Hennessy's Nailed It Emoji Cake

Here's my own version of the Nailed It Cake! with a delicious chocolate cake base, with vanilla-almond buttercream icing and Satin fondant.

Prep Time 40

Cook Time 40

decorating time 30

Total Time 2 50

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 5 people

First, preheat your oven to 350°F and set an oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Prepare the cake pans with baking spray and lined parchment paper.
One hour before baking, in a glass cup measurer, whisk cocoa powder with the boiling water until smooth. Add the oil, and then let cool until room temperature. Make sure to also leave out the butter and eggs to room temperature.
Add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into your stand mixer and then whisk on low until blended.
Add the butter and cocoa mixture and manually mash the butter and cocoa before mixing so it doesn't get everywhere. Then, mix on low speed until moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1½ minutes. Scrape down the bowl.
In a small bowl, crack the eggs, and add water and vanilla extract. Whisk until lightly combined. On medium-low speed, add the egg mixture in three parts, waiting 20 seconds between each part to let the egg incorporate gradually.
Pour the batter into each pan until they are about half full. (Don't overfill!)
Bake for 38-40 minutes, or until a skewer poked in the cake comes out clean.
Once done, let the cakes cool for 10 minutes in their pans on wire racks. Then, let the cakes cool in your fridge for 1 hour.
Once the cakes are cool, run a spatula around the pans and carefully invert the cakes so they come out. The cakes have likely risen to domed tops in the oven, so gently slice the tops off so they are even and ready to decorate.

With a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy.
Gradually add 2 cups of confectioner's sugar, about ¼ at a time, as it blends with the butter. Then add heavy cream and beat together. Then add the extracts and beat on medium speed until the icing is soft and buttery. If you want the buttercream to be colorful, add two drops of food coloring of choice.

Spread room temperature buttercream over the top of the first cake, then set the other cake on top. Using a spatula, carefully spread buttercream around both cakes. Note that the cake will crumble if not cold. Set aside.

Flour your work station with corn starch or confectioners sugar.
Open your yellow Satin fondant container and take out about half of the fondant. Roll it out with dusted hands so it doesn't stick. The fondant will gradually soften as you knead it. If it is hot when you are baking, you'll have to work faster. Taking a dusted rolling pin, roll the fondant until it is evenly flat.
Then gently pick up the fondant and hold it over the buttercream-covered cake. Lay it over the cake and flatten over the cake as well as you can. You can shape with fondant shapers but I was able to do this with my hands. Then cut off the excess pieces of fondant with an xacto knife.
Tidy your workstation, and then open up the packet of white fondant. Roll out two large circles for the eyes, and two medium & small circles for the irises. Flatten the circles evenly, and then press them into the yellow fondant "face" of your cake. Set the other circles aside.
Finally, open up the packet of black fondant and roll out medium circles for the slightly smaller blacks of the eyes. Once they are even and fit on top of the whites, press them into the eye whites.
Then, roll out 3 small black cylinders for the eyebrows and the mouth. Evenly arrange them on the cake as well.
Wash your hands, and then finally press the flattened white irises over the blacks of the eyes. Enjoy, and don't forget to take a picture!

Keyword buttercream, emoji, emoji cake, Nailed It