chocolate cake recipe needed
Hello everyone! One of my friends is having a birthday party this weekend and I'm going to be making the cake. She loves chocolate in pretty much any form so I was going to start there. I've made lots of cakes over the years but I can't think of a seriously chocolatey chocolate cake recipe that really stands out. Does anyone have one that you love so much that you go back to it over and over? My friend makes a very nice flourless chocolate cake herself, so I don't want to do that. I was thinking more along the lines of a traditional layered birthday cake, but I'm open to creative twists. I also have fun doing decorations even though I'm no expert. Any suggestions (hopefully with recipes or recipe links) would be much appreciated!
Summer
This is my favorite chocolate cake. It is soft, light and moist, with a fine, even crumb. A high-rising American-style chocolate cake comparable to devil's food, from one of my favorite baking books, A World of Baking by Dolores Casella. It takes 24-48 hours for the flavor to really develop, so be sure to bake at least 1 day ahead. -dw
Ice Water Chocolate Cake
This cake is tender, delicate, and tall, as delicious to look at as to eat. The old, handwritten cookbooks specified sweet well water or mountain spring water, but plain ice water will do just fine (but make certain it is icy). Except for the ice water, all ingredients should be at room temperature.
3 cups sifted pastry or cake flour [300 gm]
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt [3/4 tsp, if using unsalted butter]
3/4 cup butter or margarine
2 1/4 cups superfine granulated sugar
3 large eggs
3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted [3 oz.]
1 or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups ice water
Sift the flour with the baking soda and salt and set aside.
Cream the butter or margarine until very light. Gradually add the sugar and cream until mixture is thick and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and beat in thoroughly. Now blend in the melted chocolate and the vanilla. Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the ice water, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix only until batter is smooth.
Turn into 3 8-inch round layer pans that have been buttered and floured. Tap the pans lightly on the counter top to remove excess air, and then bake in a 350ºF oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until done. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto racks. Cool thoroughly before filling and frosting.
Is a vastly under-rated cook book writer. Her carrot cake recipe is the best and the easiest ever.
Patsy
Mmmm... Carrot cake. I haven't made that in a long time!
Summer
Patsy, thanks for the tip! I am still on the hunt for good carrot cake, and I haven't tried that one yet. I agree with you about Casella. I like her cakes better than RLB's. And there are so many cake recipes to chose from! Her ice water white cake and angel food cake are also the best:
Not sure why I never photographed the chocolate as a layer cake, but I have made it as (3) 8-inch layers, (2) 9-inch layers, and this 15-cup bundt:
That is one mean devils food cake in that picture. Dang, I just made brownies, and it makes me want to get back in the kitchen and start on cake! AAARRRGGGHH!
Audra
Hi Debra, if you try Casella's carrot cake you have to increase the sugar by 1/4C to compensate for the crushed pineapple being canned in juice now whereas it was canned in syrup in the 60's.
I make it in the food processor, it turns out great every time and you only have to wash one piece of equipment - well 3, counting a spatula & the bundt pan.
Patsy
Ahhh... good to know. Thanks for the tip! I'm making a note in my book.
Thank you all for suggesting it. I wanted to make an over the top chocolate cake for Halloween, and this will be right on time. I want to do the Martha Stewart Halloween cake from last year
I think this book has just what I need.
Cooooool! I can't wait to see what you come up with.
Summer
Thank you so much for what looks like a delicious cake recipe! I'm definitely going to make it at some point for myself even if I choose another one for my friend. I looked up Dolores Casella on Amazon and they only have used copies available. I guess it's out of print so I better grab one
Summer
Yes, unfortunately it is only available used. Maybe if we revive it, there will be a second printing :-) I have never been able to find a copy in very good shape---maybe that says something.
and the sad part is that while I was on Amazon, I ordered 3 more. I may have to hide this box when it comes in! But the fun part of buying used books is that when they come in if my dear hubby sees them, he doesn't question them thinking they are some old books of mine! AND with used, you get more books for your money. So see, I'm actually saving him money! Well, and baking the things he loves, I don't think he really cares.......!
Audra
"So see, I'm actually saving him money!"
Sounds like sound logic to me ;-)
"Well, and baking the things he loves..."
That's what really counts---I don't think either of you will be disappointed :-)
The recipe on the Hershey's Cocoa can is my absolute tried and true, chocoholic favorite. The frosting is to die for rich. My tweak to the recipe is that I add a bit of instant coffee (dissolved) to the batter to bring out a more intense chocolate flavor.
Just talking about it makes me want to go make one.
Pioneer Woman (thepioneerwoman.com) also has a chocolate sheet cake recipe that is luscious.
Happy hunting! Just trying out the recipes to find your favorite should be fun. :)
Thanks for the link to Poineer Woman - she does a great job with pictures and explanations of recipes. I immediately went to my fridge because I thought that I had a can of Hershey's cocoa but it turned out to be Nestle, which also has a recipe for chocolate frosting. Anyhow, I ended up getting the Hershey's recipe online. Thanks for the tip.
Summer
Summer,
The chocolate cake that I return to again and again is Julia Child's Queen of Sheba cake. The recipe appears in The French Chef, The Way to Cook, and in Mastering The Art of French Cooking volume one page 677 under the name Reine De Saba. It may appear in other of her books as well. This is the cake that causes chocolate lovers to gasp, pause, and sigh...again and again. This is a small, rich, and intense cake.
Jeff
Thanks for the idea. I'll have to save this one for later since I don't have any of those books, but I went ahead and put The French Chef in my Amazon cart.
Summer
Try Qahtan's Guiness Stout Chocolate cake. This is a link to a picture of the cake that browndog made. Scroll down to the first post, it's from me, and click on Qahtan's recipe. It is without a doubt one of the most seriously chocolate cakes I have ever made or tasted. It's moist, huge and decadent! There is no alcohol taste at all.
www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2552/guiness-cake
Betty
Holy cow, this is perfect! One of my friend's other qualities is that she is a bit of a wine and beer aficionado so this cake will be very fitting. Having made it, do you think that it would be too gooey to cut in half for a two layer cake? If it were my cake I'd leave it alone, but my friend likes her frosting! Thank you so much!
Summer
I don't think my (qahtans) chocolate needs any thing else other than a dollop of cold whipped cream. as it is a very rich cake in it's own right, and to add frosting would make it sickly.
It is simple to make and if you follow the direction exactly you will have no problem, BUT
if you jiggle with the recipe then who knows... :-((((( qahtan
Ya know what? I think I'm with you on the topping. I mean, why "guild the lilly" with frosting? I'll just put lightly sweetened whipped cream through a pastry bag to make decorations. Thanks for reining me in!
Summer
By the way, what is "soft" brown sugar?
Just cold whipped cream is best not sweetened whipped cream. ;-(((((( sounds strange but the cold cream does take a bit of the richness off, but it is so gorgeous.
Soft brown sugar, I can't think what you call it in the states but brown sugar not coarse textured.
This cake freezes well if you have enough left over to freeze, I have a friend that lives on her own, but she makes this cake just for her, she slices it when cold and puts in freezer intil temptation gets the better of her. ;-)))))) qahtan
Okay, okay - No extra sugar! Gonna be scary though since in the US we tend to over-sweeten everything. My husband is from England and pours plain unwhipped whipping cream on things like what he call "porridge" (I would call it "hot cereal"), which i can't imagine doing since I would tend to whip it with sugar before proceeding further.
If I know my friends, there won't be any cake left over to freeze so maybe next time.
Good to know that soft brown sugar is just what it sounds like. i'm pretty sure that over here it's what we call either light or dark brown sugar.
I'm definitely doing the extra grated chocolate thing.
Thanks so much,
Summer
Here's a link:
http://www.scharffenberger.com/re0218.asp#
It's called "That Chocolate Cake" and it's the one I keep returning to, time after time--because once someone tastes it, it's the one they ask for over and over. It comes from the book "The Essence of Chocolate, Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate". I just love this cake! It's the birthday cake of my dreams--rich and chocolatey, but not so much that you feel guilty about taking a second slice. It's CAKE (not mousse, not ganache with a dress--cake!).
Lucky friend of yours who has a pal who cares...
Boy that looks delicious! The frosting recipe "takes the cake!" (someone had to say it!) Yet another good link to add to my ever expanding bookmark list.
Summer
when you make this? I have tried good cocoa in recipes and then made a second batch and my friends would comment that the 2nd batch seemed a bit off. I didn't change anything but the cocoa or chocolate . Maybe if I hadn't tasted the best first, I'd never have known the difference, but it is fun to be remembered for making a certain food, and good ingredients are a big part of it I think. Thanks for the Linc, I printed it out ( as well as others talked about today) and saved it to my favorites file. Chocolate rules!!
I have followed that recipe to the letter (a great feat for me, the inveterate tinkerer) using the Scharff. cocoa. My sister-in-law made two cakes--one with Scharff. and one with a less expensive type. She said the Scharff version won hands-down. Now I want chocolate cake!
I guess you'll have to make them all, and sit out sample plates for us all and let us help you decide!
I am a real chocolate junkie. This thread is delicious! Be sure to let us know who the winner is, but I don't think you'll go wrong with either recipe.
Audra
I'll tell ya, if I were feeling super adventurous (and had the week off!) I would try your topsy-turvy cake. However, since I won't have any "practice" days available I think I'll go with the Guinness Chocolate Cake. That being said, I plan to make quite a few of the other recipes in this thread later on for my husband and I since our birthdays are both this month as well. Darn, what a burden!
Summer
Summer,
You can drop off a cake for my birthday and I care not whether it is early or late...ANY day will do.
Jeff
topsy turvy cake! I'd try it! Really, the youtube video on google said it all. It was as easy as she made it look. Bake, carve, crumb coat ( it is the magic wand that hides all the boo-boo's) and then frost. Scouts honor!
Toba Garrett's book is at Amazon.com here.
Recipe online is here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Fudge-Cake-109712
It's a great, slightly dense (ergo "fudge" but still very much cake) and ultra chocolatey. I've made it numerous times and it always goes over extremely well. Not "Oh, nice cake" but "OMG, this cake is sooo good!"
Sound wonderful. I can't stand a dry cake crumb, so fudgy is definitely a plus. Yet another book in the ol' Amazon cart.
Summer
All this chocolate has worn me down. I have got to get in the kitchen, only problem is I'm waiting on a new stove. You know the story...."we'll be there first thing in the morning.......next day still waiting" . If I didn't have to wait on them to run a new gas line, I would have just went and done it our selves, but alas...
Ya'll are killing me, make one a post pictures please, pretty please!!!!!
I don't like cooking on my camp stove! I need a chocolate fix!!!
Audra
Here are pictures of a couple of the Choco-Fudge cakes I've made. Unfortunately, there aren't pictures of the insides since these photos were meant for a cake decorating site. But there is delicious chocolate goodness inside them!
The multi-coloured cake was made for co-workers whose birthdays fell in December and generally got lost in all the xmas hubbub.
The pink birthday cake was covered in strawberry IMBC buttercream, with added fresh strawberries in-between the layers.
So in order to at least give a hint of the insides, I found this photo of a slice of Choco-Fudge cake off the Food Network. So imagine the filling stuffed with sliced strawberries and the outside all covered in delicious IMBC. And switch out the orange slices for fresh strawberries. And add a fourth layer. That was pretty much it. Actually, I will say mine looked better.
Betty
making it all the way up north? and into your computer to tickle you tastbuds ; ) !! Hope you had a good trip! Can't wait to hear what Good Eats you had!
Audra
You guys are driving me to distraction today. I love chocolate cake but don't make it. I'm trying not to be interested, weak knees, trembling and twitching looking for coco.
Eric
I have no mixer... and 3 blocks of bitter chocolate. I would love to make Debra's recipe, making a thick layer cake and the rest of the mix into cupcakes. Beautiful bundt form. But will my whisk and elbow pull it off? >more weak knees, trembling and twitching looking for cake flour<
Mini
Okay I'm back from work and back on the chocolate cake trail. I will definitely post pics of whatever cake that I make on Saturday. I've already started gathering up the general ingredients for pretty much any of the cake recipe suggestions, though I already had two cans of Guinness in the hubby's beer fridge.... might be fate.
Summer
s'easy, one for the chocolate cake. and the other for the walnut and Guinness loaf.
pouring cream on porridge Yummmmmmmy. qahtan
That looks great, where'd you get the recipe?
Summer
my own recipe.
qahtan