Dark Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Buttercream

 

Dark chocolate strawberry cake. That is summer-y right? I promised you I will eventually get into summer after starting off the season with macarons. Strawberries are my favorite berries... right in front of raspberries :) So when they are in season, I always have at least a pound of fresh strawberries around to add to anything from salads to frosting.

This cake starts with a very moist "one-bowl" chocolate cake that's then topped with my favorite vanilla swiss meringue buttercream with fresh strawberry puree. You can find the cake recipe here on Sweetapolita. I used two 8-inch round pans instead of three 6-inch pans that she suggests. Other than that, I followed her recipe closely. I used semi-sweet chocolate for the glaze and just drizzled it randomly on top of the cake. I wanted the chocolate cake to be the star so I went easy on the glaze ( by all means, go crazy!). 

This is a great cake for chocolate lovers because the dark chocolate cake is (for lack of a better word) oh-so chocolate-y and the light, fluffy strawberry buttercream spruces up an already decadent chocolate cake. I made it memorial day weekend for a special out-of-town chocolate lover who was very happy with it.

I hope you will try it. It would make for a great birthday cake as well. It may not be as summer-y as the next cupcakes I just made to share with you next week, but I think having fresh strawberries in the frosting definitely puts this chocolate cake in the season.

What are some of your favorite summer desserts??