MONSTER CAKE

 

A Royal recipe thanks to Kilton? Apparently so! Within the volumes of the royal library in Hyrule Castle is a recipe book which contains a recipe for a coke that uses Monster Extract. This is the Monster Cake.

This cake is known for its sweetness, sought after by the gourmand Gotter, and even a cure for the ails of Hunnie in Tarreytown. Be wary though, because it is believed that eating this cake may confuse your mind and cloud it with evil and dubious schemes.

"It's said that once you have a taste of this cake, you'll never forget its sweetness."

While I don’t think that you will turn to a life of evil-doing after eating a slice of this cake, the rich chocolate flavor may make goad you to eat a second slice.

 
Now, I am by no means an expert baker by any stretch of the imagination, but my daughter has been wanting to make this cake for a long time now, so it had to be done. With a little bit of research, work, and good ol’ trial and error, we have some basic chocolate cake, buttercream, and whipped cream frosting recipes that work and won the family taste tests!

This cake is a simple, rich chocolate cake with a chocolate buttercream on top, a purple ube sweet potato buttercream between the layers, and a chocolate whipped cream frosting as a decorative top. The ube buttercream adds a nice bit of contrast to all of the chocolate.  I’d be totally content having a slice of this cake after any Hyrulean dinner, royal or otherwise.

Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
⅓ cup butter, melted
⅓ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup milk 
2 tsp lemon juice
2 large eggs
¼ cup boiling hot water
2-3 oz purple fondant (for horns)

Chocolate Buttercream
½ cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups confectioners sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Purple Ube Buttercream
½ cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups confectioners sugar
¼ cup purple yam powder
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting

2 cups heavy cream, cold
¼ cup cocoa powder
⅓ cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

In order to make the buttercream, you need softened butter. When you are ready to make the buttercreams, set the sticks of butter out on the kitchen counter to soften. Allow them about 30-60 minutes to fully soften.

Let’s start by making the cake batter first. Preheat an oven to 350°F. 

Pour the milk into a measuring cup and whisk in the lemon juice. Allow this mixture to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and granulated sugar in a bowl, and mix well with a whisk. Add the melted butter, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, milk mixture, and eggs to another bowl. Whisk well to fully combine.

Now, pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and use a spatula to fully blend them into a smooth batter. Stir until they are just blended; do not over mix. Lastly, pour in the hot water and stir it completely into the batter. Again, avoid over mixing.

Spray two 6-inch round cake pans with cooking spray to grease them. Pour the batter into the two cake pans, dividing it equally. Do not overfill the cake pans though; be sure to fill them no higher than ⅔ full. Place the cake pans into the oven and bake them for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean. When the cakes are baked, remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. After this time, remove the cakes from the cake pans and allow them to fully cool on wire baking racks. 

If time permits, once cool enough, place the cakes in the refrigerator, and allow them to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

First we will make the chocolate buttercream. Add the room temperature butter to a bowl, and beat the butter with an electric whisk at medium speed until it is fully creamed and smooth. Add the cocoa powder, gently fold it into the butter with a spatula, and then whisk at low-medium speed until the powder is fully incorporated into the butter. Finally add the confectioner’s sugar, salt, vanilla, and heavy cream, fold it into the butter mixture with a spatula, and then whisk it again at low-medium speed until fully incorporated and well whipped. The chocolate buttercream is finished.

Now we will make the ube buttercream. Add the room temperature butter to a bowl, and beat the butter with an electric whisk at medium speed until it is fully creamed and smooth. Add the purple ube powder, gently fold it into the butter with a spatula, and then whisk at low-medium speed until the powder is fully incorporated into the butter. Finally add the confectioner’s sugar, salt, vanilla, and heavy cream, fold it into the butter mixture with a spatula, and then whisk it again at low-medium speed until fully incorporated and well whipped. The ube buttercream is finished.

Lastly, we will make the chocolate whipped cream frosting. You can make the frosting in a standing mixer or in a bowl with a hand mixer. Place the bowl in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to get it very cold. Add the heavy cream, cocoa powder, confectioner’s sugar, and vanilla to the bowl. Place a whisk attachment on your mixer, and begin to whisk at medium speed. As the cream starts to thicken, switch to medium-high speed and mix until stiff peaks form and your whipped cream takes shape. This will all take 3-5 minutes.

Now we can assemble the cake. Remove the cakes from the refrigerator (if you chilled them). If they need leveling, use a knife to carefully cut the rounded dome off the tops of the cakes, while keeping the two cakes roughly the same height.

Place one cake, cut side up, on a plate or tray and place approximately ½ cup of the ube buttercream in the center of the top of this layer of cake. Use a spatula to evenly spread the icing across the entire top of the cake layer. Add more of the buttercream if needed. 

Carefully place the next layer of the cake cut side down on top of the icing layer. Place the remaining ube buttercream into a piping bag with a round or flat attachment. Slowly pipe a line around the gap between the two cakes and then use the spatula to smooth it flat all the way around the cake.

Now, place approximately ½ cup of the chocolate buttercream in the center of the top of the cake. Use a spatula to evenly spread the icing across the entire top of the cake layer. Add more of the buttercream if needed. Smooth this top layer as evenly as possible, extending it to the edge of the cake all the way around.

Fill another piping bag with the chocolate whipped cream frosting and use a round or star attachment to decorate the top. You can stack dollops with the star or round shaped attachments in circles to match the design of the decorative frosting of the in-game cake (or be as creative as you want). I did successive layers of circular dollops in rings around the center of the cake, finishing with a final dollop at the top.

Lastly, take about 1 to 1½ oz of the purple fondant and roll it onto a ball. Place the ball on a cutting board surface and slowly roll it back and forth along the cutting board with your hand to make a cylinder shape. Now slowly roll one end of the cylinder whe gently pulling out to taper the tip and then bend it gently into a sight arc to make the horn. Repeat this to make a second horn. 

Place two tooth picks into the bottom base of each of the fondant horns and then insert them into the cake on opposite sides of the chocolate buttercream. 

Your monster cake is done! Time to eat it! I recommend cutting thin slices of the cake as it is quite rich. Enjoy! 

Learn more about the Monster Cake dish from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom at Zelda Dungeon.