double chocolate layer cake
I’ll give you a moment to absorb my utter genius.
Let’s just be honest here: when you were of single-digit age and night after night your dinner plate was filled with, ecch, vegetables and protein and your glass with what seemed like a gallon of milk, did you not swear that one day, no, One Day With the Capital Letters and the Chest-Thumping Conviction of Grownups that you would eat cake and watermelon for dinner and Nobody would be able to stop you.
Well, I called in that promise on Tuesday and night, and this boy, this suddenly and inconveniently acting-like-a-grownup person I married did not share in my enthusiasm. And despite my thpbbblt-ing and threats to tell the whole internet how Not Fun he is, he was not swayed and we had a 33 minute meal instead.
Feh.
But chocolate cake with chocolate icing can only be put in the corner for so long, and in this case, that was just over 48-hours when the excuse to eat cake and watermelon reemerged with my mother-in-law’s birthday barbeque on Saturday. And let me just tell you that if I had known that the chocolate layer cake recipe I had in mind–and it’s ganache frosting–would be this transcendent, there would have been no chili. No beans. And no excuse to tell my husband how wrong he was.
Because chocolate layer cake this good needs to be made immediately. It needs to be matted in your Top Honors Cookbook for every chocolate-lovers birthday to come, for all time. The cake, it’s so moist, it’s not so much a solid baked good but gigantic dewy crumbs loosely aligned in a disc-like format. With the slightest pressure from a fork, they’ll bend and scatter about, only to be gathered back together with a frosting-tipped spoon. The cake is so perfect in every way, frosting and filling are afterthoughts–I can personally vouch that the cake alone is a perfectly decadent late-evening snack. But with split layers oozing with raspberry sauce and coated with bittersweet, shiny ganache and decked out with lavender and yellow flowers, it’s fit for the grandest of parties.
That is, if you are willing to share. Because this cake doesn’t make it easy to bestow generosity on others. I kind of wanted to swat people off with a spoon. I’m not sure that chocolate cake with chocolate icing served with wedges of cut fruit brings out my maturity and I’m not sure that when I’m finally sinking my teeth into it that I really care. But I have a feeling you’re better than that. More mature, perhaps more rational in the face of chocolate desserts, and when you make it, everyone will have a grand old time; even more so if you don’t invite brats like me.
Hide the children! There’s a picture of my head so big in this Q&A with me last Friday on Serious Eats, I feel that it warrants a fair warning before you click over. Because the freckles, they are loud. Learn why my mother beams with pride over my pancake snobbery, what I keep tucked in my desk drawer at work and my idea of a perfect meal including the part I’d probably steal off your plate. Stay when you are done to take in all the other awesome on the site.
Double Chocolate Layer Cake
Adapted from Gourmet, March 1999
The recipe below is for 2 10-inch layers filled and coated in chocolate ganache. My adaptations were to split the layers to create a four-layer cake and use raspberry filling instead of chocolate. To do the same, use half the frosting and all of the raspberry filling, recipe at the end.
For cake layers
3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
For ganache frosting and filling (If you want to just use it for frosting, halve the recipe. A raspberry filling recipe is below.)
1 pound fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
Special equipment: two 10- by 2-inch round cake pans
Make cake layers: Preheat oven to 300°F. and grease pans. Line bottoms with rounds of wax paper and grease paper.
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 large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs 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.
Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.
Make frosting: Finely chop chocolate. In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.
Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable (depending on chocolate used, it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency). I found that stirring this over a bowl of ice water did a great job of cooling it off quickly and evenly.
Spread frosting between cake layers and over top and sides. Cake keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days. Bring cake to room temperature before serving.
Raspberry Filling
2 10-ounce bag frozen raspberries, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Puree the raspberries in a food processor, blender or immersion blender. Press the puree through a fine-mesh strainer with the back of a spoon, removing the seeds. Heat the puree in a small pot with the sugar and cornstarch until mixture boils, stirring constantly. As it boils, it should quickly thicken.
Let it cool complete before spreading it thinly over three layers.
I am drooling on my desk. That looks just like the cakes my great-grandmother used to buy for my birthdays when I was little. I can taste it.
Your picture is adorable! Don’t worry about the freckles.
That is a gorgeous cake and it sounds like it was delicious. Very cute presentation (sorry, I used the word cute! must be the fact I’m female haha…). I just wanted to say that I just came across your blog and me being a total foodie and lover of cooking and the almighty Food Network, I wanted to tell you that I love your blog and will be a regular reader from here on out. Keep those great recipes and pictures coming!
This cake must be REALLY good!! I just read another blog this weekend that made the exact same cake!! http://sassandveracity.typepad.com/sass_veracity/2007/07/oh-my-goodness-.html
Oh, I loved your interview at Serious Eats! I read the bit about how you hadn’t had a madeleine before and chuckled to myself about how you have already made yourself an accidental fibber. And I thought the freckles were quaint, personally.
RA– Not true! I answered those questions two weeks ago, sent them in, walked into the kitchen and made madeleines. Probably should have picked something else for a long lead time, but I tend to only think about five minutes ahead at a time. Usually less. :)
That’s what I mean – accidental!
wow, and i mean wow. i want to dive right into my monitor and lick the frosting off.
Love this idea. So would my 3 year old. And, the interview was great. The freckles are beautiful! I just love your writing and your sense of humor and of course, your recipes! Thank you!
What a gorgeous cake!
I headed over to serious eats & I wanted to share that I too hate chicken cutlets. The only way I will eat them is if they are breaded & pan fried.
I would hate to sound like an adult, but watermelon and chocolate cake? Doesn`t sound great to me. I know what you mean though, when my parents go out of town, I eat dessert for dinner. Although, they might never leave again if they find out about this little secret, so keep it between us. The cake looks very good and once I get home and if the oven`s working (the knob broke off and so did the metal that was holding it) I`ll be sure to make it.
P.S. You look so pretty in that picture! Why are freckles such a bad thing?
There must be a law against posting pictures of this. Its like food porn.
I’m constantly grateful that I married a man as occasionally “throw down the towel lazy” and childish as me, since we regularly(ish) eat “naughty” foods for meals. Tortilla chips and salsa/cheese dip for lunch? Yep! Brownies for dinner? Absolutely! I’m just waiting for the day when one of our sons (yes, we’re parents too!) comes home after learning about nutrition and gives us “the look”.
Deb – December 14th…Feel free to come to Texas, it’s a Friday and I happen to know a chocolate lover who’ll be turning 29 (for the first time) and might need a cake like that. And, Weight Watchers be damned.
I love your dinner idea! I’m always trying to get J to go for a dinner of ice cream, but it’s a no-go, so far. I bet chocolate cake would sway him, though…
Where can I get me that cake plate?
Oh, I’ve made this recipe! And you’re right – it’s SO good.
Quick question…I would love to make this, yet as much as I would like to, I couldn’t possibly consume the entire thing. Would making them into cupcakes be sacrilegious to bring to coworkers? If not, what changes would I make to the baking time?
Thank you!
(ps…Thanks for the fabulous recipes and awesome photos)
Kiddo and I make dinner out of a wedge of blue cheese, wheat thins and tomato slices from time to time, so I’m not sure I see the problem with chocolate cake and watermelon. You can balance it out the next day.
I need to tackle scratch cake baking again, don’t I?
Kim — The base is actually a 10″ springform pan/cake carrier from Kaiser, but if you pop the sides off, it can hold any cake. Amazon has it. Here it is all packed up in an Envirosax tote.
Emily — Thanks for reminding me. I wanted to tell everyone about this awesome thing I found on Martha Stewart the other day. I printed up the PDF the other day from this page and stuck the icons on my fridge–not only are they adorable, they have great info for bakers. The second one handily shows that each 10×2 round cake is equivalent to a 9×9x2 square pan, and a 9″ round (with 1.5″ sides) is about the same amount of batter as a standard 12-cup muffin tin. So, you’ll probably get between 26 and 30 cupcakes out of this batter. Let us know how it turns out!
I love chocolate chocolate cakes!
Deb~The freckles are loud but they are loudly adorable. You are too cute! Honestly it is a terrific photo!
Emily, you could even put the raspberry filling into a piping bag and squeeze some into the middle of each cupcake after they cool, covering the top with the ganache. yum.
UGHHHH! Now I need some chocolate cake. It was a big mistake to read this post! Your cake DOES look absolutely delicious, though.
I’ve made this cake. It’s every bit as good as described… though when tasked with baking the cake for my brother’s wedding (when I’d never baked a wedding cake before), it was more coffee-tasting than the deep-dark-chocolate I sought. I solved the problem by substituting an equal amount of Guinness stout – heated in a saucepan until simmering – for the hot brewed coffee. The end result was slightly nutty, chocolate-y goodness. Oh-my-god good… and a recommended alteration!
ooh i’ve tried this recipe! I made it twice…and bOTH times it was hot diggity-damn good!
I am so tickled to hear about your “dream” of dessert dinner! From the time my kids were small, I would use the first strawberries of the summer as an excuse for celebration. Jam making and berry freezing all day, and for dinner–all we could eat strawberry shortcake! I think I’ll make this delicious-sounding cake for one of those kids’ 24th birthday this summer. Thanks so much for the lovely, lovely site.
A fellow freckle-face.
Yesss….Thank you!!
I think as an otherwise rational adult, if you want to eat watermelon and chocolate cake that no one should even consider stopping you. It’s YOUR dinner!! I have had ‘non traditional’ meals like that a lot…popcorn and cheese, tortilla chips and salsa, maybe some guacamole, toast with jam, a piece of bread with tapenade. The list is endless.
Oh, and the cake is gorgeous!
if we can have steak for breakfast…why can’t we have chocolate cake for dinner?? throw all caution and reservations and rules about food to the wind, i say! especially when it comes to chocolate cake :O)
Oh my gosh– I made this same cake yesterday! It was delicious and moist and mile-high– it looked like a bakery cake. I was proud of it. =) I’ll definitely make the raspberry modification next time, though. That sounds scrumptious, and it probably cut the richness of the ganache as well.
Well, thank goodness someone has the willpower to make the cake! While working late this evening I repeatedly said, “Can’t I just bake a chocolate cake instead of working on [assignment that will never end]?” I’ll muster up that willpower soon, but in the meantime I’ll just drool over your pictures.
Deb help! I want to make this for my best friend for her birthday next week, however she is deathly allergic to eggs. Is there anyway you can make it without? Is there a decent substitute?
That looks fantastic. Insane.
Sometimes I eat kettle chips and hummus for dinner and call it even. That’s why I’m classy, and very sophisticated. At least with the watermelon and Chocolate Cake, you’ve got antioxidants and fiber. It’s like stealing a car, then giving it to Meals On Wheels.
Oooh, yes, I’ve made this cake before. Isn’t it the one with the nine gajillion comments? It was for a birthday party, too, and it went over veeeeery well. The decoration is super cute! I love it.
the cake looks fab! cant wait to try! where did you get that cake plate?
This is the cake! I made when I ran on in comments the other day about Tina’s birthday. Only, I used cake flour, butter, egg substitute, no salt, and instead of ganache I made a nice glaze and topped it with fresh sliced strawberries. I also made it in a bunt pan, which is all I had, no 10 inch springforms on short notice :(
I think it needs the 10 inch pans for uniform consistency, but still, it was amazing, and I whole heartedly second your review.
Jezzie — That’s great. So egg subsitute worked? Just when I think, “I have no idea how to answer this question. NONE.” a new comment pops up! Jezzie, meet Shelly (33); Shelly, meet Jezzie (37). Thank you!
Luisa — Like, at least that many gajillion, and then some. I’ve been dubious about finding a really great chocolate layer cake for so long (despite the Guinness one, which was about as close as I had come before to this level of awesome, but if possible, this one is even more moist and no hops-y taste, you know, if you were making it for an actual kid’s birthday) and as usual, you cannot go wrong with a 91%/952 reviews Epicurious recipe.
Oh, and thanks to everyone who said nice things about the freckles. I swear, I don’t hate them. I just seriously scared the shit out of myself when I clicked back to Serious Eats on Friday trying to figure out the cause of all the inbound hits and saw MY HEAD THE SIZE OF THE PAGE. If I can make MYSELF jump a foot in the air, I can only imagine what that would do to an innocent bystander. Or the children. Especially the children.
I love your freckles! I have also been loving your blog – and Ratatouille too. I saw your recipe before I saw the movie, and I was marveling that it looks just like it!
that recipe looks incredibly decadent! congrats on the interview too!
Dont! Cut! It!
That’s what I’m screaming at that last photo. Because it’s so beautiful I just want to kiss you. Plus, I’m jealous that I don’t get any.
Im in agreement with everyone here: you in more pictures! I didn’t know you were a professional writer, this explains the witty, well written entries… and now I am craving chocolate cake!
I’ve made this before too, and I was also swooning, and laminating the recipe. I subbed some fragrant coconut oil for a bit more than half of the veggie oil, and I am pretty sure that only served to elevate the awesome. One thing to remember too is that aging the layers for a few days before eating serves to deepen the flavor even more, so it is a great one to make ahead (and I think it is thus a bit less crumbly). And for those of us who want to wait not a second longer to stir up a batch but lack an immediate occasion that merits a huge cake, cupcakes (and cake layers) will happily withstand some time in the freezer as long as they’re wrapped tightly. Yum, thanks Deb!!
I tend to think of chocolate cake as more of a breakfast food. But here in the house of the occasional ice cream dinner I doubt I’ll hear many complaints. It looks absolutely charming!
Finally, a face to put to the blog, not at all what I expected. I love your blog, your food is amazing!
Ok, nice to meet you Jezzie! Now, my best friend says that egg substitute is made with potato starch and she’s tried it before and has really not liked the taste. So I hit the net once again in search of and found a few recipes that added a bit more oil, and vinegar, of all things. One also added soda (pop, fizzy drink, coke, etc.)
Deb, if you want to experiment again, I can’t think of anyone better suited for it! hint hint! LOL, I’m not as brave as you are when it comes to trying new recipes.
It looks so pretty. I would hate to cut into it. However, it is chocolate and no once comes between me and the good stuff!
My mom always tells me about the cake batter. When she was a little girl, she always liked the taste of the batter better than the cake, but her mother wouldn’t let her eat it. So she promised herself that when she grew up, she would make a cake batter and just eat it all- and she did.
On April Fool’s Day this year, I served my kids a dinner on desert. They thought it was really fun (who wouldn’t), so we will try to make a tradition out of it.
I have 3 sons and they all request chocolate cakes so I have tried a lot of chocolate cake recipies. I made this recipe back in March for my youngest son’s 4th birthday. I didn’t use the ganache, but my own chocolate buttercream- which after quite a few years of expirementing is nearing perfection. Everyone raved about it, so I will certainly be making it again (and again and again!)
I made this very same cake for my grandfather’s 98th..even though I had problems with it and it stuck to the pans, it was still a big hit..Yours is certainly lovelier to behold..next time I hope I have time for decorations.
What a stunning cake! I have been inspired to do a bit of baking, Thank you
As soon as I read that this was going to be your go-to birthday cake from now on, I KNEW that it had to be the 1999 Gourmet recipe. I LOVE this recipe. I made it for my boyfriend’s birthday the first year we were together and have made it every year following. Listen to deb, people– you will need no other chocolate cake recipe.
Oh my goodness. I’ll have to make that one for my son’s birthday in September! And one question: the recipe calls for cocoa, but specifically mentions to not use Dutch processed cocoa. Why is that? Thanks!
Shelly #46, I have a recipe that might work for your friend. My mom has been making it for as long as I can remember and it’s the best chocolate cake I have ever had. It is known in my family as wacky cake (because it has vinegar in it and no eggs) and is incredible, moist and obscenely easy.
Wacky Cake
3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
6 Tbs. cocoa powder (I use Hershey’s – this is not a picky recipe)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2/3 c. oil
2 Tbs. vinegar
2 c. water
1 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 350. Mix together and bake for 30 minutes (ish) in a 9×13 pan til tester shows clean. I have only ever frosted this with butter frosting, but if you were set on the ganache, I’m sure it would be fabulous. If you do want to use butter frosting, here is the recipe I have – it calls for an egg yolk, but I think that it is really only for color (and maybe added moisture), so omitting the egg yolk and adding a Tbs or two of milk to make up for the missing yolk would probably get the job done.
Butter frosting
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
2 Tbs. milk (or more to reach desired consistency)
Mix together with a hand mixer. :-)
If you or anyone else try this, e-mail me – I woud love to know what you thought! jessica (dot) diettrich (at) gmail (dot) com.
BTW, it makes rocking cupcakes also, but it will only need to be baked for 15 – 20 minutes. :-) Oooh, I might have to make some…
How dare you! And right before lunchtime, too. =) … I am so running home after work to make this cake.
What a beautiful cake, Deb!
I would have had
What a beautiful cake, Deb!
I would have had AT LEAST 2 slices. ;)
Seeing as how today is my birthday AND i’m a chocoholic, I’m going to say that there was divine intervention that you posted this recipe today!
And I’ll be making it as soon as possible. :)
It looks delicious and I LOVE your blog!
Oh, I shouldn’t have looked. I am currently on sweets overload from making 2 different types of cookies in 2 days. Yet, this is so tempting! If I should happen to break down and make it sometime soon, how long would those 26-30 cupcakes bake for? ;)
Oh and I have leftover frozen raspberries from when I went berry picking. It is too tempting!
Thanks Jessica, will give it a go!
Shelly…well, the egg substitute I used was made with real eggs so i guess you should go with Jessica’s recipe, but as for taste I noticed no diff, I think ALL THAT AWESOME CHOCOLATE knocked any oddness out. Really, you just need egg for binding and air.
I guess that is why carbonation substitutes well. six of one…. really mega goodness in this cake, no matter what you do to it, did I mention THE AWESOME CHOCOLATE POW-AH!
You two have convinced me, I am definately giving this a go, but will opt for the ganache due to the fact that this particular friend is so in love with chocolate and will absolutely flip for this, I’ll go whole hog, what the heck, your birthday only comes around once a year! Mine just happens to be on the same day as hers! Yay!
Stunning recipe, photos and blog as usual. Just love visiting and drooling:)
Recovering from a hand op at the mo but have 14year old son who loves to cook and bake. Will be pointing him in your direction when school finishes for the summer on Thursday.
Daughter, 12, is a chocolate queen so he may make this cake for her :)
Thanks for keeping my mouth watering ! Sue (suenicholson.blogspot)
Looks to die for, but I only have 8 or 9 inch cake pans.
Any idea how to adapt? 2 9″ cakes and a cupcake or 2? My husband will kill me if I buy more baking pans!
Amy — Most cupcakes bake for between 15 and 25 minutes, depending on the recipe, what’s in it and how full the liners are. I haven’t made these as cupcakes yet, so I’d just suggest that you start peaking at them every 2 to 3 minutes or so starting from the 15 minute mark, until a toothpick comes out clean. I’d also aim for 3/4 full. Most cupcakes need to be filled 2/3 to 3/4, but since these cakes didn’t rise terribly much (for me, at least), I think you’d be safe with 3/4. That said, the safest way to do it, and the way that will guarantee that you waste the least, if you have time to kill, is to put one in the oven alone to figure out the baking time and fullness you want from each and proceed from there.
Sharon — I actually only had 9″ pans, too, so I made three layers, which worked great. (The other one is stashed away for future use. Or snacking.) From what I gleamed from other Epicurious reviewers, people had had overflow issues when making 2 9-inch layers instead of 10, so best to divide it by three. Or, as you said, make 2 to 4 cupcakes and two fuller 9-inch circles.
That cake looks divine, and you are adorable!! The freckles and the hair and the mischievous expression, just adorable! (Sorry, I don’t mean to sound like your Aunt Mabel or anything, we’re probably close to the same age…)
I actually dreamed about this last night. Joking, I am not– I am an occasional reader, and apparently this post left quite the impression on my subconscious. Around 4 am I found myself in a field of rolling berries, at a huge party, explaining to everyone the genius of the pictured chocolate cake and berries- for dinner.
Perhaps I should keep these things to myself. Either way, thanks for the post!
If I win the lottery and hire a private plane to bring me to New York this very afternoon, will there still be a slice left for me???
Oh, this was a big mistake. I’ve been craving chocolate lately – chocolate cake, to be precise – and winning the battle, but now I’ve seen your gorgeous cake and all resolve is out the window.
Especially when you add a chilled slice of watermelon with it.
Cheers!
I will up for a chocolate cake dinner anytime you want. Anytime! You are beautiful on the picture. Gorgeous brown eyes.
Cannot…stop…drooling. And I’m about to go inflict a “light” lunch on myself because I already indulged this week (Homer’s oreo ice cream, which is delicious but nowhere near as good as this cake looks!), so those pictures are KILLIN’ me. The recipe seems a little daunting for a newbie like me, but I have a pair of foodie pals who’ll wanna cook it when they return in a couple weeks. Thanks!
I am still owed empenadas. Sigh. Those bitches ate them. I haven’t forgotten.
JOCE
Look how cute you are! Those are good freckles. Seriously. The good kind.
Love the cake, too.
Raspberry filling…brilliant! I made this same recipe from Gourmet, but as directed. It was probably one of the best chocolate cakes ever!
Love your interview.
Hi Sharon–
I actually have made this cake using 9 inch cake pans, and it worked fine. It made two beautiful, tall layers. It was ready after an hour (rather than an hour and ten minutes).
Deb,
I went to a dinner party on Saturday AND i had to make dessert (which I love to do) and I decided to make a chocolate cake with ganache and I sure would have LOVED to try your receipe. The one I found was from Epicurious and it was good, dense, and delish but not as pretty as yours, that’s for sure. I will be trying your recipe next.
A.
This is cruel. I’m at work and about a second and a half from licking my monitor. Wonder if that would warrant a call from HR. This cake looks amazing, and has instantly catapulted itself to the top of my “things I must make” list. My favorite dessert of late is from a video recipe i found here:
http://www.wolfappliance.com/livingkitchen/lifestyle/videogallery.aspx
It’s a flourless chocolate cake, which is fairly simple to make but extremely delicious. Enjoyed learning the recipe via video — felt like I was in my own cooking class!
Ok so the second i saw this post i was possessed by the need to make this cake…but HELP!!! what is grease paper? i have parchment & waxed, but cannot find or figure out what greased paper is. can you enlighten? i’m in nyc too, so if you say ‘fairway has it’, i can process that!!! thanks, sioux
Aw. “Grease paper” means that you should grease (like with butter or Crisco) the paper, on the side that you’ll be pouring the batter onto. Parchment paper is perfect for this. Should you not have it, waxed paper will do. Greasing the paper is like an extra layer of security, making sure when you peel it back, the cake doesn’t tear. (Especially this one, which is tremendously soft, moist, and I miss it a lot!) Good luck!
It’s my birthday tomorrow and while i will not be able to bake the cake > i have been so inspired and will be having chocolate cupcakes and watermelon slices for dinner in celebration! Thank you oh goddess you!!
I have been looking on the web for cakes to serve as dessert in my restaurant…who or what is a reliable source? thanks ….ohhh the picture is great you look really happy and cute!
Made this today for my wife’s birthday and it was fabulous. I swapped milk for the coffee, and did ganache all the way through… but still prepared the raspberry sauce to put on the individual slices of cake. Since I’m at a higher altitude I added another 10 minutes of cooking (probably could have done another 10, and maybe lowered the oven temperature to get more even cooking). Delicious—probably the best chocolate cake I’ve had (my wife sure thought so). Thanks for sharing.
Late to the party here, but any idea how to adapt the cake to fit in 2 9 inch pans?
Wow! I need to make a cake for my lil bro’s 21st – He’s a huge chocolate fan and I think this may just be THE recipie. However – I need a cake big enough to feed 50 people – or there abouts. Anyone have any ideas how I can make this recipie as a tray bake?
you are killing me here!!! all i can think about is “chocolate chocolate chocolate must have yummy chocolate!!!” i go absoluetly crazy if i don’t have sugar when my cravings come!!! i would like anything that has chocolate and sugar in it!!! especially sugar!!! anything sugary right now would hit the spot!!! i know that you have to keep calm when you’re craving something yummy, but right now mmmm a hershy bar would do just the trick right now!!! my last craving was on thursday andi was so hungry that i ate a whole chocolate bar!!! i probaly should have just taken a little bite. but i was starving!!! i was craving it so bad!!! and now i’ve gotta have some more!!! i can’t wait to bake a cake it will take too long and i need something now!!! immedietly!!! oh thank goodness i just remembered there’s a bag of MnMs in the pantry!!! i’ve gotta have it!!! it may not be a big fat juicy hershy bar but if it’s chocolate it’s good enough for me!!! :drool: *GROWWWWLLLL* that was my hungry tummy!!! *GROWWWWLLLL* gotta go eat the yummy juicy chocolate maybe after i’ve satisfied my craving i’ll have a feast with that juicy big fat yummy cake!!! gotta go those chocolates aren’t going to eat themselves you know!!! *GROWWWWLLLL* i’ll be back to talk about food when all of the chocolates are gone bye!!!*GROWWWWLLLL you know what my tummy is saying? it’s saying “CHOCOLATE!!!” well i have to give my tummy what it wants now bye! mmmm chocolate yummy for my tummy!!! mmmm!!!
How did you make the icing for the lettering? (The Happy Birthday etc.)
food porn indeed, Jennifer #12. I’m off to the shop to get the ingredients right now!
Oh Deb, you never fail to amaze. I made these into cupcakes and even without the frosting they are so chocolately and fantastic it’s hard to eat, ha. So good.
Just for posterity/other readers, I made some substitutions: milk instead of coffee; greek yogurt + a little milk instead of heavy cream. They were fantastic :)
How long would I bake these for if I made them into cupcakes? Would I use the same oven temp? I’m horrible at figuring out how to use different sized pans! Thanks!
Oh my, you ain’t kidding. After months of stalking and re-bookmarking this recipe, I finally made it in cupcake form. It really is Amazing with a capital A. SO moist! and rich! and yummy! And still fantastic four days later (can you imagine the self-restraint?).
For the benefit of future readers, I got 30 cupcakes plus a mini 8×8 cake out of this recipe. I filled the cups 2/3 of the way up (with a #20 scoop/disher), and they came out perfectly flat on top, which was great for pouring on a chocolate glaze. They baked for 22 minutes in my oven. Oh, and I subbed a 2 to 1 yogurt/milk mixture for buttermilk, and instant coffee+water rather than “real” coffee. Worked just fine :)
The 8×8 cake is nestled in my freezer for the next time a cake occasion happens. Or, you know, tomorrow, when I can’t resist making the test batch of swiss buttercream any longer.
Nice cake. I made it for my oldest son’s birthday last year and like most of the almost thousand people who had commented on epicurious when I decided to make it, it’s pretty good. What I can’t figure out is why I’m getting hits from this post on my site. Any clues? Tricks? Just curious. Even more funny? I think I may have had about 4 comments on my post when I baked it, so good on you for all this press. Nice job. ;)
Oh, now I’ve figured it out. Deborah, you are such a kind soul for linking me in your comments. THANKS!
Hi Deb thanks heaps for sharing this recipe!! :)
I just got interested in baking recently and stumbled upon yr site. Found this recipe last wkend, and baked this chocolatey cake – the 1st cake I’ve baked!! – for my friend’s birthday today!! :) it was so yummy and sinful!! we took the recommendation and had milk with it – heavenly!! there were 14 of us girls trying to finish the cake but it was impossible!!
The only thing is that my cakes didnt turn out flat on top (like yours in the pictures) and I don’t know why? I ended up inverting the upper-layer cake just to get a flat surface on top, and then there was this noticeable gap between the 2 layers at the sides where they wouldnt meet. Could you please shed some light on where I went wrong? I used two 8″ pans.
Thanks in advance and for such a wonderful recipe!! :)
Hi Danielle — I tend not to get a big dome on this recipe, but I know that there are a lot of variations in altitude and strength of baking powder and soda that can affect this. Nevertheless, if I get any noticeable dome on a layer cake, I simply level it with a long serrated knife. It makes the stacks more stable and less prone to cracking. Hope that helps (for next time at least!).
Great idea! Thanks Deb and have a lovely weekend!! :)
I made the cake today and need some help! I baked it at 300 for 55 min. – used 10″ pans but it was getting a bit brown around the edges and a tester came out clean. I cooled the cakes completely but couldn’t get the cakes out of the pans! I used Crisco to grease the pans and greased wax paper on the bottoms. Was it because I didn’t bake it long enough, should I have greased more generously or should I have floured the pan too? We’re having it tomorrow for hubby’s b-day. I tried to piece it together and I’m sure it will be delicious but I’d love to do better next time. My smitten kitchen e-mails are like a visit with a good friend. Thank-you (and all the people who post) for such wonderful tips!!
I made this for a friend, and had *little* bit of a mix up with the chocolate amount that went in the cake. When reading the recipe, I read the amt of chocolate that went in the frosting and added that to the cake. Whoops. Amazingly, I salvaged the whole thing, and it was the richest thing I’ve ever eaten. Everyone wanted the recipe though! Here are pics and the details of my baking snafu: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30151765&l=bb321&id=1352663224
The takeaway lesson? Don’t cook when rushed and distracted!
FANTASTIC! I made this cake for my chocoholic son’s 26th birthday. The entire family gave it a thumbs up (because their mouths were full of chocolate cake!) and demanded the recipe. I will happily share! For those of you who are afraid to make a cake from scratch don’t be, it is soooo easy! Follow the hints supplied above; grease the pans and parchment paper well with shortening, let the cakes cool completely before removing from the pans. I wrapped them in plastic wrap and assembled the cake the next day. I did not use the icing from this recipe but substituted another one that had a more fluffy appearance. Three days later the one remaining slice is still as moist as the first day (kept on a glass covered cake pedestal). Thank you, thank you. I love your website!
Ohhh, this looks beautiful, and just in time for my friend’s birthday :D.
I will definitely be making this.
I was just wondering, how did you make the coloured icing?
It is just plain icing tinted with food coloring.
i took the day off work to make this cake for a dinner party tonight. (gotta love a boss who so totally gets the importance of a well-made chocolate cake!)
i only had 9″ rounds so i used the excess for cupcakes. baked at 300 for 20 minutes. they turned out great and provided my taste buds with a little teaser for tonight. ;-) i love that this cake is both rich in flavor but light in texture. wonderful! thanks, deb.
I’ve just baked this cake for the second time since discovering your recipe in December, last year. Yum! Thanks!
I just baked your version of this cake (in heart shaped pans) for Valentine’s Day. Devine! The raspberry filling really takes it to the next level.
I was thinking of baking this again as cupcakes with raspberry filling. Do you think it would work to bake it with the filling, or better to fill after baked? Thanks!
This cake is unbelievable. It’s dark and rich and just a bit sticky (though that might be because I erred on the side of underbaking) and utterly amazing. Thanks for the recipe!
I have a chocolate lover’s birthday coming up so I made this cake, (though I haven’t assembled yet.) I baked the two ten inch cakes and made the raspberry filling and that’s as far as I’ve gotten. However, when taking the cakes out of the pans, one broke in half and fell all over the counter…………… the family has been picking up pieces off the counter and devouring them ever since. The broken one is already half gone! This cake is TO DIE FOR and I haven’t even leveled, torted, and frosted it yet! It is hands down the best chocolate cake I’ve ever tasted, and I’m not a huge chocolate cake fan (the texture usually turns me off) This is delicate, rich, moist, crumbly (I know that’s weird, but it’s true, it crumbles into these decedant little morsels, it’s heaven.) Today I’m going to half the cake recipe to replace the broken, devoured one and assemble the cake tomorrow. AMAZING recipe.
I made this cake yesterday, and it is fantastic. Thanks Deb! I stupidly used someone else’s ganache recipe, supposedly foolproof, which went grainy, so I’ll use yours next time.
I made this cake this afternoon, and it was amazing! I don’t even like chocolate cake all that much, and I was licking the plate. I followed it exactly as Deb wrote, and it turned out beautifully. Thanks so much, my family loved it. By far the best cake we’ve ever had!
I hate the taste of coffee, is there something I can use in place of it?
You can swap it with water, or water with a teaspoon of another flavoring in it.
This recipe works fabulously even if you only have 2 oz. of chocolate and 1 cup of cocoa powder. I also only added 1/2 cup of oil because in previous attempts to bake cakes with oil instead of butter, they always seem too wet, like they never fully bake. I made the full recipe in a 9″ x 13″ pan. It didn’t dome at all. I lined the bottom with parchment and sprayed with Baker’s Joy and nothing stuck. It was frosted with a whipped cream/cream cheese frosting. I’ll never look at another chocolate cake recipe again. This one owns my heart!
Two questions
1. Is this cake coffee tasting or does the coffee just bring out the flavor of the chocolate. I want to make it for kids and it probably should be more chocolately than coffee tasting (I know I can use decaf)
2. Can you give a recipe for the icing you tinted for decoration?
your cake looks lovely
Oh, and a third question (:-)
Is the ganache frosting thick enough to pipe rosettes or stars (if I want to skip the plain icing decorations and want to decorate instead with the frosting for the cake?)
I don’t taste the coffee, ever. If you’re sensitive to coffee, you might. The piping decorating is a quick buttercream, some butter whipped with powdered sugar and tinted with food coloring. Ganache can be cooled enough to pipe but it will never pipe as well as a real, whipped frosting. Ganache itself can be whipped, though — after a long time being beaten, it gets fluffy and lighter. You could pipe that instead.
thanks for the quick response! so many wonderful cakes on this site
Hi Deb! Sorry if you’ve answered this elsewhere, but what’s your preferred greasing substance? I’ve read good things about Baker’s Joy but haven’t tried it yet, and Pam never quite works well for me. I’m kinda scared of shortening, but I’d be willing to brave it if it works best :) Thanks!
I use butter or a butter-flour spray. Mostly a “butter”-flour spray these days. It is a lifesaver, and never fails.
Deb, I’m going to make this recipe into minicupcakes for a birthday party. I can’t wait.
Any thoughts on frosting? I want a chocolate-something. I think the ganache might be too heavy? Any good chocolate buttercream recipes?
Deb – I was just about to completely give up on you. I love your recipes, but I have several pairs of pants and a roommate who rue the day I discovered your site. The pants because I’m constantly cooking. The roommate because I’m always making a mess when I cook. Then I tasted the batter. Then I tasted one of the extra cupcakes that I made. And even though it was a little burned (was on the bottom rack) it was so yummy and just chocolatey enough and just sweet enough. I love you, but I hate you.
Oh I am eating this cake as we speak for breakfast (dangerous!)! a met a woman at a party who made this yummy cake! she did slave over all the details but the end result that went in my tummy was delicious! hope to visit you nxt time i come by!!
Hi Gracie, thank you for the yummy cake!
Haha – So Deb you can see that this cake is a HIT. I took it to a potluck and Stella (above) made sure to take a big piece home. And the anti-chocolate boyfriend scarfed down all but the last corner of cake + frosting (mostly frosting).
Aurora, my buttercream frosting (which is what I used instead of ganache) is: 2 sticks butter, 4 oz unsweetened chocolate melted and 2+cups powdered sugar (I never measure). I get the butter fluffy then add about 1.5-2cups of sugar, then the melted chocolate, then more sugar as needed. To thin I add a little half and half or milk. I needed not quite 2 batches (one thinned with milk, one not) to cover this cake.
Just wanted to thank you I made this for my friends birthday yesterday and it was my first layer cake ever! With your instructions plus cake tips it went off without a hitch! Ok, it leaned a little but the only person who said anything about it was my fiancee(silly silly man).Thank you so much!
I made this cake (with the raspberry filling) for a friend’s birthday/PhD defense party, and I hear it was a huge hit! (I sent the cake and went to a baby shower; busy night.) She pronounced it “the best birthday cake I’ve ever had”. I used melted white chocolate, another trick of yours, to pipe on the “Happy Birthday” and to draw salamanders (the birthday girl’s study animal) along the sides. Fun!
Hi Deb! I’m making this cake right now for my parents, who are both turning 52 this weekend. I can’t believe I have to wait until tomorrow after dinner to taste it!
I made this cake today without the raspberry filling and using 2 x 8in cake tins. I split the cocoa between dutch and non-dutch process and used full fat natural yoghurt instead of the buttermilk. For the ganache, I increased the quantity of all the ingredients by 50 percent but at the same time used only 320g chocolate (2/3rds of which 70% dark choc and 1/3 creamy milk choc). I also used honey instead of the corn syrup, which I don’t have. The ganache was DREAMY, although next time I will tip it even more in the direction of milk choc and use less dark choc to lessen the chocolate intensity.
The result was a stunning, gorgeously decadent cake but because I find it difficult to taste something properly until a day after I’ve made it, I have yet to savour it properly.
Savoured properly, this is a stunning cake. I agree with Kelley (above) though in that I can see it working with just 1 cup of cocoa. I would want to take the chocolate intensity away from dark to milk overall but the overwhelming verdict on this cake from everyone at work is that it is gorgeous just the way it is . . .
sorry, but I thought this frosting was terrible, I tried to save it with some sweetened whipped cream to no avail. I used semi-sweet chocolate Valrhona, I can’t imagine if I had used bitter sweet, this is proof of different strokes for different folks.
Hi Deb. I love this site to pieces! I’m making this cake for a friend for a surprise party but I only have 9×13 pans and no time to buy the rounds. What allowances do I need to make for a 2 layer cake?
Amy — Unless someone else in the comments has made this alteration — I have not — you’ll just need to watch the oven and the baking time to make it work. And then let us know how it goes so the next person who wants to make this change has your experience to pull from! Thanks.
The cake fantastic, my daughter was almost licking the frosting off the cake while we were piling it on………….lovely
Can a simple syrup be used in place of the corn syrup in the frosting? I have a friend who’s allergic to corn (& all corn products), and I want to make her a birthday cake… thanks!
I haven’t tried it, but I suspect that it would work. Or you can try honey.
I’m dying to try making this cake, but I want to use Callebaut cocoa powder (personal favorite), which is Dutch processed. Will that disastrously mess with the pH of the recipe? Is there anyway I can change up the baking powder to baking soda ratio in order to correct for that?
I made this cake. It’s to die for.
Love your site! Thanks!
I’m just wondering if you can taste the coffee in this cake? I want to make this for a friend who is not a coffee fan. I’m afraid to leave it out and mess up the recipe. Also, I wanted to turn this into a Cookies n Cream type cake with vanilla frosting. Do you suggest this recipe or the Devil Dog/Hostess Cake recipe? I know they both use coffee. Thanks!
I respond to other questions about the coffee in both comment 109 and 113. In short: I don’t notice the coffee but if you’re worried, skip it. This is the same basic cake recipe as the Devil Dog etc. cake.
Just made this last night-used the ganache filling because I didn’t have the raspberries. It was, I think, the very best cake I’ve ever had-THANK YOU! I can’t wait to make it with the raspberry…love your blog so much-thanks!!
I made this cake 2 nights ago and it was amazing. I used cake flour because for once, it was all I had. Normally, it’s the opposite…all I have is cake flour. I replaced 1 cup of the sugar with brown because I ran out of white, and I used a 1/2 cup less coffee because I was worried about the cake being too liquidy (as cake flour is lighter). It was the perfect texture and richness. I loved it. Very chocolately without being too dark; fudgey without being too rich. And for those worried about too pronunced of a coffee flavor, my sister who hates coffee never noticed it was in there and I brew my coffee very strongly. It complimented the chocolate without being over the top. This just became my new favorite chocolate cake recipe. Thank you!
Two more things: I didn’t have parchment or wax paper and I didn’t want to run out just for it so I heavily greased the sides of 3 8-inch pans. I used a little extra powder than called for and it rose beautifully. It was a little hard to get out but I did manage to do it (although I didn’t wait until it was completely cool — I never do). That said, next time I will make sure I use parchment or wax paper in the pans.
I made this yesterday for my dh’s birthday and it is super rich and wonderfully moist. Though I bake nonstop, this was my first layer cake! I learned a few things (things I could have learned had I read the comments FIRST, mind you), like you canNOT just sub 9 inch pans for 10 inch. Definitely spilled over the sides. I took it out after 55 minutes because the edges looked definitely done and the tester cake out perfectly clean, but I will let it go longer next time because the it probably needed that extra 5 to firm up a tad more. I also made the raspberry sauce (YUM) but the layers were too moist for me to cut, so I just did a layer of raspberry on one cake and chocolate on the other and put them facing each other- this worked great. I didn’t think there was enough chocolate (for some reason..) and whipped 1 cup of cream with cocoa and folded it in- this lightenend the texture and extended the frosting- good thing because I used it all LOL! I think it was because I did a crumb coat maybe. Anyway, it was fantastic, enjoyed by all! THANK YOU!
I just came back from a BBQ for which I’d baked this and I just had to share the fact that everyone loved this! In fact, everyone loved it so much that no one ate a cheesecake someone else had made, making me feel so guilty that I insisted I loved the cheesecake so much I wanted to bring a large chunk of it home with me. Heh.
Anyway, I made some changes.
1. About 3oz of milk chocolate in the frosting (I didn’t have 1 lb dark chocolate leftover after making the layers)
2. Used 8″ pans, so I got three layers about 2″ thick. I used all three, didn’t split them horizontally since I figured there was no need to do that as they weren’t too thick to begin with.
Thanks!!
I would love to make this lovely cake for a friend’s birthday, however she has celiac…do you think I would get the same results with almond flour instead of regular flour?
Thanks for all the lovely recipes!
Hi Deb. I have actually made this cake twice. Got the recipe from epicurious.com. It is so decadent the only problem I have with this cake is that it falls apart when I’m decorating. It’s more like the sides of the cake that fall off when I cover it with frosting. From the comments I’ve read on epicurious and other sites quite a lot of other bakers have had the exact same problem. I wonder if you’ve ever had any such problems with this cake. I hope to fix it cause I really love this cake.
Thanks for a wonderful blog.
I recommend freezing the layers before you work with them. I talk about this and other layer cake tips in this post.
Deb – I made this cake for my mom and sister’s birthday recently. It was absolutely delicious!!!! Loved it!!!! The only problem I had was the middle of the cake kind of sank in. Do you know why this happened or have any suggestions to avoid this in the future?
I’ve noticed a few other questions regarding dutch process cocoa, but haven’t found an answer. Do you know why this recipe urges against dutch process and the chocolate peanut butter cake recommends it?
This cake is fabulous! I made it (along with your ganache and raspberry filling) for the groom’s cake at my nieces wedding this past weekend. It was a huge hit! You were right about it being so moist though.. I had some trouble moving it around.. and almost lost the whole thing at one point. It was so worth the time that went into it though! Just need to make it on a smaller scale next time :) Thanks!
Can I substitute the coffee for something else?
Another fan here! Made the cake for my son’s 1st birthday. Covered it with while fondant and everyone “hated” me for making such a good cake. So, thank you for posting the recipe!
Adding picture instead of website :)
Delicious!
Made this into cupcakes and they are without fail the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten.
AMAZING!! It was my bday yesterday and I made this cake and it was so, so, so good.
This sounds absolutely amazing, and I’m plannign to make it for my husband’s birthday this weekend. Baking the layers tonigth adn freezing them (thanks for the tip Deb). But I don’t understand the diff between dutch process cocoa and non-Dutch processed cocoa. Is it terrible if I use the dependable Fry’s cocoa I always bake with (made by Cadbury’s)? Help? Also, what kind of icing did you use for the lovely coloured decorations on the cake?