Dalmatian Cake
Dalmatian Cake was one of my first blog posts back in 2011. It was, and still is, one of my favorite cakes. My friend, Libby, was coming over to interview me and to take pictures for an article she is writing. Obviously, I needed a gorgeous cake and Dalmatian Cake came to mind.
My pictures have come a long way since 2011. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to spruce up this showstopper and include my YouTube video as well as Pinterest links, since they were definitely not in my 2011 vocabulary. The rest of the post and my original step-by-step pictures have not been changed.
When the big kids were little, we used to go to Disney World all the time. My ex-husband and I had a great system going. One of us (ex) would wait in a really long line and sweat like a pig for what felt like hours, while the other (I) took the kids on a ‘quickie’ ride. Quickie ride parent would then escort the kids to where long line parent was waiting, hand off the cherubs and head off to another long line to wait. This allowed the kids to go on more rides, while giving us the sanity of not listening to whining children kvetch about how long the lines were.
This was also the timeline that the kids started watching 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians, over and over and over again. The videos played so much that I started dreaming of dogs running around the house, leaving dirty tracks on the furniture and floors. It was really more like a nightmare.
As is the case with most things around here, if I can turn a potentially negative experience into something yummy, then I am a happy mommy, which is what I did with the Dalmatian dreams. I turned them into Dalmatian Cake.
I had been playing with different pound cake recipes, throwing pretty much every kind of ingredient into the cakes and discovering which ones we liked.
Since Oreo cookies go well with everything, they were thrown in, too. Guess what? Magic occurred, and I am not referring to the Disney kind. The white filling of the Oreo cookie absorbs the vanilla and almond extract flavors of the cake giving the pound cake a creamy icing surprise inside and the chocolate wafer cookie holds its shape beautifully. Topping the cake with a cascading waterfall of chocolate glaze takes this from a really good pound cake to an incredibly delicious dessert.
In case you are now wondering why I am even chatting about spots and 101 Dalmatians, it is because when I served the cake for the first time, Nathaniel said that it reminded him of the Dalmatian dogs, only this version is edible. Being the enterprising boys that they are, both Joshua and Nathaniel thought I should try to sell the recipe to Disney. I think sharing the Dalmatian Cake with friends is a better option!
Watch it:
Pin it horizontally: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/26106872815377201/
Pin it vertically: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/26106872815377230/
| Dalmatian Cake Recipe | | Print |
- Cake:
- 13½ tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2½ cups sugar
- 5 large eggs, separated
- 2¾ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1⅛ cups sour cream
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 24 Oreo cookies, each broken into quarters and placed in a bowl
- Glaze:
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 6 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325°. Set aside a 14 cup bundt pan.
- Whisk together the flour and baking soda and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar on medium high speed for three minutes until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl down as needed. Add the egg yolks and mix on low to combine.
- Alternately, mix in the sour cream and flour mixture ending with the flour mixture. Add the vanilla and almond extracts.
- In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Gently fold one-third of the egg whites into the batter. Fold in remaining egg whites in an under-over motion only until it is all incorporated.
- Grease the 14 cup bundt pan (I use PAM®). Fold the Oreo cookie pieces into the batter. Pour batter into the bundt pan.
- Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Turn out onto a cooling rack and cool completely before glazing.
- For the glaze:
- In a small saucepan over medium low heat melt the butter with the cream. When it starts to simmer, turn the stove off and add the chocolate chips. Stir until the chips are completely melted. Allow glaze to sit for 5 minutes.
- Pour ½ of the glaze over the top of the cooled Dalmatian Cake. Spread with a small metal spatula so that the glaze drapes down the sides of the cake. Add the rest of the glaze and drape some more. The entire cake will not be covered with chocolate glaze.
- Betsy’s Tidbit:
- Dalmatian Cake freezes beautifully. If freezing the entire cake, wrap well and freeze prior to topping. When ready to serve, defrost and then put the glaze on. Another option is to slice the cake once the glaze has set and wrap individual slices well and then freeze. My kids love grabbing a single serving Dalmatian Cake out of the freezer, their challenge is waiting long enough for it to defrost!
