Tomorrow is Justin's 30th birthday. We celebrated yesterday. One day while I was in the process of figuring out what kind of cake to make Rebecca and I happened to browse through my Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook...yes, Rebecca likes to read cookbooks with me :) And I came across her recipe for Beatty's Chocolate Cake. It looked so chocolatey and good. I decided to try it. The secret is that she uses coffee to really bring out the chocolate flavor. This is a VERY moist cake...super chocolatey. And very very good :) I'm glad I tried it. All 3 of us love it. I also made her recipe for chocolate frosting to go with it. It was also really good. A little on the light/fluffy side for my personal taste, but still very good. And I think the frosting has a bit too much coffee flavor...again, for my taste. Justin thought it was great. This is a cake I'll make again for sure! We had it with homemade chocolate peanut butter cookies and cream ice cream (I fournd some organic oreo-type cookies with peanut butter filling...mmmm).
What a birthday treat!! Poor us...having to eat this for a few days in a row :) I'll probably have to freeze some of the cake, though. It's quite rich, so you can't eat a huge piece. And I don't think any of us needs to eat it every day for a week straight :P Try to focus on the pictures of the actual cake and not the decoration. I did the frosting/decorating in a rush early in the morning. And Justin told me to use his cake to experiment with some tools he had gotten me for Christmas. So this was my first attempt at the side deco. I was also using up some old icing...that was not very good consistency. So shortly after I took the pics it just started to all melt together. Glad I took a few pics right away :)
Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.
6 oz. good semisweet chocolate
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 Tbsp. instant coffee powder
Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.
And here are a couple pics of the cake Justin is bringing to work. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting in the middle and cream cheese frosting on the outside.
The cakes look great! I've made some of Ina's brownies and one of her chocolate cakes before (maybe it was this one, but I don't remember what it was called... it was years ago when we lived in our Thornridge Apartment) - all of which have used the coffee to enhance the flavor. I often do that when I make things chocolate now, too. Yum!
ReplyDeleteUm...we can definitely help you out if you need assistance in finishing the chocolate cake!!!
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