There’s something really nostalgic about having a Deep’n Delicious Cake. I remember as a kid when we used to order takeout for dinner, maybe from pizza hut or some other fast food establishment, and we would specifically look for the meals that came with a Deep ‘n Delicious cake. Nowadays, you can find this in the freeze aisle of every grocery store. I’m not sure if that was the case back then since I didn’t go to the grocery store with my mom, (unless it was Costco).

Megan and I decided to try to create a fancier and more delicious version of this cake. At the bottom, we have a rich dark chocolate cake, followed by a layer of dark chocolate ganache, and finished with a layer of piped chocolate buttercream. For a textural and decorative component we added some chocolate crisp pearls (bonus: they also double as a distraction from the horrible piping job that I did). And lastly a little bit of gold leaf, cuz we fancy!

Ingredients:

• 210g sugar (1/2 cup)
• 124g all purpose flour (1/2 cup + 1/4 cup)
• 70g cocoa powder (1/2 cup)
• 3.6g baking powder (3/4 tsp)
• 4.4g baking soda (3/4 tsp)
• 2.5g salt (3/4 tsp)
• 1 egg, large
• 130g milk (1/2 cup)
• 60g neutral oil (1/4 cup)
• 5g vanilla extract (1 tsp)
• 125g boiling water (1/2 cup)
• 360g basic dark chocolate ganache
• 525g chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream (half the recipe yields just enough)
• crisp pearls and gold leaf (optional)

Tools Required:

• stainless steel bowls
• 8″ x 8″ square pan
• whisk/ spatula

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together, sugar, salt baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and all purpose flour.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, neutral oil and vanilla extract.
4. Whisk wet into dry ingredients until smooth.
5. Add boiling water to the mixture, whisk until smooth.
6. Pour batter into a 8″ x 8″ square cake pan lined with parchment.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until done.
8. Once the cake is cooled, cover with dark chocolate ganache. Allow the ganache to set, then pipe the chocolate buttercream.
9. Top with dark chocolate crisp pearls and edible gold leaf, or decoration of your choice.