Directions

Chocolate Avocado Oil Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Use baking spray to grease 2 6-inch cake tins.
3. In a medium bowl, mix in the all purpose flour, almond flour, baking soda and salt and whisk to blend.
4. In a small bowl, add in the warm brewed coffee and cocoa powder and whisk well until there are no lumps in the mixture and it is smooth.
5. In the bowl of a stand mixer, with a paddle attachment, add in the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and La Tourangelle Avocado Oil. Start at low speed for 30 seconds, and then increase the speed to medium speed for 1 minute. Add in the eggs one at a time at low speed. Increase the speed to medium speed for a minute to incorporate. Use a spatula to clean up the sides. Now add in the brewed coffee and cocoa mixture and whisk again to blend. Add in the flour mixture in 3 batches with the mixer at low speed, so as not to spit out flour everywhere. Use a spatula to clean up the sides and bottom of the bowl to incorporate. Divide the cake batter equally into the two cake tins. You can use a kitchen scale to check that the batter is distributed equally. Put the cake tins in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until the cake tester comes out clean.
6. Let the cake tins cool for about half an hour. Gently remove the cakes from the tin by inverting them and let them rest for an hour. Now use plastic wrap to nicely cover the cakes and let them rest for a day in the fridge.

Strawberry and Pink Peppercorn Jam

1. In a medium pot, at medium heat, add in all the ingredients and mix it every 30 seconds or so for 3 minutes. The mixture will come to a boil, let it boil for about 10 minutes. Do not stir while it is boiling. Mix after the 10 minutes and the foam will calm down and the mixture will look thick. Switch off the stove at this point and let it cool completely. Store the jam in a glass jar with a lid, in the fridge. Let it cool overnight.

Strawberry and Pink Peppercorn Buttercream Frosting

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add in the butter and salt. Use a paddle attachment to mix the butter at high speed for a minute, until fluffy and light in color. Add in the strawberry and pink peppercorn jam, ground pink peppercorns, and vanilla extract and mix well. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Now add in confectioner's sugar and milk and whisk until well blended. Do not overmix else you will aerate the buttercream. Add half the buttercream frosting in a piping bag with a large round tip. Use a bench scraper to scrape down the buttercream to the bottom of the bag. Twist and clip the bag and keep it aside.

Buttercream for the decoration

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add in the butter and salt. Use a paddle attachment to mix the butter at high speed for a minute, until fluffy and light in color. Add in the vanilla extract and mix well. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Now add in confectioner's sugar and milk and whisk until well blended. Do not overmix else you will aerate the buttercream. Divide the buttercream in 4-5 bowls. Add in the different gradients of a particular color that you like. I used shades of pinks and brown. Mix each one with a separate small spatula until well blended.
2. Prepare the piping bags with the different tips. 1M for the rosettes, and different sized star tips for the other colors. Now add each buttercream color into each piping bag. Use a bench scraper to gather all the buttercream all the way to the bottom of the bag. Twist and clip, and keep it ready for decoration.

Decorate the Cake

1. The next day, remove the cake from the fridge. Using a large bread knife, trim the top layer of both the cakes to get an even and straight edge. Place one layer on a cake rotating stand, sealing it with a dab of the strawberry and pink peppercorn buttercream frosting. Now using the piping bag with the round tip, pipe a circle around the bottom layer to form a well in the center. Add in half the jam into the center of the cake as a filling, into the well. Let the jam level match the buttercream frosting level. Now add the other layer on the of the buttercream. Now we do the crumb coating, to add a naked layer first to secure the crumbs. Pipe the buttercream frosting from the piping bag with the large round tip around the cake(it will get finished), to form about 3 layers around the cake. Using a large offset spatula, turning the turntable, keep the offset spatula perpendicular to the table and smoothen out the frosting to cover the entire cake to form a light coating. Remove excess with a cake smoother tool and scrap it back into the remaining buttercream bowl. Repeat the process until the layer is smooth. Using the spatula, cover the top of the cake with the icing too and smoothen the top out.
2. Now put the cake in the fridge for half an hour to set. Remove it, and then using the large offset spatula, start adding the remaining buttercream around the cake to form a nice layer, while constantly rotating the turntable. This will help to smoothen out the cake frosting. Keep repeating the process of applying buttercream and scraping the excess with a cake smoother. The trick to getting a smooth frosting on the outside is using a small offset spatula, hold it under running hot tap water, wipe off the water and quickly use the spatula to smoothen the sides. You will get the hang of the process. Keep repeating it, until the cake is absolutely smooth.
3. Repeat the same process on top of the cake. Keep the small offset spatula at a 45 degree angle and smoothen it out bit by bit, while slowly rotating the turntable as well and scraping the excess off into the buttercream bowl. Let the done cake set in the fridge for a couple of hours.
4. Now to make it look pretty. Use the star tip and the rosette tip piping bags and pipe your abstract design on the cake. Use edible gold leaf using a clean dry brush to put it on the cake randomly.
5. Your cake is ready!