Perfecting My Chocolate Cake

A few years back I made a big ol' chocolate cake.

It is a dark intense chocolate and got lots of good reviews. I love it when I hear "This is the best chocolate cake I have ever had!" Over the years I have tweaked the recipe a bit and added a fudgy chocolate frosting. This cake is for true chocolate lovers and always gets rave reviews. It is my most requested cake.

This month I made it for two birthday boys. One was 2 and one was...not 2. 

The first cake was for the grown up and he loves Sees candy. I picked up all shapes and sizes of Sees, along with my free sample. I also bought, and ate too many, Pepperidge Farm Pirouettes for height. 

I thought of trying to hand write "Happy Birthday" in chocolate but thought better of it. I found this lovely fondant cutter that will definitely be used again:

Thank you (again) Amazon.

My first stab at the sign was done with chocolate modeling clay and a bit of tylose powder for stiffness.

Nope. After two days it was still a tad limp and both broke easily. Not what I want to deal with when I set up a cake on site. Not to mention it was a pain to get out of the cutter and some of the letters got funky as a result. As you can see I made them yellow to help with the eventual gilding. 

Onward to the next attempt. Fondant with gumpaste mix. I added some of the gilding to the mixture. Speckles. Whatever. It will be covered up with gold and disco dust anyway. This was my first time using Amerigold for the gilding. I usually mix luster dust with vodka. This worked so much better.

Success! The sign dried up nice and hard and was easy to put right in the cake. I painted it with the gold sheen then dusted it with gold disco dust.  No skewers needed. I also cut some letters for the name. 

I am told everyone loved the cake and of course were clamoring for the Sees on top.

Everyone's Favorite Chocolate Cake

This makes enough for two 10 inch cake layers each 1 3/4 inches tall.

3 oz Dark chocolate. I use Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate. 

1 ½ cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 ½ cups flour
1 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

½  cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder

2 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
1 ¼ tsp salt
3 large eggs (room temperature)
¾ cup canola oil
1 ½ cups well-shaken buttermilk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. If you’re making cupcakes, line the wells of your pans with fluted paper liners, or grease and dust them with flour or cocoa. If you’re making larger cakes, grease pans and line bottoms with rounds of parchment.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another (very) large bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer until thickened slightly and lemon-colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed, until just combined well.

Flour and  butter all the pans and cut a circle of parchment for the bottom. Every time I do this I remember my mom teaching me this trick. Use the Wilton Bake-even Cake Strips on every pan. These work great. I yell at the screen when I see bakers cut off domes and waste cake (I am looking at you Man About Cake!)  No domes with bake strips. Putting a rose nail in the center of each layer while baking also helps them bake evenly

Bake in middle of oven for 50 minutes. One crucial thing I do is keep an eagle eye on my cakes and test as soon as I think they may be done, taking them out just as soon as the toothpick comes out clean.

My current go-to frosting is a combination of Hershey's recipe from the back of the container, and a David Lebovitz ganache glaze he uses on his German chocolate cake. It is very rich but chocoholics love it.

Ultimate Chocolate Frosting
Ganache
8 ounces dark chocolate. Sometimes I mix milk and dark. I use Trader Joe's
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 1/2 ounces butter

Chop 8 ounces of chocolate in a bowl with the corn syrup and 1 ½ ounces of butter.

Heat the cream until it just begins to boil. I put it in the microwave for a minute or two. Place the 8 ounces of chopped chocolate in a bowl with the cream. Let stand one minute, then stir until smooth. Add the corn syrup and butter. Let sit until room temperature.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2/3 cup Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Add the ganache mixture and mix until smooth. If you would like a fluffier frosting. Cool for an hour in the fridge then beat in stand mixer for 3-4 minutes. About 2 1/2 cups frosting.

Double the recipe for the 10" cake.

For the drips I made a ganache with one to one ration of chocolate to heavy cream. Heat 1 cup cream in microwave for 1-2 minutes. Add 8 oz chopped dark chocolate to the cream. Let sit for 5 minutes then whisk until smooth. Let cool until it is of proper dripping consistency. If it is too hot it will melt your frosting. You may need to add some cream, water or half and half to get it to drip but not run. I am calling the drips on my latest cake "baroque candle drips."