Chocolate Tweed Layer Cake

This is a very delicious cake! Most people haven't heard of a Tweed Cake, but it's basically a white cake with finely grated chocolate folded into the batter to give it a "tweed fabric" appearance. The cake is frosted with a buttercream frosting, and then drizzled with thinned semi-sweet chocolate to give it a shadowed affect. I make this every year for my Dad's birthday, and the entire cake is gone within 2 days. I hope you will try it; You wont be disappointed!

• Ready In: 35 mins
• Serves: 12
• Yields: 1 layer cake

Ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup butter, soft
• 1  cup sugar (divided)
• 1  teaspoon vanilla
• 2  cups cake flour, sifted
• 3  teaspoons baking powder
• 1  dash salt
• 1  cup milk
• 3  unsweetened chocolate squares, grated finely
• 3  egg whites

• Frosting

•  classic buttercream  frosting, # 10211 goes great with this cake

• Chocolate Shadow

• 6  ounces  semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
• 2 -3  tablespoons water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 (F).
2. Grease 3 8-inch pans, or 2 9-inch pans, and line bottom with wax paper.
3. Cream butter and 1/2 cup sugar.
4. Beat in vanilla.
5. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
6. Add to creamed mixture, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
7. Stir chocolate into batter.
8. In separate bowl, beat egg whites until foamy; slowly add remaining 1/2 cup sugar until soft peaks form.
9. Fold into cake batter.
10. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 20-25 minutes.
11. (Tops of cakes will not turn brown, so test with toothpick to see if they are done) Cool in pans for 5 minutes and then turn out onto cooling wracks to cool completely.
12. Prepare your favorite buttercream frosting and frost when cakes are cool.
13. For the chocolate shadow, melt the chocolate chips in microwave for about 1 minute, or until the chips are soft enough to stir together.
14. Add one tablespoon of water at a time, until chocolate mixture is thin enough or pour.
15. Drizzle thinned chocolate over frosting.
16. Chill cake for at least an hour, or until ready to serve.