Soft, rich, insanely moist Dutch chocolate cake layered with light & fluffy vanilla bean whipped mascarpone, fudgy Nutella ganache, smooth & creamy strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream, and a Nutella ganache drip. This is THE beautiful, decadent, show-stopping cake to make for Mother’s Day and other springtime festivities.
If this cake doesn’t scream “I LOVE YOU, MOM,” I don’t know what does. It is the absolute moistest, softest chocolate cake you will ever eat in your life alternating with light and fluffy vanilla bean whipped mascarpone, rich and fudgy dark chocolate Nutella ganache, and smooth, naturally pink speckled strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream. Not only do moms love it, but the people unanimously go crazy for this cake, myself included. I can’t get over the balanced layers of texture–soft, fluffy, fudgy, creamy–and the rich and delicate flavors that shine through without any component being jarringly sweet. I mean, I could eat the frosting and the filling by the spoonful.

The Chocolate Cake

This is THE chocolate cake recipe to end all other chocolate cakes. People will stare at you with their jaw on the floor and ask just how you got a thick chocolate cake to be so moist. It’s so soft that it nearly melts in your mouth. The only downside to working with a cake this moist and delicate is that stacking, decorating, and slicing can be more difficult than with a stiff/dense cake. I highly stress that you chill the cakes before attempting to frost and assemble, because if not, these layers are begging to fall apart. If you ask me, a few extra crumbs on your hands is well worth the trade-off for the most luxurious, fluffy, rich, melt-in-your-mouth, soft and moist chocolate cake that you can get.

What makes this cake so amazing?

Dutch-process cocoa – Alkalization gives Dutch cocoa its dark, intense color and exceptionally smooth, deep, mellow flavor.
Full-fat buttermilk, sour cream, and oil – The magic combo that ensures the moistest, softest, and fluffiest crumb all at once
Baking soda and powder – In the simplest terms, baking soda is basic, so it reacts with the buttermilk and sour cream (acidic) to form carbon dioxide, which helps the cake rise and form a fluffy crumb. On the other hand, baking powder has already been neutralized with an acid; it produces CO2 when dissolved in liquid and heated. In general, you want to use enough baking soda to neutralize your acidic ingredients and baking powder to leaven the rest of your neutral or slightly basic ingredients. Cocoa, which is naturally acidic, is alkalinized in Dutch-process cocoa to a neutral pH, so accounting for the Dutch cocoa with baking powder is really important to avoid an alkaline or soapy taste. All that to say, there is science behind the baking soda:powder ratio in this recipe, and it works for both the ideal texture and flavor of this cake.
Espresso – Stirring in hot water with espresso right before baking also works a little magic on the chocolate flavor and crumb of the cake. To be sure, you will not taste coffee in the finished cake, just a richer/deeper chocolate flavor.

The Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

It’s not your average super-sweet American buttercream. Swiss meringue buttercream is made by dissolving sugar into egg whites over heat, whipping up a meringue, then incorporating cubes of cool softened butter until you have a smooth buttercream. It’s slightly more involved than a simple American buttercream and has more room for error, but it is so worth it.

Why do I love it?

It’s not overly sweet! For those of you who routinely scrape off 90% of the frosting to enjoy a cupcake or piece of cake, Swiss meringue buttercream may be your answer. It’s everything you want your frosting to be–smooth, creamy, and beautiful–but pleasantly sweet. This is one I could actually eat by the spoonful (not saying I have…).
It’s super luscious and creamy, and it spreads easily at room temp, making decorating a breeze.
It holds its structure and provides structure to the cake. This is extremely important when working with cake layers as delicate and moist as these (see cake discussion above). This buttercream is thick and stable enough to hold up each layer of cake and allow for plenty of filling in between (without any filling oozing out the rim of frosting).
The crushed freeze-dried strawberries create a beautiful natural pink-speckled appearance mimicking the texture of a real strawberry. This gives the entire cake the look of a giant chocolate-dipped strawberry without any special decorating efforts, food coloring, or artificial flavors. Also, because freeze-dried strawberries are so concentrated in flavor, you get the taste of strawberry without having to add large amounts of fruit purée (which contains water and can alter the properties of the frosting itself).

Precision is important with Swiss meringue buttercream to get the correct consistency and perfectly smooth texture. Pay close attention to the details and troubleshooting tips in the recipe. A few key points:

Fully dissolve the sugar in the egg whites. Heating the egg whites while mixing in the sugar helps to dissolve the sugar as well as safely “cook” the egg. Test by rubbing a sample between your fingers; when fully dissolved, the mixture will no longer feel gritty.
Cool the meringue completely at room temp before adding the butter. If the meringue is still warm, it will melt the butter, and the frosting will be liquidy.
Ensure the butter is cut into 1-Tbsp-sized pieces, set out ahead of time to soften, but still slightly cooler than room temperature. If the butter is too soft or melty, it will result in a thin/liquidy buttercream. If too cold and hard, it won’t incorporate smoothly.
Frost and eat at room temperature. If making the buttercream in advance, store it covered in the fridge; before frosting the cake, set the buttercream out long enough to return to near-room temp, then re-whip it until it’s fluffy and creamy again. Likewise, leftover cake should be refrigerated for food safety purposes (mainly due to the mascarpone filling in this cake); before eating, set the cake out for a few hours for the buttercream to soften.

The Whipped Mascarpone

This vanilla bean whipped mascarpone makes the perfect light and fluffy filling to break up the rich dark cake layers and balance out the heavier frosting and ganache. The consistency is similar to a mousse or bavarian cream, but it is super simple to make and doesn’t require any egg yolks! You simply:

Beat mascarpone with powdered sugar.
Add vanilla bean paste.
Gradually mix in heavy cream.
Whip until it’s fluffy. (Avoid over-beating because it will eventually begin to separate.)

Mascarpone is the creamier, smoother, richer Italian counterpart of American cream cheese, and it creates the most heavenly texture when whipped with cream. It is also milder in flavor than cream cheese, so it really allows the vanilla bean to shine through. In a pinch, you can sub regular full-fat cream cheese; just expect a tangier taste that may compete with some of the vanilla flavor.

The ingredient that separates “vanilla bean whipped mascarpone” from simple “vanilla whipped mascarpone” is vanilla bean paste. It can be more difficult to come by and more expensive than vanilla extract, but I’d say it’s worth it for anything that you want to actually taste like vanilla.

The Nutella Ganache

Rich dark chocolate ganache meets sweet and nutty Nutella to make a smooth, fudgy filling and a glossy, pourable drip for this cake. While I often reach for semisweet to bittersweet chocolate when making ganache, I chose 72% dark chocolate here to balance out the sweetness of the Nutella and create a dramatic contrast with the strawberry buttercream and vanilla bean whipped mascarpone. On its own, the 1:1 dark chocolate ganache would be super thick due to the low level of milk fat in dark chocolate; however, when combined with Nutella, the consistency becomes fudgy yet smooth and luscious, and it melts in your mouth with each bite.

It’s the easiest thing ever to make:

Place chopped dark chocolate in a bowl.
Microwave heavy cream until it starts to boil (watching closely so it doesn’t bubble over).
Pour hot heavy cream over the chocolate in the bowl.
Cover with foil and let it rest, undisturbed, for 5 minutes.
Gently stir to incorporate the chocolate and cream.
Fold in Nutella and stir until smooth.

After filling and frosting the cake, use the remaining ganache to create a drip. The key is to warm the ganache enough for it to flow over the top and sides, but not so much that it runs off the cake or melts your frosting. Chilling the cake first also helps to control the drip. I warm the ganache in the microwave in 10 to 5-second intervals, stirring each time, until it reaches the consistency of a glossy, pourable fudge (like what you’d pour over a hot fudge sundae, but not that hot). Start at the edges and let it slowly drip over the sides, then fill in the center and smooth out with an offset spatula.

All Together Now

To build the cake:

Chill the cake layers. After cooling completely on a cooling rack, I recommend wrapping each layer in plastic wrap so the cakes don’t fall apart. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to overnight. I often make the cake layers the night before decorating and serving.
If needed, use a large serrated knife to even the tops of the cakes. Place the bottom layer on a cake board.
Pipe a tall ring of strawberry buttercream around the edge of the cake. It should be tall enough to hold up the second cake layer over the fillings in between.
Spoon room-temp ganache inside the ring of buttercream and smooth with the back of a spoon. Then dollop half of the whipped mascarpone evenly over the ganache.
Place the second layer on top and repeat with a rim of buttercream and fillings. Place the third layer on.
Use an offset spatula to cover the top and sides of the cake in a crumb coat of buttercream.
Frost a second, clean layer of buttercream over the crumb coat.
Chill the frosted cake, then make your drip.