Kootek Floral Cake for Mother's Day

Directions

1. For cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 3 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper, nonstick spray or cake goop.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk your flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. In a small bowl, whisk your buttermilk and sour cream until it is fully combined and should resemble a custard-like consistency. Then add your eggs, egg yolk, vanilla, and vegetable oil. Mix and Set aside.

4. In another small bowl, mix your hot water and expresso powder, stir, and let it sit. You are pretty much making a bowl of hot coffee at this point. Measure out your cocoa powder and slowly mix the hot coffee into the cocoa and then set aside.

5. Turn your mixer on low (setting 2 on a KitchenAid) and slowly add your buttermilk mixture to your large mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Once just barely combined, scrape the sides and add in your hot chocolate coffee mix and mix on medium until the batter has fluffed up or about 2 minutes.

6. Fill your tins half way and bake for 30-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out from the center with a few crumbs and there is no jiggle.

7. While your cakes are baking, make your ganache by bringing the heavy whipping cream to a low simmer on the stovetop in a small saucepan. Stir occasionally. Place your chocolate in a heat safe bowl. Just as soon as you see a simmer (light bubbling) immediately remove from heat and pour over chocolate.

8. Cover your chocolate with a lid or plastic wrap to trap the heat. Let it sit without mixing for 5 minutes, then remove the lid and gently fold chocolate with a silicone spatula until fully smooth. Do not to over-mix, and let cool completely before using.

9. Once your cakes are baked, remove the cakes onto a cooling rack as soon as possible then remove them from their tins to finish cooling or wrap them in plastic wrap and chill in the freezer until you are ready to use them.

10. For your peanut butter filling evenly spread the flour onto a baking sheet and bake the flour in a 350 ℉ degree oven for 5 minutes. Wisk to remove any big lumps and let cool.

11. Cream together your butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter on medium speed until lighter in color.

12. Add in your vanilla, salt and flour and slowly mix. While mixing add in your milk 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency.

13. For your buttercream, Using a Whisk attachment, whip your room-temperature butter for about 5-10 minutes until it becomes white and smooth. Make sure your butter turns white before proceeding to the next steps or else you will taste butter more than anything.

14. Start to slowly add about a cup of powdered sugar at a time while your mixer is on low. Stop mixing as soon as the powdered sugar has combined with the butter.

15. Add in your vanilla, lemon juice and salt.

16. Turn your mixer on medium speed for 1-2 minutes and then turn it up to 6 speed until smooth and fluffy for another 5 minutes or so. The time it takes may be shorter or longer depending on the humidity, butter temperature, and the strength of your mixer.

17. While it whips, slowly drizzle in your warm water or cream until you reach your desired consistency. The more you add, the thinner and less stable it will be for detailed piping.

18. If your buttercream splits at all, melt 1/3 of your buttercream in the microwave or double broiler and add it back into your solid buttercream while your mixer is on low. Then let it solidify in the fridge. To remove any air bubbles and to create a smooth, silky buttercream, switch to a paddle attachment and let the mixer run on the stir or low setting for 10-15 minutes.

19. To stack, place a dollop of buttercream onto a cake board and place your cake down. Create a buttercream wall around the edge and fill with ganache, add your next layer of cake and repeat the buttercream edge. Add your peanut butter cookie dough, and a thin layer of ganache on top. Add your last layer and smooth out the sides a bit to hold the cake in place. Quickly transfer to the fridge or freezer to set the buttercream.

20. Remove and add your official crumb coating and chill. To decorate, either leave the crumb coat as is for a naked cake look, or add a final layer of buttercream and decorate as desired.