I’m pretty sure something biological happened to me about the same time I became a mother. At least that’s when I remember it happening. That was the point when I realized I couldn’t live without chocolate. I found myself thinking about chocolate, craving chocolate, scouring my pantry for spare chocolate chips that may have fallen out of a bag at some point and landed in some random corner. And I wouldn’t by any means call myself a chocolate snob (because I’m pretty sure anyone who makes that proclamation wouldn’t be on their hands and knees in the pantry looking for old chocolate chips) but I do have an appreciation for quality chocolate. And I don’t like it overloaded with sugar- the darker the better in my book. I even love bittersweet chocolate. But when it comes down to it, if it’s got chocolate in it- I’m down. So needless to say, a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting pretty much rocks my world.
Everyone in my opinion needs a great, basic, go-to chocolate cake recipe. And while there’s a time and a place for boxed cake mixes, everyone needs a good homemade, from scratch recipe. I’ve used this Hershey’s recipe quite a bit over the years, and I still love it. But several years ago I bought the “Best Recipes” issue of Cook’s Illustrated, partially because this cake was on the cover. I finally had a great excuse to make it last month and I wish I would have done it years ago. It’s definitely one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve ever tasted.
I started going through the pictures for this cake and realized the post would quickly turn into a novel, so I’m splitting it into two installments. Frosting today, cake on Wednesday! Don’t be turned off by the number of steps here. I almost was and I’m so glad I stuck with the recipe and made this frosting. It’s more labor intensive than beating some butter, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder together but it’s sooo worth it.
Start by melting some chocolate. The glass bowl you see in the pictures is sitting on top of a pan of simmering water.
After the chocolate is melted, set the bowl aside and dump out the water that was in the pan. Now you’ve already got a warm pan for the next step (butter melting). Remember that when you read the recipe and it tells you to use 2 pans. I’m all about one less dish to have sitting in my sink for days wash.
To the melted butter, you’ll add a little corn syrup, vanilla, and granulated sugar.
As soon as it’s all melted together and the sugar is dissolved, add it to a large bowl along with…
the chocolate. The beautiful, glorious, melted chocolate. And no I did not stick my finger in that as it was pouring down like a chocolate waterfall just begging for someone to stick their finger in it…
And also some heavy cream. You know, for good measure.
You’ll stir this all together and have sort of a chocolate sauce consistency. Place your bowl in a bowl of ice to bring the temperature down, and just keep stirring until the mixture starts hardening against the side of the bowl. Then you can pop the paddle attachment on your mixer and start whipping. Magically it turns thick and fluffy.
I was actually super impatient when I made this and didn’t wait for it to cool enough that the mixture was sticking to the sides of the bowl. So my whipped frosting was reeealy soft. I just popped it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes and it was perfect.
The flavor is so perfect. It’s sweet, but not too sweet, so the great chocolate flavor really shines through.
and when combined with the chocolate cake, it’s perfection.
I should also note that the texture is so light and soft, and whippy, that this frosting would probably be best for slathering- like smeared all over a cake, or just plopped on top of cupcakes, as opposed to piping. If you’re looking for a good chocolate icing for piping- try this one!
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting
Cooks Illustrated Best Recipes Issue, 12/09
16 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (I measured 16oz chocolate chips on a kitchen scale, it’s a teeny bit more than 2 1/2 cups.)
8 Tbs (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbs corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp table salt
1 1/4 cups cold heavy cream
Melt Chocolate in heatproof bowl set over a saucepan containing 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside. Meanwhile, heat butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat until melted. Increase heat to medium; add sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt and stir with heatproof rubber spatula until sugar is dissolved, 4-5 minutes. Add melted chocolate, butter mixture, and cream to clean bowl of stand mixer and stir to thoroughly combine.
Place mixer bowl over ice bath and stir mixture constantly with rubber spatula until frosting is thick and just beginning to harden against sides of bowl, 1-2 minutes (frosting should be 70 degrees). Place bowl on stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until frosting is light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Stir with rubber spatula until completely smooth. *If you find after beating, your frosting is still too soft for your liking, try chilling in the fridge until it sets up a little more.
Questions & Reviews
uugghhh, I am soooo bummed. I just made the cake last night…. it completely fell. I finally read through all the comments and figured it was bc of my altitude (6200ft) and next time will add the flour, etc. but I was sure the frosting would still be a success. it has been going in the kithenaid for 10 minutes and is not whipping up at all. I cooled it, checked temp, went over all the steps. I (think) am pretty good in the kitchen, love to bake and this is the frist time I feel like a recipe I’ve tried has failed. The frosting is in the fridge right now, I’m hoping I can salvage it… of course I think it’s mostly cosmetic, I will prob still enjoy eating a plate of piled with chocolate (since I don’t see it holding any form! lol!) I’ll have to try it again tho….
That’s strange- I’ve never had it not work before. Better luck next time!
One year later (my husbands bday again!) and I’m giving this cake another shot. FYI I baked using the High Altitude adjustments that Cady listed below and it is perfect!! Yay!! It would be super helpful if any known altitude adjustments are mentioned with a recipe. Thanks!
Super yummy. I made the cake into cupcakes and used tis frosting.. It was really good. I tried the other frosting to with the flour and it was yummy too. I made the rainbow cupcakes with the regular flour frosting and used lemon extract, my daughter loved these for her class for her birthday. I made the chocolate cake for her birthday cake.
I feel like an utter failture. I tried making this several weeks ago and it was one of my biggest kitchen flops! After I added the chocolate and iced the bowl, it turned to a solid fudge state that no amount of whipping would fix! What did I do wrong?!? Can you think of anything that I may have done? Maybe I cooked the butter/corn syrup/sugar too long?
hmmm, I really don’t know Angela. I’ve only made this once so I’m not sure!
This frosting is the best we have ever tasted!! So amazing!! Its our new family favorite. Thanks!
With the semi-sweet chips do I measure 16oz of chips then chop them or chop the chips first and measure 16 oz.
Thank you.
Tish it doesn’t matter, you’re measuring 16 oz by weight, not by volume. So it weighs the same whether it’s chopped or not.
any idea of how many cups of chocolate chips is 16 oz.?
um, yes. But I want to make sure before I write it here! I’ll have to double check on my scale for ya.
Did you figure out how many cups it is? I don’t have a scale at home and want to be exact.
Megan, I’m sorry I forgot to come back and answer that! 16ounces chips is about 2 2/3 Cups.
I made this frosting for my sons birthday cake! It was perfect and everyone was RAVING about the frosting. Melt in your mouth delicious! I will never make a different chocolate frosting again. EVER! 🙂
Link to the cake if you want to see it. 🙂
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28774861@N08/5752369572/in/photostream
SUCH a fun cake Heather!
THIS WAS AMAZING! I made a white layer cake and this frosting made it so good! There was enough frosting for all three layers. I am always on a hunt for good tasting frostings. I’m pretty picky. This was perfect! Thank you for the recipe!
I want to make this frosting for a birthday party on Sunday. But because the party is far away, I’d like to make it and the cake ahead so that I can put them together there. Will that work? I don’t want to ruin the frosting by making it too cold.
You know, I’m not sure Geneve! Depends on a lot of things. You might have to chill it or warm it when it’s time to use it depending on the temperature along the way. The note in the recipe says:
Note: Don’t make the frosting until the cakes are cooled, and use the frosting as soon as it is ready. If the frosting gets too stiff to spread easily, wrap the mixer bowl with a towel soaked in hot water adn mix on low speed until the frosting is creamy and smooth. Refrigerated leftover cake should sit at room temperature before serving until the frosting softens.
Well it made me nervous not to follow directions, so I froze the cake overnight, made the frosting this morning and frosted the cake. Then I put it into the fridge until we left. By the time we ate it, it was thawed enough again and was perfect. Delicious! And it was a big hit!
Do you think that I could use milk in place of the heavy cream? Thanks!
Nope- the cream is an absolute must!