My Ultimate Butter Cake or UBC, filled with delicious Raspberry Curd, iced with Italian Meringue or Mousseline Buttercream or IMBC, Nutella Variation, and topped with a sinfully rich Chocolate Cake Glaze.

A seriously marvelous combination we KNOW you will all enjoy!

CAKE RECIPE HELP

INGREDIENTS

Can be made in advance:

1 recipe (2, 9-inch cake layers) Ultimate Butter Cake or UBC  

1 recipe Italian Meringue or Mousseline Buttercream or IMBC, Nutella Variation 

1/2 recipe Raspberry Curd

1/2 recipe Chocolate Cake Glaze

10 – 12 large perfect fresh raspberries
3 tablespoons warmed and strained apricot jam, to glaze the raspberries

INSTRUCTIONS
The beauty of the Ultimate Yellow Butter Cake is that it needs no trimming, so you can use the layers as is!

Assemble the cake
1. Prepare the cake plate: Place the cake plate on a turntable, if you have one. A turntable makes it much easier to get a smooth even finish on your cakes.
NOTE: I always use strips of waxed paper on the cake plate to keep it clean while I ice the cake.

2. Fit a piping bag with a large open star tip, and fill with 1 1/2 cups NUTELLA IMBC. (Refill when needed).

3. Place one layer of the ULTIMATE BUTTER CAKE (UBC) bottom side up, on the prepared cake plate.

4. Pipe a dam of NUTELLA IMBC around the edge of the layer.

5. Spoon about 3/4 cup RASPBERRY CURD in the center of the ULTIMATE BUTTER CAKE (UBC) LAYER , and spread to the edge of the icing dam with a small offset spatula.

3. Place the second ULTIMATE BUTTER CAKE (UBC) layer on top, top side up, and press it down gently, to level.

4. Ice the cake with the NUTELLA IMBC, using a large off-set spatula:

Place a large amount of NUTELLA IMBC on top of the cake.

Using a Large Off-set Icing Spatula, spread it evenly over the top and down the sides of the cake.

Turn the cake while smoothing the frosting with the offset spatula, until it is even and smooth.*

*If desired, use an icing comb to texture the sides of the cake.
NOTE: It is not imperative that the sides of the cake are perfectly smooth if you use an icing comb.

5. Place the iced cake in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to let the icing firm-up.

6. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and carefully remove the waxed paper strips.

8. Place more NUTELLA IMBC in the piping bag, if necessary. Pipe NUTELLA IMBC ROSETTES around the edge of the cake.

9. Put the remaining NUTELLA IMBC in the pastry bag and fit it with a small open tip. Pipe a pearl border around the bottom edge of the cake.

10. To decorate the cake, we placed raspberries on every other NUTELLA IMBC ROSETTES!

11. Warm the APRICOT JAM at 10% power in the microwave, at 10 second intervals. Strain out any solids through a fine mesh strainer.
With a clean food safe brush, paint the raspberries all over with the cooled apricot glaze. This looks pretty, and it also helps seal in the berries.

12. Place cake back in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, to chill the rosette border, so it is nice and stiff when you pour the CHOCOLATE GLAZE on top of the cake.
While the cake is in the refrigerator, make the chocolate glaze, put it in a glass measuring cup with a pouring spout and let it cool for 20 minutes.

13. Remove cake from the refrigerator.
Pour a little of the CHOCOLATE GLAZE around the edge of the top of the cake, to fill in the nooks and crannies, then pour the center.

14. If you see and air bubbles in the CHOCOLATE GLAZE, pop them with a toothpick while the glaze is still molten.

STORAGE
The icing and filling that covers your cake determines how you store your cake. Because the ITALIAN MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM (MOUSSELINE) BUTTERCREAM (IMBC), NUTELLA VARIATION, needs refrigeration, the cake MUST be refrigerated, where the cake will keep for a few days. The friosted cake can be frozen for a month or more. Allow it to thaw in its wrappers in the refrigerator.

Unfrosted butter cake layers should not be refrigerated because it dries the cake and can be stored at room temperature for about 2 days. Unfrosted cake layers freeze well for about 2 months. Make sure you wrap them with plastic wrap and then foil. Thaw in their wrappers at room temperature

The finished cake…scrumptious!