Happy 2nd Birthday, Lo-Fi Gourmet! Chocolate Raspberry Cake

It’s that time of year again—blog birthday time! On February 15 two years again, Lo-Fi Gourmet was born. This sort of occasion is an opportunity for reflection on how things have gone thus far and on how I want them to go in the future, and I’ll definitely do a bit of that in this post, but somehow it seems more difficult this year than last. It’s been an emotional week, with another school shooting a few days ago, and the feelings of sadness and anger that go along with reading news like this along with the frustration of not seeing any policy change. And just in general, I’ve been feeling the winter blues, like daily activities are much more of a slog than they should be.

It’s been an emotional year too, with wedding planning/wedding/honeymoon/holidays filling up most of my time (all great things, but all just a little stressful too). I’ve had more than a few times this year when I’ve put the blog on the back burner so to speak, to free up time and energy for other things. But I am proud to say that I was still able to keep it going every single week, save when I was getting married and going on my honeymoon, and one week when I was really sick. Like I mentioned in my 2018 Food Goals post, this year I want to devote even more time to blogging, since it’s one of the things that makes me happiest.

Speaking of things that make me happy, I celebrated Lo-Fi Gourmet’s birthday by baking this raspberry chocolate cake, adapted from Martha Stewart Living. This cake made me REALLY HAPPY. I don’t make desserts nearly as often as I’d like to, since I hate wasting food but also don’t want to consume eat half a cake before it goes bad. This time I was able to bring the cake to a music performance I was a part of to share with the audience—no leftovers, and lots of people got to enjoy it. A win-win! My favorite part about this cake is the frosting. With butter, cream cheese, AND sour cream to amplify the chocolate, it is intense. I may have eaten more than a little of it on its own. Yum.

I had such a great time sharing this cake with a room full of people, that I want to create way more experiences like that this year. I’m going to look for more opportunities to cook and bake for others at food/music events—I’ll keep you all posted! And if anyone is interested in collaborating and setting something up, let me know! I’m also looking to do more writing—both by increasing my posts here and by contributing to other blogs and publications. Again, let me know if you have ideas for a collaboration! And I learned so much at my fine cooking class at ICE Culinary, that I’m definitely planning on taking more classes there, and of course I’ll keep you all updated on what I learn.

I think year number three is going to be a good one at Lo-Fi Gourmet. Here’s to another year of cooking and blogging!

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

adapted from Martha Stewart Living

for the cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 tsp coarse salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 Tbsp Chambord
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

for the raspberry filling

4 packages (6 oz. each) raspberries
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of coarse salt
2 tsp fresh lemon juice

for the frosting

2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
pinch of coarse salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sour cream or crème fraîche
9 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Make the cake. Grease 3 8-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350º. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. In another mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium high. Beat in the eggs, one by one, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the Chambord. Reduce speed to low and beat in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk in 2 batches. Beat in melted chocolate and mix until everything is combined, scraping down sides of the bowl if needed.
Divide batter among 3 cake pans, smooth down the tops. Bake, rotating position in oven halfway through, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Then run a knife along the edges of the pans, and carefully invert the cakes onto a rack. Let them cool completely, about 25 minutes.
Make the raspberry filling (you can do this while the cakes are baking). In a medium saucepan, combine two packages of the raspberries, sugar, salt, and lemon juice. Cook on high, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a bowl, about two minutes. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring, for 7 to 8 minutes more, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Let cool 30 minutes. Mix in one package of fresh raspberries, reserving the remaining package.
Make the frosting. Sift together the powdered sugar, cocoa, and salt. In a mixing bowl, beat butter with cream cheese on medium high until smooth. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the sugar mixture, beating until combined. Pour in chocolate slowly, then add sour cream, beating until combined. Frosting can be made up to 5 days in advance. Bring to room temperature before using.
Assemble the cake. Spread half of the raspberry filling over one cake layer. Top with a second layer and spread the remaining half of the filling on top of that. Top with the third layer and refrigerate for at least one hour and up to overnight. Spread the frosting on the top and sides of the cake, top with fresh raspberries.