty clear sky.
I am nearing the finish line on a big chunk of my project, which is a big relief. I’ve had a lot of very long and packed days because of it, so it’s nice to know that soon I can be devoting all of my attention to recipes for the coming months of the blog. But enough about all that. Let’s live in the moment people. Let’s talk about this cake.
Describe This Cake to Me
Taste: This cake is inspired by a chocolate covered pretzel so it has that perfect sweet and salty balance. The cake is a sweet and buttery vanilla cake, speckled with salty pretzels. Then we have a rich dark chocolate ganache between the layers and the whole thing is frosting with a bittersweet chocolate frosting.
Texture: Although there are 2 cups of pretzels in the cake, it isn’t dry at all. It’s got a moist crumb thanks to the buttermilk and eggs. The whipped chocolate ganache will harden to a stiffer consistency, but still melts in your mouth especially with a little of the sweeter frosting on the outside of the cake.
Ease: There are a lot of components in this cake, but I promise it’s well worth the effort. This recipe isn’t difficult but it is time consuming, so make sure you have a whole day reserved for making this.
The Cake
The cake is where we get the pretzel flavor. It’s a classic vanilla cake, made with buttermilk and some extra egg whites to keep it moist and flavorful. The fun part is the pretzels, which we grind up and fold into the batter like flour. This doesn’t change the texture of the cake much but it fills it with a beautiful sweet and salty flavor.
The Filling
Between these cake layers we have a bittersweet whipped ganache. This is about as chocolaty as possible, made with only bittersweet chocolate, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. It’s simple to make, you just make your ganache as usual by pouring hot cream over chopped chocolate. Let that cool down before you whip it to stiff peaks. The ganache will eventually stiffen once whipped, but melts in your mouth even so.
The Frosting
The frosting here is a pretty classic chocolate frosting. We use a little bit of vegetable shortening in addition to butter to help support the cake and give the frosting a little more structure. Then there’s sugar to thicken it up, cocoa powder, heavy cream so it isn’t too dense and heavy, and a little vanilla and salt.
Chocolate Pretzel Layer Cake
Ingredients
Pretzel Cake
- 2 cups plain salted pretzels
- 2 ⅔ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 large egg whites at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk at room temperature
Whipped Ganache
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- a pinch of salt
Chocolate Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening
- 4 cups confectioners sugar
- ⅔ cups cocoa powder
- ¼ cup cold heavy cream
- a pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pretzels for decoration
Chocolate Ganache Drip
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
- ½ cup heavy cream +1 Tablespoon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ and grease three 8 inch cake pans with butter, line the bottoms with parchment paper, and then grease the parchment paper. Set aside.
Make the cake batter
- Add the pretzels to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. You don't want them to turn into a powder, but very finely ground up so there aren't any big chunks of pretzels. See video above for a visual.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the ground up pretzel, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium high speed until smooth and creamy. Add the 3 eggs, 2 egg whites, and vanilla extract and beat on high speed until combined. Mixture may look curdled, that's ok! With the mixer running on low speed add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. With the mixer still running on low, stream in the buttermilk until just combined. Batter will be slightly thick.
- Pour the batter evenly among the three pans and bake for 23-25 minutes. The cake should bounce back when you poke it and an inserted toothpick should come out clean. Allow cakes to cool completely in the pans set on a wire rack before frosting.
Make the ganache
- Place the chopped chocolate in a large heatproof mixing bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once simmering, pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it stand for 3-5 minutes to soften the chocolate, then stir until chocolate is melted and you have a smooth and glossy ganache. Stir in the vanilla and salt. Let the ganache cool at room temperature until it is a similar consistency of peanut butter before you whip it. (make the frosting while it cools)
Make the frosting
- In a large bowl using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the butter and shortening together until smooth and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix on low speed for thirty seconds, and then turn the speed up to medium high and whip for two minutes. Cover with cling wrap and set aside while we whip the ganache.
Whip the ganache
- Using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the cooled ganache on medium high speed for 3-4 minutes or until fluffy and lightened in color.
Assemble the cake
- Carefully remove the cakes from the pans. I like to cut the tops off of mine with a serrated knife to get a flat surface, but this is optional. Put a little over half of the chocolate frosting in a piping bag fitted with a large round piping tip. Place one cake layer on your cake stand. Pipe a ring around the rim of the cake to create a "dam" for your whipped garage filling. Spread half of the whipped ganache in the dam. Place another cake layer on top and repeat the same process, using the rest of the ganache. Top with the final cake layer. Spread a thin layer of frosting all over the top and sides of the cake. Use a bench scraper to smooth it out. This is a crumb coat, so you should still be able to see the cake layers because it's such a thin layer of frosting. Place the cake in the freezer for just 10 minutes to firm up.
- Frost the sides of the chilled cake over the crumb coat. It's ok if the top of the cake is still lightly frosted, as we're going to cover it with a ganache drip. Save remaining frosting for piping details later. Place the frosted cake in the fridge while we make the ganache.
Make the ganache drip
- Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized bowl (preferably one with a spout). In a small sauce pan, heat the heavy cream until simmering. Pour the warm cream over the chopped chocolate. Let it sit for 3-5 minutes before stirring. Ganache should be smooth and glossy. Pour the ganache over the frosted cake, letting it drip down the sides. Don't pour all the ganache at once, you won't need all of it! If desired, pipe spirals on top of the ganache using a star tip and top with pretzels (as pictured). Cake stays fresh for up to 4 days sealed at room temperature (pretzels used for decoration on the outside of the cake will get soft as they absorb the moisture from the frosting)