Chocolate Cake for Sculpting
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.
Novelty cakes are a delightful addition to any celebration, offering a whimsical and personalized touch to birthdays, weddings, and other special occasions. These cakes often feature unique shapes, intricate designs, and creative decorations that can range from realistic to fantastical.
Choosing the right cake and frosting is crucial when creating a novelty cake. The cake itself should be dense and sturdy enough to support any decorations or sculpted elements. A cake that is too light or fluffy may not hold its shape well, especially if it needs to be carved or stacked.
Similarly, the frosting plays a crucial role in both the flavor and stability of the cake. A frosting that is too soft or runny may not adhere well to the cake or could cause it to collapse. On the other hand, a frosting that is too stiff could be difficult to work with, making it challenging to achieve the desired decorations.
It’s also important to consider the flavor of the cake and frosting. While the visual appeal is essential for a novelty cake, it should also taste delicious. Choosing complementary flavors that work well together can enhance the overall experience for the person enjoying the cake.
In conclusion, being careful with the choice of cake and frosting is essential when creating a novelty cake. By selecting the right combination of flavors and textures, you can ensure that your cake not only looks incredible but also tastes amazing.
Why is this the best recipe?
- Rich and Moist Texture: The combination of butter, brown sugar, and buttermilk ensures a moist and rich texture that is perfect for carving and decorating.
- Deep Chocolate Flavor: Cocoa powder delivers a deep, rich chocolate flavor that is both satisfying and indulgent.
- Sturdy Structure: The inclusion of baking powder and baking soda helps the cake hold its shape, making it ideal for carving into intricate designs.
- Versatile: This cake can be used for various occasions, from birthdays to weddings, and can be decorated in countless ways to suit any theme or taste.
- Easy to Make: Despite its impressive results, this recipe is straightforward and easy to follow, making it accessible to both novice and experienced bakers.
- Crowd Pleaser: With its rich chocolate flavor and moist texture, this cake is sure to be a hit with anyone who tries it, making it a go-to recipe for celebrations and gatherings.
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 significantly these days. So, as a guide, one large egg weighs between 50 and 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: Chocolate cake for carving
- 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 it in the freezer for at least one hour before you carve into it.
Pro tip – Freezing the cake for an hour makes 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 cakes, 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. This cake-serving chart guide will help you decide how much cake you need.
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Tips for Success
- Plan Ahead: Sketch out your design and create a timeline for baking, decorating, and assembling the cake to avoid last-minute stress.
- Use the Right Tools: Invest in quality cake pans, sculpting tools, and decorating supplies to achieve the desired look for your cake.
- Choose the Right Cake: Opt for a dense and sturdy cake recipe that can hold up to carving and stacking, such as a pound cake or a firm sponge cake.
- Allow Enough Time for Cooling: Ensure that your cakes are completely cooled before attempting to decorate or stack them to prevent crumbling or collapsing.
- Level Your Cakes: Use a cake leveler or a serrated knife to trim the tops of your cakes to create an even surface for stacking and decorating.
- Use a Crumb Coat: Apply a thin layer of frosting, known as a crumb coat, to seal in any loose crumbs before applying the final layer of frosting.
- Experiment with Different Frostings: Consider using a firm frosting, such as buttercream or fondant, for decorating, as they hold their shape well and provide a smooth surface for decorations.
- Be Patient and Detail-Oriented: Take your time when decorating and pay attention to detail to achieve a professional-looking finish.
- Practice Makes Perfect: Don’t be discouraged if your first attempt isn’t perfect. Like any skill, cake decorating takes practice, so keep experimenting and learning from each cake you make.
- Have Fun: Most importantly, enjoy the process! Novelty cakes are meant to be fun and creative, so don’t be afraid to let your imagination run wild.
What can I make with this cake?
With this chocolate cake recipe, you can carve various shapes and designs for novelty cakes. These are just a few ideas, but the possibilities are endless! With a sturdy cake like this, you can let your imagination run wild and create almost any shape or design you can imagine.
- Sculpted Animals: Carve the cake into animal shapes, such as dogs, cats, elephants, or lions.
- 3D Objects: Create 3D objects like cars, trucks, airplanes, or even buildings.
- Character Cakes: Make character cakes from cartoons, movies, or books. For example, you could carve the cake to look like a minion from “Despicable Me” or a character from “Frozen.”
- Shapes and Letters: Carve the cake into letters, numbers, or other shapes for themed birthday or anniversary cakes.
- Stacked Shapes: Stack carved cake layers to create a layered effect, such as a stack of books or presents.
- Sports Cakes: Carve the cake into shapes related to sports, like a soccer ball, basketball, or football helmet.
- Fantasy Cakes: Create fantasy-themed cakes, like castles, dragons, or unicorns.
- Best Vanilla Cake Recipe for Carving
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- Mom’s Vanilla Cake Recipe
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 it 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 are both firm after chilling, which makes it easier to cut and manipulate 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 use for carving, and that is very popular with my visitors on this blog.
Chocolate Cake Perfect for Carving
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.
Ingredients
- 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 1/4 cup water)
- ¾ cup (180 ml) Buttermilk
- 4 Eggs large
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Method
- 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.
Notes
- Plan Ahead: Sketch out your design and create a timeline for baking, decorating, and assembling the cake to avoid last-minute stress.
- Use the Right Tools: Invest in quality cake pans, sculpting tools, and decorating supplies to achieve the desired look for your cake.
- Choose the Right Cake: Opt for a dense and sturdy cake recipe that can hold up to carving and stacking, such as a pound cake or a firm sponge cake.
- Allow Enough Time for Cooling: Ensure that your cakes are completely cooled before attempting to decorate or stack them to prevent crumbling or collapsing.
- Level Your Cakes: Use a cake leveler or a serrated knife to trim the tops of your cakes to create an even surface for stacking and decorating.
- Use a Crumb Coat: Apply a thin layer of frosting, known as a crumb coat, to seal in any loose crumbs before applying the final layer of frosting.
- Experiment with Different Frostings: Consider using a firm frosting, such as buttercream or fondant, for decorating as they hold their shape well and provide a smooth surface for decorations.
- Be Patient and Detail-Oriented: Take your time when decorating and pay attention to detail to achieve a professional-looking finish.
- Practice Makes Perfect: Don’t be discouraged if your first attempt isn’t perfect. Like any skill, cake decorating takes practice, so keep experimenting and learning from each cake you make.
- Have Fun: Most importantly, enjoy the process! Novelty cakes are meant to be fun and creative, so don’t be afraid to let your imagination run wild.
- Cool Completely: Allow the cake to cool completely on a wire rack before storing.
- Wrap Well: Once cooled, wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
- Refrigerate: If the cake has perishable fillings or frosting, store it in the refrigerator. Place the wrapped cake in an airtight container to prevent odors from the fridge from affecting the cake.
- Freeze (optional): If you want to freeze the cake for longer storage, wrap it in an additional layer of aluminum foil or place it in a freezer-safe container. Frozen cakes can be stored for up to three months.
- Thaw Properly: When ready to serve, thaw the cake in the refrigerator overnight. Bring it to room temperature before serving for the best texture and flavor.
Storage
To store a novelty cake made with butter, brown sugar, eggs, cocoa powder, buttermilk, and leavening, follow these steps:- Cool Completely: Allow the cake to cool completely on a wire rack before storing.
- Wrap Well: Once cooled, wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
- Refrigerate: If the cake has perishable fillings or frosting, store it in the refrigerator. Place the wrapped cake in an airtight container to prevent odors from the fridge from affecting the cake.
- Freeze (optional): If you want to freeze the cake for longer storage, wrap it in an additional layer of aluminum foil or place it in a freezer-safe container. Frozen cakes can be stored for up to three months.
- Thaw Properly: When ready to serve, thaw the cake in the refrigerator overnight. Bring it to room temperature before serving for the best texture and flavor.
Equipment you will need
Nutrition
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Hi scrolled through the comments but still can’t find a clarification to step 6.
It says “Add the flour mixture followed by the Buttermilk and coffee in three batches.” By 3 batches do you mean add all the flour mixture to the butter+sugar+egg mixture,(mix) then add the buttermilk (mix), and then all the coffee mixture (mix). OR, do I add the flour mixture (mix), then mix buttermilk+coffee in a bowl and add that in 3 separate times to this big bowl of butter+flour mixture?
Hope you can clarify this step up. Thanks!
Hey, Jen. Add the flour in three batches, approximately. You can add the liquid ingredients one at a time or combine them together. This is a very forgiving recipe and it works perfectly no matter which you add first or last. I hope that helps.
Hi,
I was wondering If you needed to add the coffee in your recipe? I’m serving this to a group of kids.
Thanks!
Hey Jane. You can omit the coffee powder – use hot water instead.
You list Brown Sugar in your ingredients section, but White Sugar as your reference under your Let’s Talk Ingredients and Substitutions section. Which is it?
It is brown sugar, Sean. As you can see from the progress pictures too. I did correct the type error in the post. Thank you for letting me know.
Hi Veena.. can I keep this batter nd make the 2nd cake as my oven is small nd can bake Oly one at a time.
Yes, you can Mathi.
How many cups of batter does this recipe make as written? I’m making a 3D train and it calls for 6 cups of batter.
Hey Sherry, This should make about 8 to 10 cups of batter. But I have never measured it. I just make cakes per pan size, not per batter. Sorry, I can’t give you a definite answer.
Just for anyone else who might need it, I had to increase the servings to 20 in order to fill a ‘6 cups of batter’ pan (I quickly made up the extra 4 servings of mix when my 3D pan wasn’t full). One extra question…have you made this as mini loaf’s ever? I’m using mini loaf (5.75″ x 3″) pans to make train cars and wondering how to adjust the cooking? Do I just check earlier, or should the temperature be lower too? I’ve seen conflicting advise on that point.
Hey Sherry, yes, this cake is for only 16 servings so you will need to change the number of servings in the recipe card below to calculate for 20 servings.
You can make mini loaf cakes. They will not take long to bake. I’d say start check at about 15 – 20 minutes until a skewer inserted comes clean. The temperature will remain the same but they will bake faster.
Verna,
I am carving a unicorn head, using a half sheet pan, but just discovered that possibly 35 people will be at the party. If I double the recipe, can I just bake it all in one pan, rather than baking it twice? I would rather not have two layers while carving. Thank you and it looks yummy!
Hey Gwen. You can bake it in one pan – just bake it for a longer time. Thanks
Hey haven’t made yet but am wondering could I use self raising flóur instead
I plain on making it x5 and I don’t want to double baking powder incase it throws the balance of the cake off ?
I’m not doing much carving. I’m making a Jersey cake
Hey Joanne. If you use self-raising flour you will need to reduce the baking powder by 3/4 tsp for each recipe – cause self-raising flour has baking powder added to it.
Hi,
i love this recipe so much, i’ve made it in a 10 inch pan beautiful and soft. i recently doubled the recipe and it took over an hour to cook and turned out quite hard and also caved in on both sides? Do you know what i am doing wrong for this to happen?
Hey Phoebe. That doesn’t make sense. I’ve double and tripled the recipe many times – it takes longer to bake but never becomes hard.
Can you check to see your calculations are correct? perhaps you missed an ingredient -sounds like there was less liquid so it dried out on the sides.
i want to make this recipe for my sons birthday. he wants a chocolate monster truck cake with raspberries. would this still be okay with carving to put the raspberry jam in the middle if i cut it in half and make it as a layer cake also what kind of frosting would you recommend. i have made frosting a couple times but it always melts…
Hey Chauntel, Chocolate, and raspberries is a great combination. This cake is perfect for carving. Having said that I usually prefer not to fill my cakes that need carving because it can be a messy job when carving. Alternatively, you can carve the cake first then fill the layers as you go. I hope that makes sense.
I recommend using a butter-based frosting so it firms up in the fridge when you chill it. See all my frosting recipes here – more than 30 buttercream frosting recipes.
Hi Veena,
I had tried your vanilla cake recipe and it was awesome. My family loved it 🙂 I am planning to make my first carved cake. But I was looking for an eggless chocolate cake. Please advise whether I could use this recipe and what could I replace the eggs with, or is there any other eggless cake recipe on your blog which I could use for carving.
Hey Nandita. I have not tried to substitute the eggs in this recipe so not sure how that would work. I do have an eggless chocolate cake if you want to try it. Freeze the cake for at least an hour or two so it is easier to carve.
Hello, love your website, and your level of interaction with your readers.
I intend to use this recipe for the birthday cake of my daughter. There will be 28 peoples at the party. I expect to carve a lot of the cake (doing a Baby Shark cake). So I was aiming for a double recipe.
However, I also have the worry of the Volume of the cake. I don’t want a tiny little shark simply because the cake is rich and servings should be small.
What kind of volume should I expect from one recipe? You refer to your pictures for reference, but how big is the cake in your picture? How thick? Is the rectangle 9”x13”? 1,5” thick?
Thank you for your time.
Charles
Hey Charles – this cake is not large. It’s about 1 inch thick so with frosting it would be 1.5 inches thick.
Double this recipe would be great for 28 servings but if you want more cake especially for carving I suggest you make three times the recipe then stack and carve accordingly.
I hope this helps.
Hello Veena,
I am carving a Pokémon cake for my son’s 7th birthday and I would like to keep the sweetness in the frosting down. Would an Ermine (flour) frosting or Swiss Meringue Buttercream be better for this? I’d like to use Ermine but I’m worried it won’t hold as well as the meringue…
Both Ermine and SMBC are butter-based frostings Victoria. So they both will be quite similar in setting up. Just make sure to chill the cake well in between steps. Happy Birthday to your son.