Black Heart Cake

Instructions

Prepare the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line two round 8" cake pans with parchment paper on the bottom and grease the sides of the pans.
In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (sugar through salt).
2 cups (400 grams) granulated sugar, 1 3/4 cups (219 grams) flour, 10 tablespoons (72 grams) Dutch-process cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons (14 grams) black cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt
Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.
2 large eggs, 1/2 cup (120 ml) oil, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 cup (236 ml) milk
Mix until combined, and then stir in the boiling water. The batter will be almost as thin as water. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans. That’s 692 grams per pan when using Bob's GF flour or 680 grams if using the other listed options.
3/4 cup (177 ml) boiling water
Bake for 26-28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with some moist crumbs, but no uncooked liquid.
Let cool for 10 minutes in the pans, and then turn out onto a rack to cool. Let cool completely before frosting.
You can make these 3 days in advance. Wrap them in plastic wrap, place in a bag, and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. Freezing them will make them easier to handle when assembling the cake, although they’d need to defrost a little bit to cut them up to make the heart design.

Make the frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together with an electric hand mixer at medium speed until well combined. It's okay if it looks a little crumbly.
16 ounces (450 grams) cream cheese, 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until totally combined, and then beat in the vanilla and salt. If you want to write something on top like I did, reserve about 1/4 cup of frosting before adding the black cocoa powder. Keep the crumb coat down to 1/3 cup (as I did) to ensure you’ll have enough frosting for everything.
2 1/2 cups (300 grams) powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, pinch salt
Beat in the cocoa powder until well combined.
2/3 cup (74 grams) black cocoa powder

Assemble the cake:

Get out a cake plate that’s big enough for the heart.
Transfer a cake layer to the cake plate – you want the first layer of cake to be towards the bottom of the serving dish (and not right in the middle) because the cut-off bits will be added towards the top of the cake to form the rounded top of the heart. If you put the cake plate on top of a cake layer (which is on the cooling rack) and flip everything over, the rounded part will be on top. If you have a different preferred way of transferring cake layers, do whatever you like. It doesn’t really matter if the rounded part of the cake layer ends up on top in the end, as it’s not very domed.
Spread 3/4 cup (173 grams) of frosting on top.
Add the other layer on top, flat side up.
Use a ruler and measure out two 5” lines, forming a right angle. This will be the bottom of the heart.
Cut away those curved bits, but be careful with them as they’re going to help form the top of the heart.
Use about 2 tablespoons of frosting to help attach the rounded cut-offs to the main cake piece to form a heart shape. You’ll have to bend them a little.
My heart shape looked pretty bad at this point, so I cut away a little bit at the very top, in the middle, and then the heart looked very nice.
Use about 1/3 to 1/2 cup (76-115 grams – you’ll probably need closer to 1/3 cup) as a crumb coat. Spread the frosting over the sides and top of the cake.
Place in the freezer for about 30-60 minutes or until the frosting is very firm.
Frost the recipe of the cake. I used about another 3/4 cup (173 grams) on top and then about a cup on the sides.
Place back in the freezer for about 30-60 minutes to allow the frosting to firm up before piping on the decoration.

Decorate the cake:

If you reserved any white frosting to write on the cake, pipe your message on the cake first and then pipe on the small shell border with Wilton tip 21 on the top and bottom border of the cake.

Store:

Cover and refrigerate the finished cake for up to 4 days. It also freezes great for up to 3 months.

Notes

For the flour, you can use all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour or whole wheat flour. If you're gluten-free, use 1 3/4 cups (242 grams) Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-free Baking Flour.
To make the chia eggs for this recipe, mix together 2 tablespoons of ground chia seed with 6 tablespoons of water until well combined. Let sit for about 1-2 minutes or until goopy like regular eggs.
You can use any type of milk in this recipe. If you're using canned coconut milk, be sure to dilute it with water until it has a consistency similar to regular milk.
I typically use olive oil in this recipe, but canola oil, grapeseed oil, vegetable oil, or any neutral oil works well. Just avoid using expensive, flavorful olive oil. I usually use store-brand organic olive oil from Aldi or Lidl, and the olive oil taste dissipates once the cake cools.. To be safe, you can also opt for light olive oil.
If you live outside of the US – you likely have a different type of cream cheese than in the US. US cream cheese is firmer and meant for baking, rather than the kind for toast, like in Europe. For 8 ounces (225 grams) of cream cheese, buy a 300-gram package (the stuff at Aldi, Lidl, etc. works just as well as Philadelphia), put it in the center of a clean tea towel or cheesecloth, and squeeze out the liquid until you have 225 grams of cream cheese. So for this recipe, buy 900 grams of cream cheese and squeeze out the liquid until you have 680 grams of cream cheese left. Also note that medium eggs in the EU = US large eggs. You if you're in the EU, you need medium eggs.
I recommend using The Cocoa Trader black cocoa to ensure your frosting comes out nice and black.
Cake based adapted from Hershey's One Bowl Chocolate Cake.
The nutrition information provided is calculated as a courtesy and is only an estimate. I am not a licensed nutritionist or dietitian. For the most accurate nutritional data, consult a professional or use your preferred calculator.

Ingredients

For the cake:

For the frosting:

Instructions

Prepare the cake:

Make the frosting:

Assemble the cake:

Decorate the cake:

Store:

Notes

Nutrition