Deep Chocolate Cake
This deep chocolate cake can do me no wrong.
I had used this recipe bake in the summer and knew right away I had to make this cake for Christmas.
Flash forward to December of 2015 and I’m making this same amazing deep chocolate flavored cake again.
Pulled from the blog Savor the Best, the ingredient list looked like any oil-based chocolate cake. In the instruction the simple act of mixing the chocolate with the hot coffee, intensified the chocolate flavor.
I knew there was something to adding the cocoa to the coffee, yet I never had an exact word for it. To the rescue: Cook’s Illustrated. In their special issue magazine, All-Time Best Chocolate Recipes, the act of combing chocolate with a warm liquid seems to heighten the deep notes of chocolate. The technique of “blooming” chocolate in the hot coffee intensifies the chocolate flavor.
I may have to rescind my first statement. This deep chocolate cake does me wrong with assembly. Since this cake is so moist, it is more of a make-ahead sort of recipe. Don’t think you’ll have this cake ready to go within a single afternoon. I learned the hard way. Without a few hours in the refrigerator, the deep chocolate cake crumbles when you try to frost it too soon. Upon frosting it too early, I had cake scrapes. Cake crumbs are good for cake pops, but not for an actual layer cake.
Since it was the holidays, I decided to go rich. I added cannoli filling in between the layers of this deep chocolate cake and topped it with a classic cream cheese frosting. This cake will go well with any sort of frosting (think an awesome chocolate raspberry cake). Here I am sharing the recipe for the foundation basic deep chocolate cake with a classic cream cheese frosting.
- For the Deep Chocolate Cake:
- 1 cup cocoa cocoa (not Dutch processed)
- 1 cup strong coffee, warm
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- For the Classic Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 16 ounces (2 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 lbs powdered sugar, sifted
- Splash of milk (as needed)
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Spray three 8-inch cake pans with baking spray set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the hot coffee and cocoa together until smooth. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using the paddle attachment to blend the dry ingredients together, about 30 seconds.
- Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla in another bowl.
- Add the eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and the cocoa mixture to the mixed dry ingredients. Mix the mixture on low speed for 30 seconds until the dry ingredients are moist. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and beat for another minute. The batter will be thin.
- Pour the batter into the three prepared pans and place in the center of the preheated oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out mostly clean.
- Let cool in the cake pans for 5 to 10 minutes then invert the cakes onto wire racks to cool completely.
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attatchment, combine cream cheese and butter on a medium speed until fluffy and lump free, about 4 to 5 minutes.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat the vanilla to combine.
- Slowly add the sifted powdered sugar. If the frosting is thick, loosen it up with a tablespoon or so of milk.
- Beat until light and fluffy.
- If the layers are domed, level off the cakes, so each layer is flat.
- Frost each layerwith frosting and then stack the next layer on top.
- Do a light crumb coating on the outside of the cake and let the cake chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
- Frost the cake with a final coat.