Tuxedo Cake Recipe

Truly one of the best cakes I’ve ever made. This tuxedo cake has four layers of moist chocolate cake, two layers of fluffy white cake and alternating whipped dark and white chocolate ganache between every layer. She’s a real beauty. 

This cake has been on my to do list for a long time! My first inspiration came from the incredible costco tuxedo cake. This is not a copycat, but a copycat version of that is also on my to do list. The second source of inspiration is the blondery cake.

I came across that beauty when planning out Zara’s birthday cake part and I knew I had to make something with a ton of layers like that. What an absolutely stunning cake!

What is a tuxedo cake

So when I did my research on tuxedo cakes, there was no one right answer on what exactly a tuxedo cake is and where it originated. The consensus is that it’s basically a cake that’s black and white. 

To keep it a true black and white, most people incorporate some form of dark chocolate and some form of white chocolate in the recipe. It should also visually be black and white. 

A lot of recipes include a dark or a white chocolate mousse but that wouldn’t hold up very well with all the layers in this cake. 

How to make this tuxedo cake

So my tuxedo cake consists of four dark chocolate cake layers, two vanilla white cake layers and alternating layers of whipped dark and white chocolate ganache. 

The cake layers

I wanted this to be a dark and rich chocolate cake so I went with my chocolate cake from my cookbook Frosted and subbed half the dutch process cocoa powder for black cocoa powder.

I also wanted the vanilla cake to be the same texture but also more white in color. So I used my 4 inch vanilla recipe but I subbed the butter for oil so it has the same texture as the chocolate cake. Then I subbed the whole egg for two egg whites and the milk for heavy cream. 

Ingredients: 

• Flour: I use all-purpose flour in both cakes. 1:1 substitute for cake flour works as well.
  • I also HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale, as flour is the most over-measured ingredient. 
• Sugar: I used granulated sugar in both cakes. I don’t recommend using a different sugar or reducing the amount.
• Oil: any kind of neutral oil works. I used oil instead of butter so the cakes can be more spongy and have a similar texture/consistency. 
• Sour Cream: unsweetened plain or greek yogurt also works.
• Heavy Cream: I use heavy cream in vanilla cakes when I replace the whole egg with egg whites. This makes up for the loss of fat from removing the egg yolks and provides extra flavor and tenderness. Milk also works though.
• Coffee: I used coffee in the chocolate cake to give it a dark color and more intense flavor. 
• Vanilla: use a clear vanilla extract to keep the white cake as white as possible
• Cocoa Powder: I used half dutch process, because I like that flavor, and half black cocoa powder, to give it a darker color. Any kind of cocoa powder works, you’ll just likely get a lighter color. 

How to make whipped chocolate ganache

Ganache is one of the easiest frostings to make! The most important part is just getting the ratio of chocolate to heavy cream right. Dark chocolate is going to need a lot more cream than white chocolate to get them to the same consistency. 

First you’ll heat the cream on the stove, then pour it on top of the white chocolate and cover. Do the same with the dark chocolate. Let them rest for up to five minutes, then stir gently until all the chocolate is melted and smooth. 

Now you’re going to let them cool completely to room temperature. If it’s warm in the house, you may want to even refrigerate them for 5-10 minutes intervals, mixing between each interval. 

You can use ganache at this stage but the white chocolate filling will be kind of yellowish so I whipped them.

Once they’ve cooled completely, use an electric hand mixer to beat them (in separate bowls) until they’re pale and fluffy. 

The chocolate one will be a light chocolate color and the white chocolate one will be pretty white instead of yellow. 

How to assemble the tuxedo cake

I wanted to make the layers of cake into a pattern instead of just alternating. Since I have double the amount of chocolate cake as I do white cake, I made the pattern symmetrical so I did:

• Chocolate Cake
• White Cake
• Chocolate Cake
• Chocolate Cake
• White Cake
• Chocolate Cake

It would look weird to have two chocolate cake layers next to each other but when you alternate the ganaches like that too, the white goes between the chocolate cake layers and it then looks so scrumptious!

So we have:

• Chocolate Cake
• White Chocolate Ganache
• White Cake
• Dark Chocolate Ganache 
• Chocolate Cake
• White Chocolate Ganache
• Chocolate Cake
• Dark Chocolate Ganache
• White Cake
• White Chocolate Ganache
• Chocolate Cake

Decorating the tuxedo cake

I frosted the whole cake with the dark chocolate ganache and then did a little marble effect with swirled chocolate and white chocolate ganache on top. I also added some gold foil, tiny pearl sprinkles and Gold Dust” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>gold dust.

You will have some leftover white chocolate ganache if you frost it like I did. The recipe makes enough to do a full crumb coat and generous frost on the outside but I got lazy… 

You can crumb coat it with the white chocolate ganache and then frost with the dark chocolate ganache, vise versa, marble it, or just mix the two together and get a pale chocolate ganache frosting. 

This is a pretty tall cake and soft cake layers so I find it easier to assemble if I freeze my cake layers ahead of time. 

To freeze the cake layers, I let them cool almost to room temperature. Then wrap them in plastic wrap and place them in a freezer bag. 

Remove them when you’re ready to frost! If they need to be trimmed, remove them a little sooner, let them thaw for 15 minutes and trim before frosting. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I just use regular frosting instead of the ganache?

Yes! You can make a vanilla frosting using my American buttercream, Swiss meringue buttercream, French buttercream or any frosting recipe from my cookbook Frosted. 

I would make a full batch of frosting for each flavor, just melt 1 cup of dark chocolate and 1 cup of white chocolate and add that to each frosting. 

Can I reverse the pattern of the cake?

Yes! You can double the white cake layers and halve the chocolate and reverse the order to get more white layers.

Can I make this in a different size? 

This one is questionable. I doubled the entire recipe to make this into an 8 inch cake for Zara’s birthday. It was massive. If you double the entire cake, I would bake it in a 9 inch pan so they layers are not quite as tall.

You could also double the white cake layer so you can bake two 8 inch layers and use the chocolate cake recipe to make two 8 inch cake layers as well. Then you’ll be left with 4 layers total. 

You can still do a pattern like 

• White Cake
• Dark Chocolate Ganache
• Chocolate Cake
• White Chocolate Ganache
• Chocolate Cake
• Dark Chocolate Ganache
• White Cake

Or you can alternate and do:

• Chocolate Cake
• White Chocolate Ganache
• White Cake
• Dark Chocolate Ganache 
• Chocolate Cake
• White Chocolate Ganache
• White Cake

Can I make this ahead of time?

You can make cake layers a few weeks ahead of time and freeze them (read assembling section). The chocolate ganache is a little difficult to make ahead. It needs to be refrigerated so it will harden and then you’ll have to bring it back to room temperature to whip it. 

Chocolate is also a bit finicky on its temperature so you’ll risk it splitting. I recommend making the ganache the night before or the morning of assembling the cake and preparing to assemble the cake at least a day in advance or serving. 

How to store tuxedo cake 

Once assembled, if the tuxedo cake feels sturdy it can stay at room temperature for one night, then refrigerate it. Make sure to cover it with a cake dome or plastic wrap if it’s been sliced into. Store slices in an airtight container.

Cakes stay more fresh when they’re frozen. Place cake slices in an airtight container and then place the container in a freezer bag. Freeze for up to a couple of months. Bring back to room temperature before serving. 

Thanks so much for reading today’s post, if you have any questions just comment down below in the comment section (I can’t reply in the rating section). 

If you make this tuxedo cake I would love to see it, so make sure to tag me @baranbakery on instagram and order my cookbook, Frosted. 

As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!

Love, B