The drip cake is a scenic as well as an elegant cake, the effect of the chocolate ganache dripping elegantly on the edges of the cake makes it delicious and captivating. Made with grandma’s sponge cake recipe.

But don’t be fooled by its scenic presence: preparing it at home is really simple!

It’s not hard to imagine why everyone loves drip cakes: they are beautiful, colorful, tall, versatile, and fashion! The elegantly dripping ganache on the edges, the slice that proudly shows off the layers formed by the base cake discs and the delicious cream that fills and covers the cake.

Although the drip cake is tall and compact, it reveals itself as soft and light upon biting and not cloying at all.

For the base cake, you can choose a common sponge cake, chiffon cake, or sponge cake.

I found that four discs of sponge cake worked well and supported the cake nicely. One sponge cake was white and one was cocoa.

As a cream, I used a cream made with whipped cream, cream cheese, mascarpone, and powdered sugar.

Decorated with a drizzle of dark chocolate and garnished with filled cream puffs. Here I made the puffs at home, but you can also find them prepackaged.

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Cheap
Rest time: 3 Hours
Preparation time: 40 Minutes
Portions: 19People
Cooking methods: Electric oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

608.83 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 608.83 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 56.09 (g) of which sugars 37.15 (g)
Proteins 9.86 (g)
Fat 40.32 (g) of which saturated 9.12 (g)of which unsaturated 3.37 (g)
Fibers 2.02 (g)
Sodium 142.63 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients

Drip cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
6 eggs (medium, room temperature)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
5 drops vanilla extract (or 1/2 vial vanilla flavor or vanillin)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 eggs (medium, room temperature)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
18 oz mascarpone
13 oz cream cheese
1 2/3 cups powdered sugar
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp rum
3 1/2 oz dark chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
to taste cream puffs (or buy them)
to taste unsweetened cocoa powder
7 oz heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Tools

Stand Mixer
Electric Whisks
Pastry Bag
2 Baking Pans
Food Scales

Steps

Drip cake

Prepare the two sponge cakes.
Start with the vanilla one, then whip the eggs with sugar and vanilla in a stand mixer for 15 minutes.
(If you don’t have a stand mixer, electric whisks work fine too).
(Tip: the eggs should be at room temperature and the dry ingredients should be sifted).
After this time, add the sifted dry ingredients and mix with a spatula from bottom to top.
Pour the mixture into a 9-inch pan lined with parchment paper and bake in a preheated static oven at 350°F for 25 minutes.
At the end of baking, do the toothpick test and take the cake out of the oven.
Continue by preparing the cocoa sponge cake with the same procedure used for the vanilla one.
When the sponge cakes are ready and well-cooled, cut them into two discs and set them aside.
Prepare the cream puffs; this step can be skipped if you buy them already empty.
Cream puff ingredients
In a pot, pour in the water and butter, add a pinch of salt, and bring to a boil. Stir until the butter is completely melted.
As soon as it starts to boil, add all the flour and stir with a spoon for a few minutes until the dough forms a compact ball.
(You will see a slight white film form on the bottom of the pot).
Turn off the heat, transfer it to a work surface and spread it out to cool.
Alternatively, spread it out in a bowl and let it cool on its own.
I used a stand mixer to help me, but electric whisks are also fine, “if you don’t have them, a bowl and spoon work just fine,” it certainly requires energy if you decide to do it by hand.
When the dough is cool, transfer it to a stand mixer bowl, and with the paddle attachment on low speed, add the eggs one at a time.
Add the next egg only when the previous one has been absorbed by the dough.
Pay close attention to this stage as the actual quantity of eggs can depend on their size, so check after each addition whether the next is really necessary.
In the end, you should obtain a soft but compact dough that does not come off easily from the spatula, unless with a quick snap.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Put the choux pastry in a pastry bag with a plain nozzle and form well-spaced balls.
After filling a tray, flatten the tips slightly with the back of a spoon lightly moistened with water, so that your cream puffs take on a round shape.
Bake at 350°F in a fan oven for 30-45 minutes (the time depends on the type of oven and the size of the cream puffs).
For the frosting, pour all the ingredients into a large bowl or stand mixer.
Using electric whisks, whip until you get a dense and appropriate consistency.
We will use it to fill the cake, fill the cream puffs, and garnish the cake.
In a saucepan, pour the water and sugar, place on the stove, and keep stirring until the sugar dissolves.
When the mixture is about to boil, remove the saucepan from the stove, let it cool slightly, add the liquor, and let the soak cool completely before using it.
I used rum as the alcohol base.
Assemble the cake, place a cocoa sponge cake disc, soak it, and fill it with the frosting.
Cover everything with a vanilla sponge cake disc, soak it, and fill it with a layer of frosting.
Continue alternating the discs, the soak, and frosting.
It is important to finish the cake with the vanilla sponge cake on top.
(I recommend placing the smooth side facing up, so the frosting spreads better).
Use a spatula to cover the cake completely to get a perfectly smooth and white coating.
Place in the refrigerator to rest and thicken for at least 3 hours.
At this point, prepare the dark chocolate ganache. Coarsely chop the chocolate and separately bring the cream to a simmer. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and stir quickly until the chocolate is well melted.
Let the ganache cool slightly and pour it into a pastry bag.
Take the cake from the fridge and proceed to form the drips on the edges of the cake by sliding the pastry bag and turning the tray gradually.
Complete with the decoration.
Fill the cream puffs with a bit of frosting and decorate the cake by alternating them with dollops of fresh cream.
A dusting of cocoa on the cream puffs.
Place the cake in the refrigerator to rest for a couple of hours.
The dessert is ready!
Enjoy your meal.