Kitkat Birthday Cake with Egg shell Brownies and Happy Birthday to Scratching Canvas

Yeaiii! It’s my baby’s birthday today and she just turned two! Ahh finally she got her time to doll up as I had messed up on her 1^st birthday last year. So this year I’m treating her with a grand (read, double) surprise cake, Kitkat Birthday Cake with Egg shell Brownies. Let’s join our party and wish my baby, Scratching Canvas a very Happy Birthday!

These two years have been like a roller coaster ride for me. I had seen the peaks and on the next moment I had also touched the ground, rock hard on the face! I had blush on my cheeks with appreciations then other night I had reddened eyes for criticism. But I’ve grown with my little blog to be stronger and wiser person. She just reflects my mood, my passion, my attitude! I still remember when last year I got sick and couldn’t even move a finger without help; I was so ashamed that I couldn’t celebrate my blog’s 1^st anniversary. Not only that I had to take a month or so off from blogging back then. When I got back on my feet it was too late for celebration so I had to bunk my original plan. So this year I was determined not to mess again and I’m so glad to write this post right now.

I have always been a big foodie rather to say a true junky. I never enjoyed (read, even liked) any kind of healthy food; always tended to have junk food all day long. And let me confess one thing today in front you all, I actually used to hate cooking. I had never even entered the kitchen before I left home. I still remember during those beginning days I used to have instant noodles and breads repeatedly for the whole day; weeks after weeks. But I’m definitely not a person who likes repetition. So quickly I had to sort out things for my own good or for the sake of my taste-buds you can say. Slowly I started learning many things on my own for living, including cooking.

I was so proud of myself those days that I used to click pictures of those preparations and send them to my parents. Gradually I realized that I can actually put these cooking and photography together and make a bigger ground for myself. That’s how I had landed here in the blogger’s world. But my motto was simple: be an honest blogger. No tricks in photography, no hiding secret ingredients for beautiful recipes; no lying for sumptuous looking dishes! Absolutely not! No matter how many names you will be given by people.

And I’m proud of myself for sticking to that part of my life. And I’m thankful to all the people who had reviewed my recipes, tried and tested them and top of all thanks to you all for all the love and support you guys are sharing with me here. Here is a small tribute to all my reader with a simple cake makeover. As it is second blogoversary this cake has to have double surprise; one is the Kitkat fenced green coconut ground and second is the little brownies baked in egg shells on the top.

Here is my elaborate step by step Kitkat Cake with Egg shell Brownies recipe for you all.

Preparation Time: 20 mins

Cooking/Active Time: 30 mins

Resting/Inactive time: 10 mins

Total Time: 60 mins

Yield: 10-12 servings

Ingredients:

For the chocolate sponge cakes:

All-purpose flour: 175g or ¾ cup

Baking powder: 1½ tsp

Cocoa powder: 50g or ½ cup + 1 tbsp (for dusting) (See Tips)

Brown sugar: 300g or 1½ cup, powdered (See Tips)

Butter: 100g or ½ cup + 1 tbsp (for greasing)

Buttermilk: 6 tbsp (See Tips)

Egg: 3, large

For the filling or Mousse layer:

Skinny Vegan Chocolate Mousse which will need the following ingredients

Dark chocolate: 285g

Whipping cream: ½ cup

For Frosting & Ganache:

Dark chocolate: 150g, chopped

Cream: 150ml (half & half cream/heavy cream or any dairy free cream will also work fine)

Garnishing:

Coconut powder: 2 cup

Green food color: 3-5 drops

Kitkat: 38-40 (See Tips)

Brownies in egg-shells: 5-6 (See Tips) (I’ll share the recipe real soon, Promise)

Chocolate malt balls: handful

Equipment:

Sieve

Whisk

Spatulas
Aluminium foil strips

Ziploc bag

Electric beater

Large mixing bowl

Small mixing bowl

8” round spring form pan

Small saucepan

Preparation:

Before starting the prep work, one should keep one thing in mind that this is a delicious cake with quite a lengthy process. So one has to be patient and organized; otherwise entire hard work will end up in a big fat mess. And also make sure all ingredients are at room temperature (unless mentioned) and measured correctly in appropriate measuring instruments.

Let’s start with the basic chocolate sponge cake. As I’ve already described the process of baking Basic Sponge Cake in the blog, I’m just stating steps here for your reference. More detailed explanations with step by step pictures and notes/tips can be found here.

In a large bowl sieve and sift all dry ingredients together. Keep aside until needed.

Cream butter (reserve 1 tbsp) and sugar together with electric beater until become fluffy and pale in color. Add eggs one by one (one at a time) and continue beating.

Add 1/3 portion of the flour mixture into the batter and ½ of the buttermilk into the batter and continue mixing.

Grease the pan with softened butter and dust the same with reserved cocoa powder. Fill 2/3 of the pan with the cake batter and tap the pan few times on the kitchen counter.

Bake the cake in preheated (180⁰C) oven for 30-40 mins at 180⁰C, depending on your oven.

Remove the cake from oven and set on wire rack to cool down. Once cake comes to room temperature, cut the top off and also in half horizontally. Place few aluminium foil strips on the cake stand such a way that each strips will have one end hanging out of the stand (see picture below). (See Tips)

Prepare the Filling or Mousse Layer while cake is cooling on wire rack. For the filling I used my Skinny Vegan Chocolate Mousse. Place the bottom half of the cake on the foil wrapped cake stand and pour the mousse on the top; level it with a spatula and place the other half of the cake carefully on the top. Allow to set for few minutes or until the mousse is set/firm (no need of refrigeration).

For the Frosting Heat on low flame until cream is warm, add chopped chocolate and fold gently until chocolate melts & blends completely. (See Tips)

Dump the frosting on the top cake layer and level smooth as much possible. When you are done with the frosting, remove the foil strips very carefully by just pulling outwards. (See Tips)

Unwrap the Kitkat sticks and keep them handy. Now start sticking Kitkat sticks one by one on the sides of the cake, leaving little space between them.

When you are done, press gently inwards to secure them in place. Refrigerate the cake for 10-15 mins or until set.

Take the coconut powder in a Ziploc bag and add 2-3 drops of green food color in it. Lock and shake well for few seconds or until coconut powder is coated with the color. Add more color to get the desired green tone.

Remove the cake from refrigerator and cover the top of it with colored coconut powder.

Make sure to cover the visible frosting, leaving ½”-1” from the top of the sticks. Otherwise it will ruin the look of the Kitkat fence. Finally arrange the Brownies in egg-shells on the top of the green coconut bed and finish the cake by scattering handful of chocolate malt balls.

Kitkat Cake with Egg shell Brownies is all dolled up now to go to your party. If you have little time in hand, refrigerate the cake for 30 mins to set. Make sure to dip the knife in warm water just before slicing the cake and serve immediately.
Thus chocolate layer will be intact with the slices. This cake is huge and perfectly capable to satisfy 10-12 persons. Excess cake can be refrigerated in airtight container. Taste will be good upto 3-4 days. Please wait for few more days for the recipe of Brownies in Eggshells. I’ll be back soon Recipe uploaded already🙂

Tips:

1. Whenever baking chocolate cake or dark colored cake, never make the mistake of dusting the cake pan/tin with all-purpose flour/white flour. Instead opt for cocoa powder. It will keep the neat dark look intact without any white spot.

2. Always use brown sugar for chocolate cake. It provides super rich texture and dark color to the cake.

3. Buttermilk adds a tangy flavor to the all-sweet cake and makes the cake super moist. Any regular milk or dairy free milk will also work fine.

4. It is always better to buy few extra kitkat as you can expect to have few broken ones; I bought 2 large bags of Kitkat and I got almost 10 broken pieces.

5. Use one day old Brownies in Egg-shells if possible as all brownies taste better on the next day.

6. These foil strips will help to keep the cake stand clean and neat at end part.

7. Keep the mousse, ganache, filling in separate clean glass bowls and cover them with cling film until needed. Remember, less air contact means better taste.

8. While spreading the filling between layers, remember to leave ½” on the sides. When the layers will be done, filling will be spread automatically by the pressure.

9. If you are not in hurry it is advisable to refrigerate the cake for 1 hr. It will help to set the entire cake.

10. First allow to set the ganache then go with more garnishing.