Neapolitan Cake

I love birthdays. 
I tend to go a little over the top (ie: Yo Gabba Gabba Birthday)
I usually plan months in advance, okay I'll be honest, the Gabba party was a year in advance.




So you can only imagine how honestly irritating I find it when I ask my husband what he wants for his birthday and his response is "I dunno" for months.


You don't know? Cake? Presents? Dinner? Louis Vuitton purse? The glitter Christian Louboutins? 


Oh wait... That's MY birthday....


However, when I ran across the idea of a Neapolitan cake I knew this would be a winner. Who doesn't love the ice cream? The less choices we have to make in life I say, the better!


And it is his favorite. He said yes, I said hallelujah and thus began our journey into possibly the best bundt cake we've ever had...


Let me share it with you.




Neapolitan Cake:
Adapted from the seeyouinthemorning blog


Sour cream cake:


3 1/2 cups  unbleached flour (plus more for the pan)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of unsalted butter, each stick cut in half length wise
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
A 16 ounce container of full-fat sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla


For the Strawberry cake:


1/3 cup diced strawberries
2 tablespoons strawberry preserves
a tiny bit of red frosting dye


For the Chocolate Cake:


4 ounces 70% cacao chocolate, chopped
1 ounce 62 % cacao chocolate, chopped
(use whichever 5-6 ounce combination you prefer)
1 teaspoon cocoa powder




Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Stir until completely smooth and add the cocoa powder. Set aside while making the sour cream cake.


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour the inside of a 10 inch bundt pan.


Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth being sure to scrape down the sides. Add in the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time until incorporated making sure to scrape down the sides after each addition. Add the full container of sour cream and vanilla and beat until just incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in three additions until JUST combined.


Separate the batter into 3 equal parts. Fold the strawberries and preserves into one. Leave one part plain. And add the final part to the chocolate mixture (or vice versa) the batter will thicken with the chocolate addition but use your husbands hulk arms (this is OK!) it makes for a delicious fudgy cake.


Drop large spoonfuls of the 3 batters into the pan then use a butter knife to swirl the layers. This may be tough so don't worry if the swirls aren't perfect! 

Bake in the center of the oven for about an hour or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. If you are concerned about over-browning on the top... don't worry... its the bottom! You can also cover with foil if it does start to get too dark. Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes then invert onto a serving platter.


Enjoy. We had ours with a scoop of Neapolitan ice cream. Creative right?