Chocolate Strawberry "Welcome!" Cake

Triple-layer Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Buttercream and Fresh Strawberry Filling, Strawberry Buttercream Frosting with Vanilla Buttercream Swirls and White & Dark Chocolate Drizzle

What a fun and delicious "Welcome to Heidelberg!" cake.  We have family visiting and cake is the best way to say "I'm glad you made the trip."

The lovely pinkiness of the Strawberry Buttercream hides the dark chocolate of the cake - the greater the contrast the more interesting, right?  Or does that rule just apply in quilting?

There are so many choices when it comes to working with chocolate, strawberries, and buttercream. For this cake, I tried to keep things basic.  Building the cake went quite well.  I still can't explain why I love baking tall cakes...this one was right at 6" - before the swirls and strawberries were placed on the top.

I didn't treat the strawberries, but simply chopped them in small chunks.  The
buttercream had enough sweet to knock down any tartness.

 

 

The strawberries are gorgeous right now!  I melted a couple chocolate bars and drizzled it over the fresh fruit.  I was so lucky to have a couple taste-testers in the kitchen who confirmed I'd hit just the right balance of white and dark chocolate.

 

 

The final covering of buttercream was a bit more red since I'd added more strawberries as well as a smidge of red coloring gel.

 

This is the first time I've added whole strawberries to a cake top...I toyed with the idea of drizzling more chocolate across the center of the top of the cake.  Perhaps if the cake were bigger, I'd add more berries and more chocolate. 

 

As a reference: my Fiesta Ware plates are the Luncheon Plates in Flamingo & Scarlet.

 I am happy with the results of this cake based on how appetizing this slice looks.  As a baker, I'm especially happy with the even cake/sponge layers, the visibility of the strawberries in the filling, and the sturdiness in which is all stays together.

It's great having family in town.  It's even greater that my life partner and I get to live together; simple things I'm not going to take for granted.  Also, I love sobriety.