Coca-Cola Cake with Brigadeiro Frosting

This weekend was my cousin's eighth birthday. My aunt always makes the same cake for her birthday, which is her favorite: Coca-Cola cake with brigadeiro frosting. It is really good, so I asked her to teach me to make it. Brigadeiro is a brazilian candy (the totally brown ones next to the cake). It is made from sweetened condensed milk cooked with sweetened cocoa powder until thick, and then rolled in chocolate jimmies. I'll post the recipe for the candies some time, so you can make those, too. The frosting is a thinned version of the candy. The cake is a large recipe, so I make a lot of the brigadeiro, too, but if you want to frost a smaller cake, you can easily scale it down. 

This is a nice recipe for a kid's birthday, because you can make them guess what the secret ingredient is in the cake :D We decorated the top with star sprinkles in the shape of a heart surrounded by chocolate jimmies. Have fun!

Coca-Cola Cake 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups sugar

5 eggs, separated 

1 pinch salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 can coke (original), at room temperature

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour two 9 by 13 baking pans. 

Beat the sugar, salt and egg yolks well, using an electric mixer. 

Add butter and beat until almost white.

Add coke and flour slowly, alternating between the two, using a spatula (NOT the electric mixer).

Add the sweetened cocoa powder and then the baking powder. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, and then fold in to the mixture. 

Divide batter between the two pans and bake for about 20 minutes, or until done.

Let cake cool before making frosting.

Brigadeiro Frosting

Ingredients:

3 cans sweetened condensed milk

9 heaping spoons sweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons butter

Instructions:

Combine in a microwave-proof dish. Heat for 2 minutes, stir, 2 minutes, stir. Heat in 1 minute intervals or until thickened but still easily pourable and spreadable. 

Assembly:

Cut each layer of cake in half so that you have four 9 by 13 inch layers. Fill and frost with brigadeiro frosting, working with the frosting still hot. If it cools, it will become too thick. Decorate as desired.