Belated Bridal Shower cake post

Hello all!
This is very belated post on the cake I made for my friend's bridal shower! (Her bridal shower was in April ...oops!) Better late than never :)

This was my first time trying a naked layer cake and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! The cake was nice and moist and not too sweet! It wasn't too difficult or time consuming either! So give it a go :D

Red Velvet Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Recipe adapted from Sweetest Menu

Ingredients

Red Velvet Cake

350g (2 1/2 cups) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
20g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
300g (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar
230g unsalted butter
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla essence
240ml (1 cup) greek yoghurt
2 tsp white vinegar
4 tsp red food colouring
60ml (1/4 cup) milk

1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Grease and line two 8 inch round cake tins.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Add sugar and whisk.
3. Melt the butter in the microwave.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, add eggs, vanilla and butter and whisk together until smooth. Add the greek yoghurt and stir.
5. In a small bowl mix together the red food colouring and vinegar.
6. Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture along with the food colouring and start to gently fold. Add milk and stir until just combined.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tins and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Place cakes on wire rack to cool.

Chocolate Frosting

230g unsalted butter, softened at room temp
150g (1 cup) dark chocolate
625g (5 cups) icing sugar
60ml (1/4 cup) milk

8. Place butter in large mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer until pale and creamy.
9. Melt the chocolate in a microwave and set aside to cool.
10. Once butter is pale and creamy, add one cup of icing sugar and one tablespoon of milk and beat on low until icing sugar is incorporated. Add the rest of the icing sugar, one cup at a time, and the milk, one tablespoon at a time, until thick and creamy.
11. Add melted and cooled chocolate to the buttercream until chocolate is completely mixed through. 
12. Level the cakes using serrated knife and set the leftover cake aside for decoration.
13. Place one of the cakes onto a turntable then gently frost the top. Add second cake layer on top and frost the sides and top of the cake. Scrape the buttercream from the side of the cake to get the "naked" cake look. Place cake in the fridge while you make the ganache. Set aside the remainder buttercream for decoration.

Chocolate ganache

150g (1 cup) dark chocolate melts
180ml (3/4 cup) thickened cream
Chocolate malt balls to decorate

14. Place chocolate melts in a heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, add cream and heat on medium heat until just before cream boils. Immediately pour cream over chocolate, cover the bowl with a plate and leave for 3-5 minutes. Whisk mixture until smooth and creamy. Place in fridge for 5-10 minutes to thicken.
15. To decorate cake, gently pour chocolate ganache over the top and gently push drips over the sides of the cake. Leave to set. Before serving, pipe buttercream to the top of the cake. Add chocolate malt balls and sprinkle remaining cake crumb.

Nice even layers yay!

Hope I can continue blogging regularly ^^" till next post~~