One of the most important things necessary to sculpt a novelty cake is a perfect base. A cake that can be cut and manipulated without falling apart. A cake with a soft crumb and yet taste delicious. This chocolate cake perfect for carving will prove the best sculpting cake recipe for you.
When you ask a person how they like their cake, almost everyone will say rich and moist. But carving a rich and moist cake is definitely difficult and not recommended for novelty cakes and a cake not rich and moist is definitely not desirable. So... MUST find the right balance. I think I did. This is the best sculpting cake recipe you will love.
Table of Content
About this cake
I wish you could see how soft and moist my carving cake recipes are. I have been using this chocolate cake recipe for carving - for a long time now and carved many cakes very successfully. It's not as dense as a pound or sponge cake but not as delicate as a simple moist, classic chocolate, or death by chocolate cake recipes.
I strongly recommended that you freeze the cake for an hour at least before you carve it. Freezing the cake helps with fewer crumbs. So while I say this is dense it's also rich and delicious. Some of the cakes I've made with this chocolate as well as my vanilla cake for carving recipe have had rave reviews from my customers.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Butter - I prefer to use unsalted butter so I can control the quantity of salt in my recipe. And yet, if salted butter is all you have, go ahead and use it. Just omit salt in the recipe.
- Brown sugar - contributes to a nice soft tender crumb and gives a nice color. The molasses in the brown sugar adds a caramel-like flavor too.
- Eggs - Always use large size eggs when baking unless specified. The size of the eggs varies these days significantly. So as a guide one large egg weighs between 50 to 60 grams.
- Vanilla - A good quality vanilla will make a huge difference in anything you make. Premium vanilla can be expensive, which is why I make my homemade vanilla extract, bean paste or sugar.
- All-purpose flour - Yes, regular plain flour (maida) is all you need for this cake. And, since self-raising flours contain leavening they must be used with caution.
- Cocoa Powder - I use regular Dutch-processed cocoa powder for my cake baking.
Step by step instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F/165°C/ Gas Mark 3
- Grease and line the baking pan you plan to use for your novelty cake.
Pro tip - Makes a 1-inch height 9 x 13-inch sheet pan or 2 x 7-inch round cakes - Sift dry ingredients - flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream soft room temperature butter, sugar, and eggs until light and fluffy. Then add the vanilla extract.
Pro tip - for this method to work the butter must be soft at room temperature otherwise the batter will be very lumpy. Alternatively, you can cream the butter and sugar first then add the eggs one at a time. - Next, add the flour mixture followed by the buttermilk and coffee in three batches.
- Pour into your baking pan and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
Pro tip - if using two pans the baking time will be reduced to about 20 to 25 minutes. - Cool in the baking pan for 5 minutes. Invert and cool on a wire rack completely before you decorate
Pro tip - it is very important that the cakes are completely cooled before frosting. Otherwise, the frosting will melt on the warm cakes. - Once cooled wrap in two plastic wraps, followed by aluminum foil. Place in the freezer for at least one hour before you carve into it.
Pro tip - freezing the cake for an hour will make it easier to carve with fewer cake crumbs. But, freezing it hard will make it difficult to carve with more crumbs.
How much cake do I need?
One of the most common questions I get is how much cake do I need? When it comes to novelty cake it's difficult for me to say.
For example, I can't say, you need two of these for a car cake. Why? because it depends on the size of your car template. However, I can say that this cake serves 15 to 20 people. But, it can be double and more, successfully.
So, if you choose to make a cake for 60 then you'd multiply the recipe times 3 and follow the same method as below.
Frequently asked questions
Using unsalted butter means you can control the amount of salt in the recipe. Having said that, you can use salted butter in most cakes and omit the salt in the recipe.
Often people think a dense cake can be kept for longer. True, it does have a longer shelf life than most other cakes. And yet, even a dense cake will stay at room temperature for only 3 to 4 days. You can keep it longer if you wrap well in plastic and keep it in the fridge.
This chocolate carving is delicious on its own, especially when it's fresh so don't be afraid to use it for not just sculpting. I like to use a butter-based or chocolate-based frosting for my sculpted cakes. The butter and chocolate both firm with chilled which works in favor of cutting and manipulating the cake as needed.
For most of my sculpted cakes, I use any one of these frostings
Velvet American buttercream,
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Chocolate Ganache or white chocolate ganache
Don't be afraid to try my other flavored buttercream recipes as well - see more than 30 plus buttercream frosting recipes
No, this recipe works best with eggs but I do have an eggless chocolate fudge cake that I have used for carving and is very popular with my visitors on this blog.
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Recipe
Chocolate Cake Perfect for Carving
Print Pin RateDescription
Ingredients
Makes 2 x 7-inch cakes or one 9 x 13-inch rectangle cake
- 8 oz (226 g) Butter unsalted, room temperature
- 1 cup (220 g) Brown sugar light
- 2 cups (250 g) All-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ¾ cup (65 g) Cocoa powder
- 1½ tsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Baking soda
- ¼ cup (60 ml) Coffee brewed (1 tsp coffee powder in ¼ cup water)
- ¾ cup (180 ml) Buttermilk
- 4 Eggs large
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F/165°C/ Gas Mark 3
- Grease and line the baking pan you plan to use for your novelty cake. Pro tip - Makes a 1-inch height 9 x 13-inch sheet pan or 2 x 7-inch round cakes
- Sift dry ingredients - flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Cream soft room temperature butter, sugar, and eggs until light and fluffy. Then add the vanilla extract.Pro tip - for this method to work the butter must be soft at room temperature otherwise the batter will be very lumpy. Alternatively, you can cream the butter and sugar first then add the eggs one at a time.
- Next, add the flour mixture followed by the buttermilk and coffee in three batches.
- Pour into your baking pan and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.Pro tip - if using two pans the baking time will be reduced to about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Cool in the baking pan for 5 minutes. Invert and cool on a wire rack completely before you decoratePro tip - it is very important that the cakes are completely cooled before frosting. Otherwise, the frosting will melt on the warm cakes.
- Once cooled wrap in two plastic wraps, followed by aluminum foil. Place in the freezer for at least one hour before you carve into it.Pro tip - freezing the cake for an hour will make it easier to carve with fewer cake crumbs. But, freezing it hard will make it difficult to carve with more crumbs.
Recipe Notes
- Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature so you have a smooth, not curdled batter.
- Make sure the butter is at soft room temperature otherwise the batter will be very lumpy. Whip the butter, sugar, and egg mixture until it is light and airy. If the mixture curdles, add a teaspoon of flour and whip some more.
- Preheat the oven well in advance so you do not have to wait once the batter is ready.
- It is best to bake cakes on the center rack alternatively, rotate the cake pans halfway through baking for even baking.
- Cake strips are highly recommended to prevent domes that way you do not lose too much cake.
Storage
- Once decorated the cake does not need to be refrigerated unless you use perishable frosting or filling
- It can stay at room temperature for two days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Once cut always cover the cut side of the cake with plastic wrap so the cake does not dry out.
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
Abi
I wish the directions were accurate. I added butter, sugar and eggs and it won’t cream, wasted 8 eggs and 4 sticks of butter now.
Veena Azmanov
Sorry, Abi, Sounds like the butter was not room temperature. If you continue to mix it will cream eventually.
This is similar to making a one-bowl cake. You add all ingredients to a bowl and combine well. Because brown sugar is thicker I cream the three together first. In fact, the moisture from the eggs helps cream the bater.
Abi
I never got it to cream but stuck it through and made the entire cake anyways. Still turned out wonderful and perfect for carving.
Veena Azmanov
Happy to hear that.
Morla
I saw in another comment that the coffee can be omitted, but do I need to use something to replace it? I've never enjoyed coffee (I can taste it no matter how little is used) in chocolate cakes.
Veena Azmanov
Yes, just use hot water instead of coffee.
Basheera
Hi there, can I use white sugar instead of brown for this recipe?
Veena Azmanov
You can but the brown sugar will add a soft texture to the cake. While white makes it crisper. If possible add 1 tbsp of molasses with the white sugar.
Basheera
Thank you for the quick reply . Just wondering, the cakes doesn't rise much.. is this right.. it smells delicious though..
Veena Azmanov
It does rise but not very much. It is denser than most cakes because this is meant to carve
Nicoletta Mythillou
I had to try the recipe after trying the vanilla one. When i had carving in mind i though of a dry cake but this has nothing to do with dryiness!!. It reminded me of a brownie style cake with a nice texture and flavour. Thank you once again for sharing your recipes!!xx
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Nicoletta. I am so happy you enjoyed this recipe.
Saki
Hi Veena,
Thanks for sharing your recipe. I have to make 3 cakes. My oven can fit only one sheet pan at a time. So can I make the batter ahead and use within 3 hours? If so, do I have to refrigerate the batter ? Or do you advise to make batter each time for each sheet pan ? Appreciate your response. Thanks
Veena Azmanov
Hey Saki, I don't think this batter would stay for three hours outside. It would be best to make the batter by batches otherwise you won't get the height or light and airy cake.
Katherine
Hello. Can I skip the coffee?
Veena Azmanov
Yes, Absolutely, Kathrine
Lucie
Hi Veena,
Just wondering how thick/tall this cake comes out? I can't quite figure it out from the photos.
Thank you
Veena Azmanov
Its not thick Lucie. A little over one inch
Yvonne
Yve
Hi, can I carve this cake, fill and cover with ganache then freeze for 6 weeks, then be able to cover in fondant once thawed out? Trying to get ahead. Thanks
Veena Azmanov
This cake does freeze well but I would highly recommend doing the carving, ganache, and fondant after 6 weeks rather.
marion
Veena, just wanted to confirm your notes that butter based cakes are good for sculpting cakes and fondant cakes
Also, do they tend to be dense cause I feel dense cakes add to the weight of the cake making it quite heavy after frosting and decorating with fondant
Veena Azmanov
No not all butter-based cakes are dense.
When I say butter-based cakes are better, I mean they hold better because when sculpting and frosting we chill the cake so the butter chills make the cake more stable.
Hope that makes sense.
marion
Ohh that's great Veena, yes it does make sense, really appreciate your quick replies ❤
Dilshad Fahad
Hi, I was looking for a fool proof recipe for a layer cake. Have to make for a birthday. I tried one of the moist ones and it completely fell apart. So disappointed. Wanted to make something special for my son.. Will this be a good 2 layer cake? I don't want to fail again. 🙁
Veena Azmanov
Dilshad. Did you try my chocolate birthday cake? Which cake fell apart? All my recipes are tried and test so would love more feedback on what happened. Yes, this recipe would work as a layer cake too.