Dorcie Nohara Sakuma of Honolulu makes baking seem like a piece of cake, but she is a baker who puts time and patience into her Sour Cream Chocolate Cake with Maida Heatter’s Chocolate Buttercream — and it shows. The cake is spectacular. For more than 35 years, this avid baker has tried countless cake recipes and chocolate frostings, but she says this one is the best.

Folks who try it are likely to agree. The crumb of this cake is moist, and it is chocolaty without being overly sweet. The frosting, however, is what steals the show. It is a perfect balance of buttery, chocolaty sweetness, and melts in the mouth. And while the cake is an easy, almost no-fail recipe, the buttercream is not.

“You need patience because there are so many steps, and really, it’s a pain to make but it’s worth it,” said Sakuma.

Consider the procedure: Chocolate chips, heavy cream and butter are melted in a double boiler, then added to 10 egg yolks, then returned to the double boiler, then cooled, then added to more butter, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla.

“It’s really good for you,” joked Sakuma, noting the 10 yolks and three sticks of butter.

Sakuma paired the sour cream chocolate cake recipe, shared years ago by a friend from Lamaze class, with the frosting recipe, which she found in the newspaper.

“The Washington Post wrote about the quest for the best chocolate frosting, and Maida Heatter’s recipe won,” she recalled. Heatter, a popular cookbook author, is called the Queen of Desserts.

But Sakuma isn’t satisfied with just topping the cake with the gorgeous frosting. She finishes it with whipped cream and fresh, whole strawberries. This is how a perfect birthday cake should look.

Friend Sharon Narimatsu said, “Everything she bakes looks outstanding, just as if it came from a bakery.”

Sakuma makes the cake with ease in her nearly 30-year-old KitchenAid standing mixer, but she uses techniques that are not common knowledge. She makes sure to sift baking soda, for instance, places cakes in the middle of the oven and places her pastry bag in a tall glass when filling it, easing the task. She recommends using whipped cream to “hide your sins” at the base of the cake, where the frosting could be ragged. Her technique to prevent moldy strawberries: Soak them in a white vinegar bath, then rinse.

While Sakuma is precise about many details, she knows what not to fuss over. Using a dry measuring cup for liquid is fine, she said. And she has used both extra-large and large eggs in the cake without affecting its quality.

Born in Japan and raised both in Japan and the U.S., Sakuma, 68, was raised by a father from Japan and a mother from Wahiawa. She attended the University of Hawaii and was a flight attendant for Pan American World Airways before she had children. Then she spent 42 years as a homemaker, raising son Craig and daughter Katie.

“When I got married, I didn’t know how to cook, but my husband, Paul, is a food critic and gourmand, so I learned,” Sakuma revealed. She is actually both a gourmet cook and a fine baker, but she prefers baking.

The couple will celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary next month. They moved to Honolulu in 2007 after living in Japan and Potomac, Md.

After all those years, Paul Sakuma has many favorites from his wife’s repertoire: the chocolate cake, a fruit tart and a Marjolaine cake, also called Dacquoise, made with three layers of hazelnut meringue with rum-infused whipped cream and coated with dark chocolate. Don’t get him started about her version of Julia Child’s Queen of Sheba cake, a chocolate almond cake.

Dorcie Sakuma is modest about her talents. But you know she knows her way around the kitchen because at Christmas she makes a Buche de Noel (French Yule Log cake) and Maida Heatter’s recipe for meringue mushrooms as decorations. The yule log is one of the most complicated desserts to execute and takes about three days to complete, with cake, chestnut mousse, chocolate buttercream and decorations.

She bakes nearly every day and constantly tries new recipes. When asked what she would do with the 10 extra egg whites left over from that sinful buttercream recipe, her response is to make macaroon cookies with shredded coconut.

The couple often have friends over to their beautiful loft apartment and serve up Sakuma’s experiments with new recipes.

“We tell them they are our guinea pigs,” she said.

They are a fun couple with a great sense of humor. They claim the secret to marriage is learning how to fight. In fact, one quote in their kitchen is from comedian Alan King, who said, “Marriage is nature’s way of keeping us from fighting with strangers.”

Since Paul is the food critic and Dorcie does all the cooking, daughter Katie sent a saying that is pasted on their refrigerator. It mirrors the activity in the kitchen: “I’m sorry. I don’t remember this recipe calling for your opinions.”

Lynette Lo Tom is interested in passionate cooks, bakers and barbecue masters who keep traditions alive. Reach her at lynette@brightlightcookery.com or 275-3004.

Baking Tips From Dorcie Sakuma

» Use the best cocoa you can buy. Sakuma uses cocoa bought from Berkeley Bowl in California.

» Ditto on chocolate chips. Sakuma uses chocolate chips from Trader Joe’s. As a backup she buys chocolate from R. Field’s at Foodland.

» Be sure to sift dry ingredients, especially baking soda.

» Do not overmix the batter.

» Use cooking spray and parchment to line cake pans so cakes will release easily.

» To measure parchment, place the pan on the paper. Use a pencil and draw around the pan. Cut the paper to fit the inside of the pan.

» Bake cakes in the middle or top of the oven, not the bottom.

» To keep strawberries from getting moldy, wash in 2 quarts of water and 1/4 cup white vinegar, then rinse.

» Cool cakes completely before cutting them into layers.

» Use a cake lifter to move the cake.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

» Parchment paper
» Vegetable oil spray
» 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
» 2 cups sugar
» 2 teaspoons baking soda
» 1 teaspoon salt
» 3/4 cup cocoa powder, not Dutch processed
» 2 large eggs, at room temperature
» 1 cup sour cream
» 1 cup canola oil
» 1 cup water
» 1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut parchment paper the size of the bottom of two 9-inch cake pans. Spray nonstick spray on inside bottom and sides of pans. Insert parchment and set aside.

Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa. Place in standing mixer and add eggs one at a time, sour cream, canola oil, water and vanilla. Mix until blended, about 2 minutes. Do not overmix.

Pour into cake pans and bake 45 to 50 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting toothpick into center of cake; if it comes out clean, remove pans from oven and cool 30 minutes.

Turn over cakes to a cooling rack, peel off parchment and cool completely, about 2 hours.

Slice each cake in half to create 4 layers. This cake is best made a day before decorating.

Nutritional information unavailable.

Maida Heatter’s Chocolate Buttercream

» 9 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
» 3 tablespoons heavy cream
» 1-1/2 tablespoons, plus 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
» 10 large egg yolks, room temperature
» 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
» 1/4 teaspoon salt
» 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Decorations:
» 12 strawberries
» 1/4 cup white vinegar
» 1 cup heavy cream
» 3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Place chocolate chips in top of small double boiler over hot water on low heat. Add heavy cream and 1-1/2 tablespoons butter. Stir until smooth.

Meanwhile, in bowl of a standing mixer, beat egg yolks at high speed until pale yellow and thick, about 2 minutes. On low, gradually add warm chocolate mixture, scraping bowl constantly with rubber spatula.

Transfer mixture to top of the small double boiler over hot water on low heat. Cook for 5 minutes, scraping the bottom and sides constantly with a rubber spatula. Mixture must never get too hot.

Transfer to mixing bowl. Place some ice and water in larger mixing bowl, then place bowl of chocolate into the bowl of ice water. Stir gently about 5 minutes until chocolate comes to room temperature.

Meanwhile, in large bowl of a standing mixer, beat 3 sticks butter with powdered sugar, salt and vanilla, until soft and smooth.

Add chocolate mixture and continue beating for a minute or 2 until smooth and creamy.

To frost cake: Place one layer of cake on a cake stand. Mix buttercream just before frosting the cake. Divide in half. Half will be used between layers and other half for top and sides of cake.

Using offset spatula, cover top of the first layer. Repeat with two more layers. Add fourth layer and add frosting to sides first, then finish with top of cake. Refrigerate overnight. Decorate just before serving.

To decorate: First, clean strawberries by soaking in 2 quarts of water with vinegar. After 5 minutes, drain, rinse, drain and set aside.

In a standing mixer, add cream and powdered sugar. Mix on high speed until soft peaks appear, about 2 minutes.

Using pastry bag and tip, make a design around base of cake and on top of cake. Place whole strawberries on top inside edge of whipped cream. Cut and serve. Serves 16.

Nutritional information unavailable.