Dark Fortress Cake
- Shredz
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Phantoms and ghost fleets abound in the Dark Fortress Raids, one of my favorite events of all time. Aye! It's super fun with some nice variety, piles of gold to loot, and the event as a whole is incredibly lucrative. Plus, there's Diego! Who doesn't like an event with a Diego in it? It was really just a matter of time before I got around to making this Dark Fortress Cake, but as with everything I create, it needed some of the components to be in the Sea of Thieves...and I wanted this version to be a rich, dark, dense chocolate, not spongy. It needed to be less sweet, and to have a ghostly green hue. Well, drop your sails, raise your anchor and get down to that galley, it's time to dive to one of the best voyages you will ever taste, guaranteed!
Start with the cherry filling.
Cherry Filling
Ingredients
¼ cup sugar
2 cups chopped sour cherries (fresh or thawed frozen)
2 tbsp pomegranate juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp lemon zest
(Optional) Splash of spiced rum or pomegranate liqueur - .5 ounce
2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp cold water
Add cherries, sugar, pomegranate and lemon juices, lemon zest, and rum to a small saucepan. Mix and break up any whole cherries in the pan. Bring to a boil on high, stirring constantly for 3 minutes.
Add the cornstarch slurry and stir rapidly, drop heat and simmer for five minutes until thickened, stirring often to keep it from sticking to the bottom.
Remove from heat, transfer to glass container and cool completely.
Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1¾ cups sugar
2 large eggs
¾ cup lactose free sour cream
½ cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup hot Madrinas dark roast coffee
¾ cup sweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
Make sure oven rack is in the center of the oven and pre-heat to 350°F. Grease and line cake pans with parchment paper.
In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla.
Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on slow at first, scrape the bowl, then mix on medium. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix once more on medium until well combined.
Turn mixer to low, slowly add the hot coffee making sure the batter has completely absorbed the coffee before adding more, roughly two tablespoons at a time.
Fold in shredded coconut. Pour batter evenly into the three six-inch greased pans.
Place in oven and bake 35–40 minutes until a tester comes out with a few moist crumbs. Remove and place pans on cooling rack to cool completely.
Makes: Three 6-inch round layers.
Coconut Butter Whip Frosting
1.5 cups of vegetable butter
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
4.5 tbsp coconut cream
3 tsp coconut extract
Green and blue food coloring
In a stand mixer using a whisk attachment whip butter on high for five minutes until fluffy and light. Scraping down a couple of times.
Add sifted powdered sugar in half cup increments until combined. Scrape the bowl after each add, and in between.
Add in extract and whip for at least one minute on high. Set mixer on medium and stream in one tablespoon of cream at a time, scrape the sides, and make sure to whip for a full minute after each addition.
Beat for a final four minutes on medium until the frosting has a mousse like consistency. Use one quarter of the white frosting for cake layering. With the remaining 3/4 of the frosting, add 5 drops green and 3 drops of blue food coloring to make a ghostly green, and continue to whip until color is achieved, use to cover the cake.
Assembly
Slice off tops of cakes and set aside to make crumb.
Place chocolate cake layer on cake board.
Layer on white cream filling, add cherry filling, place next layer of chocolate cake, layer on white cream filling, add cherry filling, top off with last chocolate layer.
Cover with the ghostly green cream frosting.
Place in fridge to set and stiffen up for 30 minutes.
There should be a bit extra frosting, you can add a second layer of frosting to the cake and smooth it out with a fondant smoother.
Take remaining cake tops and crumble them up.
Add to the top of the cake and to the base around the bottom of the cake. Top off with one perfect cherry.
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