I know I have mentioned avoiding turn my oven in summer, but if I I'll turn it on, it should be something easy 1- and 2- delicious. Also- it happened to my husband's birthday and he wanted cake and that is what he got. Classic, rich, fudge chocolate cake that is so easy to throw together, I can be shooting my oven for this on a weekly basis.
I've never had much luck with cake layers (they always seem to be unbalanced or filling eventually seep sides) so I am very proud that this baby was right and pretty. (Though I still owe decorating lessons, "rustic swirls" seem to be the only trick up my sleeve now.) The fact that this cake is much softer dense aid superposition too- maybe next time I'll be brave and try 3 layers !!
Oh funny story- as delicious as the cake has finished, you should have seen the two layers that I wasted my fancy on which cocoa powder ended up in the trash. I knew they looked a little weird and I was so surprised that they cooked in 12 minutes (it would have taken at least 30.) I thought maybe my fancy cocoa powder was to blame for that I have let them cool, thinking that they actually didn 't go up a lot and I'd probably need a third layer. I start whipping another small batch of dough and a huge light bulb goes off. SUGAR. Oh man yup- I just totally forgot to add sugar to the first batch. Is not it crazy how it affects more taste? I laugh to myself for a few minutes, cried a little inside and then started over.
One last thing- I will have more time draws with summer recipes that both sound good / feasible. It can be a combination of me being under the weather and not really feel like candy, or heat, or just want to relax in the summer sun. things can be anyway a little slower here in the coming weeks. I promise I'm not going anywhere, I just want to give you the quality over quantity and I have to wait until more good ideas come my way. Do not hesitate to spend a little on and I thank you for your patience so. I'll try to think of other ways to fill my blog space at the same time too!
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder *
- 2 and ¼ cups all purpose
- 2 and ¼ cup sugar
- 2 and ¼ teaspoons baking soda coffee
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons hot water
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons buttermilk
- 4½ tablespoons safflower oil
- 1½ tablespoons coffee pure vanilla extract
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup cocoa powder *
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (I used coconut which was delicious if you have it.)
- 3-4 tablespoons milk or cream
- Preheat oven to 350 F. butter two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans, sprinkle with flour and line with parchment rounds. Put aside.
- In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, soda and salt.) Whisk together and mix well.
- Add the rest of ingredients- (eggs, buttermilk, hot water, oil and vanilla) and whisk until smooth, clump free and shiny. (Do not over mix)
- Divide the batter evenly into the pans and bake for 30-40 minutes (depending on your oven) or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting
- In bowl of medium to large size, mix the butter, powdered sugar and cocoa and mix with an electric mixer until the dry ingredients have been prepared in butter , and the mixture is thick and pasty. Add the extract and 3 tablespoons milk or cream and mix at high speed until smooth and fluffy. At this point, create a more or less thick frosting by adding more milk / cream or powdered sugar, if needed.
- Frost and layer cake as desired.
Cake recipe adapted from Martha Stewart