High Altitude White Chocolate Drip Cake
Three layers of fluffy, moist white velvet cake, filled and frosted with white chocolate buttercream, and topped with white chocolate ganache drip and white chocolate truffles.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
- 6 egg whites, room temperature
- 3 ¼ cups cake flour, spooned and leveled, then sifted
- 3 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 ½ cups whole buttermilk, room temperature
Buttercream
- 4 oz good-quality white chocolate, roughly chopped
- 2 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 2-4 tbsp whole milk
Ganache
- 4 oz good-quality white chocolate, roughly chopped
- 1 ½ oz heavy whipping cream
- 2-3 drops bright white gel food coloring, optional
Garnish
- 6-8 white chocolate truffles
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and spray the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla bean on medium speed for 10 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally.
- Beat in the egg whites, one at a time, beating each for 10 seconds before adding the next. Scrape the bowl down and beat for 10 more seconds.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour. Use a spatula to scrape the bowl well and incorporate any stray bits of flour.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake on the center oven rack for about 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.
- Set the pans on a wire rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In a microwave-safe dish, melt the white chocolate on 50% power for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir and microwave on 50% power in several more 15 second increments, until you can stir the chocolate until smooth.Set aside until the chocolate is completely cooled, but still a smooth creamy consistency, about 15 minutes.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, mixing just until combined but clumpy. Add the vanilla, and increase the speed to medium; whip for 3 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl several times. Add the milk as needed if the buttercream is too stiff.
- Add the cooled melted white chocolate, and whip for 2 more minutes until fluffy.
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. Fill the cake layers with the buttercream, then frost all over with a thin crumb coat of buttercream. Chill the cake for 20 minutes.Frost the cake all over with a final coat of buttercream, making it as smooth as you can. Chill the cake for 30 minutes while you make the ganache.Save the leftover buttercream for piping the swirls on top of the cake.
Ganache
- In a microwave safe dish, combine the white chocolate with 1 ounce of cream. Microwave for 1 minute on 50% power, then stir until smooth. The ganache will probably be too thick, so add more cream, about a teaspoon at a time, stirring the mixture until you're happy with the consistency. It shouldn't be too thick or too thin, but should drip down the side of the dish when you let it run off the spoon.If desired, stir in a few drops of bright white gel food coloring to neutralize the yellow color of the white chocolate.Let the ganache cool for about 10 minutes before pouring it onto the cake.
- Take the chilled cake out of the refrigerator. Pour the ganache on top of the cake, right in the center. Immediately take a small offset icing spatula, and spread the ganache out to the edges of the cake, nudging it over the edges so it can drip down.
- Place the cake in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes, so the ganache can set and firm up.
Garnish
- After you've chilled the ganache, fit a piping bag with tip 1M and fill with the leftover buttercream.
- Pipe 6 or 8 swirls on top of the ganache, then immediately top the swirls with the white chocolate truffles.
Notes
Leftover cake should be stored in an airtight container or cake carrier for up to 3 days.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/