The prequel: I love chocolate cake. I mean... I LOVVVEEE chocolate cake. I saw a picture of an absolutely beautiful chocolate cake with a creamy topping and I just had to learn more. When I pulled up the recipe, I saw the topping was skyr, Icelandic yogurt, and I was completely intrigued. I typically don't associate yogurt with cake topping so let's see what the fuss is about!

Pre-adventure Jitters: See above...yogurt on cake. Not mixed with anything, not fancied up, whipped, dipped, or dazzled. Just a thwack of yogurt on top. Yogurt's good for your tummy, though, sooo armed with my recipe from icelandicprovisions.com, and an insatiable craving for chocolate cake, the adventure begins.

The Adventure: So, to be completely upfront about this recipe, this is my third attempt. As mentioned before, I live in the sticks. Finding any skyr in the grocery store is a momentous occasion. Finding the required cold brewed coffee flavored skyr is about as likely as finding a unicorn grazing in my back yard. Being yogurt, mail order isn't possible, sooo I need to drive 40 minutes south, which I did for the first time in early October of 2022. Annndd then my dad had his stroke. As anyone who's ever had a sick family member knows, baking a cake was nowhere on my radar. The yogurt went bad before I could use it... and I don't just mean the best before date passed. We're talking, holy crap, I think I'm going to gag from the smell as it goes down the garbage disposal bad. Dad got back on firm footing the first week of January, so I trekked back down and bought the skyr a second time. Three weeks later my Dad was dead and the yogurt got pitched yet again. So, making this cake is a bit cathartic for me...a symbolic step forward in my life. I have bought my skyr for a third time, and this cake is being made!

Everything mixes up super easy. I'm most at home when I'm baking (versus cooking), so this recipe is a dream. It takes forever to get the finished batter smooth. I scrape the side of the bowl as I go...like usual...and take it off the stand to start pouring into the pan. It's thick...pudding thick...so it takes some serious effort with a spatula to get it out to the corners. I get to the bottom of the bowl, only to realize there's a fudgy mass. It's such a heavy coating on the bottom that the spatula careened over the top with every "scraping of the sides". That's a bummer. With the majority already in the pan, there aren't many options. It's thick enough I can't mix it without significant lumps. I make the decision on how to best make it go away. Mhm...I ate it!  Now that everything was in the pan, I pop it in the oven. 

You ever have this feeling that there's something you're forgetting? Yeah...I had that nag in the back of my mind that I missed doing "that thing" that's never in a recipe, but you just know to do. I focus in on my next task as the cake is baking and try to ignore the nag. Mhm...it takes serious focus to clear all the bits of chocolate cake batter out of the bowl (with my spatula, of course). At the 20 minute mark, I take a peak into the oven and immediately see my oversight. I have MASSIVE air bubbles all over the top. These bad boys look like frog eyes. WIth all the mixing to get the batter smooth, I needed to give the cake a couple good thumps on the counter to jiggle the air out. Again suuuccch a bummer, but there's not a single thing I can do. We're too far along in the bake to do anything. The good news about air bubbles is they don't affect the flavor, so it's all good. 

The cake comes out of the oven fine. I let it cool and cover it up. Normally, I dig in right away, but I'm taking this adventure to my cousin's house for lunch tomorrow. She has no idea her family is about to be the guinea pigs for this experiment. 

Guess what! The dessert gets the thumbs up from ALL 5 tasters!! From under 10 to over 50, we all think it's delicious! Now HOW we ate it differed. This recipe was a cheater version, with yogurt on the top instead of frosting, so we each got to choose how we wanted it. Some people chose plain, some chose vanilla bean yogurt, and some (like myself) chose cold brew yogurt. All of us agreed it was super rich and delicious. This is a win. On to the next adventure!

The Recipe - Skuffukaka

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1-1/2 sticks butter, room temp
• 2 eggs
• 2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2- 4.4 ounce Extra Creamy Vanilla Bean Skyr Containers
• 3/4 cup water

For the frosting:

• 4 - 4.4 ounce Extra Creamy Cold Brew Skyr 
• Unsweetened Coconut Flakes

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 375F and lightly grease a 13x9 inch pan.
2. Cream sugar and butter in a stand mixer until light and airy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time mixing well in between.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the dry ingredients together then add to the butter mixture. Mix until just incorporated.
4. Add skyr and water to the batter and mix until incorporated and smooth.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted to the middle comes out clean.
6. When the cake has cooled completely, swirl Extra Creamy Coffee Skyr on top and sprinkle with shredded coconut.