Chocolate Buttercream Cake

I wanted to share my experiment on making the birthday cake.  I got the recipe from internet.  I pretty much followed the original recipe to make this one though I have also tried with different replacements before.  All the versions were pretty good.    My kids and hubby liked the cake very much.   I did not want to use fancy colors over the cake.  Infact, the strawberry flower design is given by the birthday girl.  I  kept the design to very basic.  I dont know much of it as well.  But it was well received by family and friends.   My hard work payed off.    My better half also helped me on this experimentation.

This is the original recipe.   I have mentioned what I replaced adjacently.  I made 2 batches and filled the buttercream frosting between the layers.

Ingredients:

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate (1/3 cup cocoa powder)
1 1/4cups sifted organic whole wheat pastry flour (Cake flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt (cooking salt)
1/4 cup butter, softened at room temperature
1 1/4 cup natural brown sugar, lightly packed
2 eggs (2 Tbsp egg replacer + 6 Tbsp water)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream (Fat free Greek Yogurt)
1/2 cup boiling water

Preparation: (slightly modified)

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9'' 13'' pan
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together and set aside.
Mix the cocoa into the flour
Mix the water with the egg replacer and let it rest for 5 mins.
Beat the butter and sugar for two minutes. Add the egg replacer and beat for an additional two minutes. Beat in the vanilla
Gradually stir in the sifted flour mixture in approximate thirds, alternating each time with 1/4 cup of the greek yogurt
Stir in the boiling water. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 23 minutes. Do not overbake this cake! Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

For the buttercream Frosting:

I followed versatilevegeteriankitchen blog's recipe.  Champa is my baking Guru.  She is amazing.   I had to add more milk to mine since it was becoming quite thick.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened butter at room temperature
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup of solid vegetable shortening (crisco)
flavoring (I use quite a bit vary according to your taste) - 2 tsp of favorite extracts.
3 pounds of confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
Heavy whipping cream  - 6 to 8 TBSP based on the consistency desired.
Corn syrup to thin the icing if needed.

Method:
Beat butter, shortening together till creamy. Add salt and slowly add confectioner's sugar about a cup. Then add whipping cream in steps of 3 TBSP each and alternately add confectioner's sugar and corn starch till you have used up all the sugar.Beat for a minimum of 15 minutes and adjust the consistency using corn syrup.

Tip:

1. I have also made this recipe with pastry flour and oil, it was pretty good too.   Flax egg has also worked out good.

2. Butter cream frosting hardened when refrigerated.  I realized that when I took out for the cake for final decor.   I kept the cake out for 2 hrs before cutting and it was pretty good.