I don’t need to do a lot of explaining today since I sang my chocolate cake praises in my last post. If you missed it, this is the cake recipe that goes with this chocolate frosting that I could eat plain from a bowl. The cake was on the cover of the “All-Time Best Recipes” Collector’s Edition from Cook’s Illustrated. My one piece of advice is that you take the time to follow all of the steps as written. What I’ve found with Cook’s Illustrated is that every minute step and process has a very specific purpose. These people try a recipe 428 different ways in order to get the best result- so I try not to stray too much- especially when it comes to baking! This is just a great, basic, perfectly chocolaty, moist, delicious old-fashioned cake. I say we just get right to it, don’t you? Oh, one tip first: When I’m embarking on a big project like this (not that a cake is a huge project, but it does take time. And lots of dishes.) I often make the cakes one day in advance. When completely cooled, wrap well with plastic wrap and then place in an airtight container. Either store overnight, or pop in the freezer for a few days (or weeks). Totally cuts down on time and dishes the day you will be making and eating your delicious cake!
Alrighty then. Unsweetened chocolate. If you are like me, this will instantly take you back to your childhood when you sneaked into the pantry and assumed it was semi-sweet. Mean Mom, very mean.
Use a small glass or metal bowl to create a double boiler. This pudding-like mixture is one of the tricks to the great texture of the cake. We’ve got the melted chocolate in there, as well as some cocoa powder and hot water.
It will start to thicken, and if you let it- it becomes quite thick.
But then you add some sugar
And it magically becomes soft and smooth and glossy.
I love magic of the chocolate variety.
Set that aside to cool and you’ll whisk up some eggs until they’re nice and frothy. The recipe calls for a stand mixer,
but you can certainly make this with a hand mixer as well.
In goes more sugar, because, well, we’re making a cake here people.
And then that chocolate pudding-ish stuff
And then some very soft butter. Seriously, soft. Not melted, just super duper soft. Apparently I have no pictures of super soft butter, but trust me. It’s in there.
Mix up those dry ingredients
and alternate them with the buttermilk + vanilla. Yes, it’s important to alternate! I have a hunch there’s people who ignore that step in baking, and it definitely affects the outcome.
If you dump everything in at once, you’re just making a big chocolate muffin 🙂
In the batter goes to the pan and then onto the oven. Here’s a trick: When you are inverting a warm cake to a cooling rack, place a paper towel down first. It will still let the air circulate, but it prevents the cake from sticking to the rack.
Once those babies are cooled you can frost. Place your first layer on your serving platter or cake plate and slather some frosting on top.
Place the other layer on top and try to pretend it’s not just a huge whoopie pie wanting to be eaten right then and there.
From there, I don’t try to be pretty, I just start slathering. Place a large amount on top so that you always have something to spread around.
This way you don’t really need a crumb layer.
Try to get everything evenly coated- seriously, doesn’t have to be pretty yet! It’s more important that the frosting is evenly distributed. See? Messy cake.
Once you are to that point, you can use an off-set spatula to gently smooth out the sides. It helps to run the spatula under very hot water first and dry it off before spreading.
For the top, I just use a spatula, or even a spoon, and make sort of a figure eight pattern to swirl it around. We’re going for sort of a casual elegance here. Shabby-Chic. Casual Friday, but with heels. Catch my drift?
Then you can cut into that sucker…
And I will not judge you for making moaning sounds when taking your first bite.
And possibly every bite thereafter.
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake
Cooks Illustrated All-Time Best Recipes, David Pazmino
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.
12 Tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft, plus extra for greasing pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting pans
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsley chopped
1/4 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 cup hot water
1 3/4 C sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs, plus 2 large egg yolks
Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch round by 2 inch high cake pans with butter; dust pans with flour and knock out excess. Combine chocolate, cocoa powder, and hot water in medium heatproof bowl; set bowl over saucepan containing 1 inch of simmering water and stir with rubber spatula until chocolate ins melted, about 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup sugar to chocolate and stir until glossy, 1-2 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and set aside to cool.
Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Combine buttermilk and vanilla in small bowl. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whisk eggs and yolks on medium-low speed until combined, about 10 seconds. Add remaining 1 1/4 C sugar, increase speed to high, and whis until fluffy and lightened in color, 2-3 minutes. Replace whisk with paddle attachment. Add cooled chocolate mixture to egg/sugar mixture and mix on medium speed until thoroughly incorporated, 30-45 seconds, pausing to scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing about 10 seconds after each addition. Add about 1/3 of flour mixture; followed by half of buttermilk mixture mixing until incorporated after each addition (about 15 seconds.) Repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining buttermilk mixture (batter may appear separated.) Scrape down sides of bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at medium low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans; smooth batter to edges of pan with spatula.
Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 25-30minutes. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack. Cool cakes to room temperature before frosting, 45-60 minutes.
Frost with: Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting
Questions & Reviews
Ok – I might be doing something “illegal” here with this cake, but I am making a cake for my son’s birthday Sunday. I found your Perfect Cupcake Frosting recipe (which does sound perfect — not too sweet!), so I thought I’d try your site out for a chocolate cake recipe, too. This sounds divine. Three questions:
1) How do you think this recipe would pair with that frosting recipe? (I know — can’t beat chocolate on chocolate, but I need to use colors. :o) )
2) Has anyone tried this in a 7 x 11 pan? (I did the math and the volume of two 7×11 layers is 1.2 times the volume of the two round layers.) Any suggestions?
3) The cake looks like it almost has a brownie-type texture. Does it?
1. That frosting is delicious with this cake, you’ll definitely want to double the frosting recipe
2. Never tried that cake pan size, but I’m sure it’s fine. You’ll trim the excess anyway.
3. No, not a brownie texture- fluffy cake texture 🙂
Attention High Altitude readers! I made this yesterday for my DH’s birthday. I was a bit worried because I have terrible luck with scratch cakes, because I live at high altitude (5400 ft in Denver area). It fell a little, but not too badly. I reduced the amount of baking soda to 1 tsp and if I made it again, I’d try adding about 1/4 c. flour as well and I think that might take care of it. The cake & frosting were gorgeous and everyone at the party loved it!
You can also reduce the amount of sugar slightly. I have had the worst trouble with falling cakes but when I reduce the sugar and cook at a lower temp, it does not tend to fall. Also make sure your sugar is combined well, should not be very grainy.
Hello from up in Artic Canada! Beautiful Cake recipe. I stumbled onto your site yesturday and tomorrow when i put out a giant version of your recipe the crew i cook for will be as well. I look forward to try more of the recipes on your site. Always looking to try new and old recipes and never have felt the urge to leave a comment till now.
Thank you.
Can’t wait to try this! Had to laugh about the bittersweet chocolate. When I was little my dad would always come and take a big scoop of cookie dough, brownie batter, whatever I was baking. So one day I left out a spatula covered with melted bittersweet chocolate…he he.
If I want to make this cake in advance and freeze it, do I frost it and then freeze it? Or should I just freeze the actual cake and then frost it later? How long does it take to thaw?
Definitely freeze BEFORE frosting. You can even frost it while still frozen; cake doesn’t take long to defrost; let it sit at room temp for an hour or so and you should be good!
So, I’m sure this cake is divine, as long as one manages NOT to fill one pan a little more than the other, which isn’t that bad, except that one should also not put the baking rack in crooked and then not realize it, causing one of the cake pans to spill all over the oven whilst baking, which then causes the oven to smoke because there is cake batter dripping all over the heating element, which then causes the cake to smell burnt because, let’s face it, the oven was filled with smoke while it was cooking. The frosting, however, WAS divine. 😀
So this may be the dumbest question, but here goes. When you say 4 eggs plus 2 yolks, are you talking 4 egg whites with 2 yolks or 4 whole eggs PLUS 2 yolks? Can’t wait to try this out!
Totally not a dumb question at all! It means 4 whole eggs, plus an additional 2 yolks
Do you think this recipe would work if I used Gluten free flour like Pamelas?
No idea Nancy, I’ve never cooked with Gluten free flour- sorry!
THANK YOU for this recommendation! What a delicious recipe! I made it for my husband’s birthday cake tonight, and I loved it!! It was a lot more effort than the usual box mixes I make, but it certainly was special!
*Seriously* one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever tasted. Unfortunately, I made it as cupcakes using foil wrappers and the cake stuck to the wrappers. Not very pretty. :-/ (I still ate 3, but don’t tell anyone…)
I *will* make it again as a cake next time (in some heavily greased pans) because it is just plain awesome. Yum! Next time I’ll even add the frosting!