I am in love with this cake. 
It’s for a friend who likes fancy coffee drinks’ birthday, so I always try to work in a little coffee theme for her birthday. 
The Torte is just incredible, so bites without frosting are super-rich, super-moist and super-chocolatey.
The frosting is to die for, and the bites with frosting are a great blend of textures and flavors!

At first, I wasn’t sure if the SMBC was worth the extra work, as neoclassic is so delicious and easy.  But the SMBC is so fluffy and dreamy, I’ve really grown to love it.  It’s the coffee-caramel SMBC with 6oz homemade hazelnut butter added. You could seriously make 4 thin layers with frosting between all, the frosting is so froofy and light.  I mean, probably not compared to whipped cream, but certainly compared to ‘regular’ buttercream.

EVERYONE loved cake, even people who don’t like coffee! Some especially nice compliments:
> ‘I’d walk to South Carolina for a piece of your cake!’
> ‘I remember the cake you made last year, so I definitely came this year!’
> ‘Somebody mentioned on the elevator your cakes are to die for, but I haven’t gotten to try one yet.’  Really nice of whomever, for sure!
> ‘This cake has redeemed my entire week!’

...plus lots of swooning!

Thanks, Ms. Rose, for the great recipes!  You improve birthdays around the globe!

Ooooooo Anne, it’s so luscious!  The frosting sounds wonderful, coffee-caramel with hazelnut in a custard base.  Which cake base did you end up going with, is that the choc fudge?  Ooops, I see from the title that you used the All-American, I’ll bet it was nice with the smbc.

Anne, it looks so yummy!!! What a great combination of flavors!!  All my favorites.

Thanks, Julie & Liza!

You wouldn’t think it’s the PAAC Torte from that huge dome, would you?  I took your advice, Julie, and didn’t use the fudge cake for this recipe.  Thanks, BTW!

At first tasting, I wondered if it was a good idea to use anything but chocolate frosting with chocolate cake, because chocolate is such a dominant flavor it’s hard to taste a non-chocolate frosting.  But after eating it a few times, I thnk you can compliment chocolate with other than chocolate.

(I should add that I made a smaller version of the cake for the hub and self (slices frozen), so I’ve been eating this cake for the past couple of weeks, and thus, the gradual movement from indifference to appreciation to genuine love of the SMBC and chocolate/frosting flavor combo. )

Wow, what height on that cake!!! You got that even without cake strips?  That new oven of yours is definitely agreeing with you…the cake is beautiful!

Anne - that looks fantastic!  Just looking at it = i want a piece!  Great job - it looks nice and thick yet very moist.

Thanks Loopy & Lottie!  Yes, not a cake strip in site!  And I do love my new oven!  The PAAC Torte is so fudgy and moist, but still with layer-cakey, as opposed to brownie, texture.  Man, I just love it!  And the SMBC—you can have almost equal parts frosting and cake without it being too heavy—In fact, I always try to make sure I engineer some bites this way.  That stuff is the fluffy, foofy goods.

I will have to try that recipe Anne, looks divine!

Ok forgive my dumb question
SBMC = swiss buttercream mocha chocolate?
SBMC = swiss buttercream mouselline cream?

I’m not figuring this out

Thanks, Bernadette!

Hi, shokat!

SBMC means “I can’t type.”  It’s supposed to be SMBC - silk meringue buttercream.
Apologies!

No it was my dyslexia. I switched them.
thanks for clarifying. I’m so impressed by how excited you were about the frosting I’m going to try it.
You, Miss Anne in NC, are very inspiring.
Shokat

Thanks, shokat!

It’s an awesome cake and an amazing frosting!!!!  I still trip on it every time I have some (have frozen slices).  I know you’ll love it!

I immediately assumed it was my typo, because, oh, my, I am the queen of typos!!!!

Happy, happy baking!

—ak

Oooh Anne look at you go! Now I know why you like it so much! Gorgeous! Great job!

Thank you so much!

This PAACT is just as good with no frosting at all! It is the seriously fabulous chocolate cake!  And I never even like chocolate cake at all until I had Rose’s—so far, I love all of hers that I’ve tried, but this is my fave, fave, fave!

What is SMBC?  Sorry if this is a silly question.

Not silly at all, Funky5!  In fact, I recall asking the same question myself!  It’s Silk Meringue Buttercream.  It’s the buttercream that starts with creme anglaise (heated egg yolks / milk / sugar).  Then you make meringue and “cook” it with hot liquid sugar.  Then you get out your butter.  When everything’s about 65 degrees, you mix the creme anglise with the butter and then add the meringue.  At this point (generally), you add any additional flavoring—in my case, this is where I added the hazelnut butter and coffee.  It’s light and fluffy and oh, so delicious!