Koala Cake Tutorial

Today I am making a cake in honor of the Koalas and other wildlife of Australia that have been affected by the fires. I have made a donation to help rescue and care for the injured wildlife, and if you have a few extra dollars I encourage you to donate as well.  Here are a few links in you are interested.

WIRES: https://www.wires.org.au/blog/emergency-donations-to-help-wildlife

WWF: https://donate.wwf.org.au/donate/koala-crisis/koala-crisis?t=AP1119W03#gs.si3fkm

Red Cross: https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/disaster-relief-and-recovery-donate

 

This adorable Koala cake is inspired by the cutest art that I purchased on Shutterstock. You can see all of her art here – https://www.regina-art.ru/

Chocolate Cake

This is cake has a deep and rich chocolate flavor and is also great for carving!

Ingredients

  • 2 Cups Hot Water
  • 1 Cup Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder
  • 2 ¾ Cups All Purpose Flour
  • 1 ½ Teaspoons Baking Soda
  • 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1 Cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter Room Temp
  • 2 ½ Cups Granulated Sugar
  • 4 Large Eggs Room Temp
  • ½ Cup Vegetable Oil
  • 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 8” pans with parchment paper and spray the sides with baking spray with flour (like PAM for baking).

    Pour hot water over the cocoa powder. Whisk to combine. Set aside to cool

    Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl until combined.

    Beat 2 sticks of butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy.

    Reduce speed and beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed.

    Add vanilla and mix until combined.

    With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the dry ingredient mixture until combined, then add 1/3 of the liquid cocoa mixture. Repeat this process two more times.

    Add the oil and mix until combined. 

    Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

    Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack and let cool until you can handle them, then wrap in plastic wrap to freeze for later, or allow to cool completely until you frost them.  

 

Vanilla Buttercream

An easy to make yet delicious American buttercream recipe

Ingredients

  • 4 sticks unsalted butter softened
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 6 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the butter until it is light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

  2. Add vanilla, salt and heavy cream

  3. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Add more cream for a thinner consistency, or more powdered sugar for a thicker consistency.

  4. Turn mixer on high speed for 2 minutes to whip the buttercream until it's lighter in color. Hand stir to remove any air bubbles.

Recipe Notes

  • For Mint Chocolate Chip, add 1/2 tsp of Mint extract (not peppermint) at the same time as the vanilla. After adding the powdered sugar, add a tiny bit of green food color gel.  At the very end, hand stir in 1 1/3 cup of mini chocolate chips

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2 Comments

  1. How many of these chocolate cakes do I need to make this cake? The instructions say 2x 9 inch pans but in the video you seem to use more than that…

    Also, what is the ratio of chocolate/creamyou use to make the ganache you used in this video?

  2. Hi can you please tell me what size card/board you used for the head ?

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