Chocolate Cake with chocolate frosting two ways, topped with fondant cat sculptures!

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Fondant Felines: Chocolate Cake

Hi Everyone, I made this birthday cake, for my 13-year-old Niece who is an animal lover and has a cat whom she is fond of.

I asked my husband, Eric, to sculpt the marshmallow, almond-flavored, fondant cats that topped the cake. Though he does have experience sculpting clay, he had never sculpted with fondant before and I am very proud of him!

The cats bring a unique personality to this cake;  they are kind of strange, funny, edgy, cute, creepy, handmade, and playful at the same time.

In trying to be resourceful, I chose to use just what was available in the kitchen, i.e. cinnamon, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, cocoa, and mocha ganache, to color and add detail to the cats.

Fondant

It was my first time attempting fondant and now I know why people chose to purchase it from the store: it is sticky and can be messy.

But you know what?

It is actually pretty simple to do marshmallow fondant and I love the idea of edible, uniquely designed critters - or whatever it may be - decorating the cake, so that makes it worth it!

Mocha Frosting: Two Ways

Chocolate and mocha were the requested flavors for the birthday cake, so I took those and wanted to add some complexity.

Since this cake was intended for a group of adolescents, I didn't want to blow their hair back with a high concentration of espresso powder, leaving everyone on the ceiling, so I opted for dark roast instant coffee in an easy-going amount and the mocha flavor was there and delivered satisfyingly, even for me, a die-hard, coffee lover.

I love to make ganache every which way since it is so easy to make, smooth in texture, feels decadent when eaten and always looks élégante.

On the technical side, I felt that a whipped frosting would be easier for applying and assembling a double-layer cake, filling in space between layers.

Visually, I wanted a two-tone and textured contrast between both types of frosting, however different they are, they unite through the mocha flavor.

Chocolate Cake

The double-layer cake itself is classic chocolate and very moist.

It's not overly sweet, so one can easily have more than one piece without overdosing with sweetness on the palate.

I purposefully kept the cake part being chocolate only, verses making it mocha because it would have been too much mocha (not that there's anything wrong with too much mocha!) and that was not what I was going for.

The recipe utilizes buttermilk to add dimension in flavor, texture, and moisture.

For serving, I did make vanilla-flavored whipped cream but ideally, I could see this cake pairing nicely with vanilla bean ice cream and hot espresso.

A Fun, Whimsical Cake

This was a cake that I will want to make again and again or some iteration of in the future.

It does not take itself too seriously, thanks to the fondant felines but most importantly, delivers a satisfying dose of chocolate and mocha.

Ingredients

• Morton Kosher Salt
• Kate’s Creamery Real Buttermilk
• Frontier Co-op Organic Vanilla Extract

Helpful Kitchen Tools

• measuring spoons and cups
• wet measure
• cake pans
• mixing bowls
• stand mixer
• handheld electric mixer
• cake stand
• baking spatula
• offset spatula
• piping bag and tips, optional

Recipe Attribution

The original recipe that inspired my version is called “One-Bowl Chocolate Cake” p.168 of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. 

Please note: I follow ⅓ cup of cooking oil in the book version versus the online version where it calls for ¼ cup of cooking oil.

For the ganache frosting, my version is inspired by the “Ganache” recipe, Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, p. 186.

For the whipped mocha frosting, my version is inspired by "Mocha frosting," Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, p. 176.

My stovetop version of Marshmallow Fondant was inspired by this microwave version of Marshmallow Fondant, and for a great video showing how to make it, click here.

Latest Recipes and Posts

• No-Knead Oatmeal Bread
• Slow Cooker Crock-Pot Butter Corn
• Roasted Fairytale Eggplant
• 1st Birthday Cake
• Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas

Check out our Recipe & DIY indexes, visit our Home page to view our latest posts & categories, visit our Blog page to see our posts in consecutive order and, our Shop to see our favorite kitchen tools!

If you make this recipe, and like it, please give it a rating in the recipe card below and let us know in the comments at the end of the post.

Thank you for reading and following along!