Mahogany Cake Recipe: Classic Cake With Ermine Frosting
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Dec 14, 2024 • 4 min read
Learn how to make a Mahogany layer cake with classic ermine frosting for the perfect Valentine’s day dessert.
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What Is Mahogany Cake?
Mahogany cake is a tender, fine-crumb velvet cake. The cake gets its name from its reddish-brown color. Mahogany cake dates back to the late 1800s in US cookbooks and is the first chocolate cake on record, predating red velvet cake. The Victorian-era technique of combining baking soda—rather than baking powder—with vinegar, sour cream, or buttermilk yields a soft, velvety interior. Traditionally, bakers finish Mahogany cake with ermine frosting.
What Makes Mahogany Cake Red?
In the late 1800s in the United States, the traditional velvet cake was made with the addition of unsweetened chocolate or cocoa powder. At the time, cocoa powder was not commercially alkalized; it was naturally acidic. Combining the cocoa powder with the baking soda and vinegar mixture released the red anthocyanin pigments in cacao. This created a reddish-brown cake color and left a hint of chocolate flavor.
What Is Ermine Frosting?
Ermine frosting was likely developed in the late nineteenth century to pair with Mahogany cake, a popular chocolate cake in the United States. The name of the frosting might refer to its silky-smooth texture, which feels as luxurious as the pelt of an ermine, a species of weasel known for its soft white fur. Since ermine frosting doesn’t use eggs and contains less butter and sugar than buttercreams and most other frostings, it was an economical alternative to other frostings.
2 Mahogany Cake Variations
These favorite classic cakes are variations on the original Mahogany cake:
- 1. Red velvet: The original recipe for red velvet cake entailed baking a traditional Mahogany cake with beet juice. Try adding a few tablespoons in place of some buttermilk for a naturally dyed cake. Or, simply add a few drops of red food coloring. Bakers originally spread ermine frosting on red velvet cake, like a classic Mahogany cake. Now, cream cheese frosting commonly replaces ermine frosting on red velvet cake.
- 2. Devil’s food: Rather than cocoa powder, devil’s food cake gets its flavor from unsweetened chocolate baking squares. The name acts as a foil to angel food cake, which is vanilla, fluffy, and white, compared to the rich chocolatey flavor of devil’s food cake. Try it with chocolate frosting for a decadent birthday cake or holiday dessert.
Classic Mahogany Cake Recipe
makes
1 8-inch cakeprep time
40 mintotal time
1 hr 10 mincook time
30 minIngredients
For the cake:
For the ermine frosting:
- 1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with a rack in the center position.
- 2
Coat 2, 8-inch round cake pans with butter and dust with flour.
- 3
In a medium bowl, whisk to combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- 4
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat softened butter on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute.
- 5
Add the sugar and vanilla and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Alternatively, use a medium mixing bowl and an electric mixer.)
- 6
With the mixer running on low, add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and vinegar.
- 7
With the mixer running on low speed, add half of the flour mixture to the bowl with the creamed butter. Once fully incorporated, add half of the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Repeat with remaining dry ingredients and buttermilk mixture until batter is just combined. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans.
- 8
Bake until the edges of the cakes just pull away from the sides of the pans and a toothpick inserted into the centers of the cakes come out mostly clean, about 30 minutes.
- 9
Set pans on a wire rack to cool completely while you prepare the frosting.
- 10
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the flour and milk.
- 11
Continue whisking until the flour mixture thickens, about 3 minutes.
- 12
Remove the cooked flour mixture from the heat and whisk in the sugar and salt until completely dissolved.
- 13
Using a rubber spatula, scrape the mixture onto a plate and let it cool to room temperature.
- 14
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- 15
With the mixer running, add the cooked flour mixture to the whipped butter one spoonful at a time, occasionally pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- 16
Add the vanilla.
- 17
Swap out the paddle attachment for the whisk attachment, and whisk the frosting until it’s very smooth and light, about 4 minutes.
- 18
Remove cakes from the pans. If desired, trim any mounded tops of the cakes with a serrated knife.
- 19
Place one cake on a serving platter or cake stand. Spread a third of the frosting onto the bottom layer, evenly. Top with the second cake layer. Spread with another third of the frosting in an even layer. Use remaining frosting and an offset spatula to work the remaining frosting down the sides until the entire cake is covered.
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