"Chocolatiest" Chocolate Cake

I just came up with the word "chocolatiest." It describes the sensation of eating chocolate cake that tastes like chocolate cake. The word is necessary, dear friends, because too many chocolate cakes do not taste enough like chocolate, which is totally unacceptable. We all know that chocolate cake should be more than just a brown version of white cake. Agreed?

This cake has cocoa, chocolate chips and a cheering section of coffee, cinnamon and vanilla to amp up its fudgey goodness. It has been adapted from two very good cupcake recipes because I'm more of a cake person, myself. But this recipe could easily revert back into cakey, fluffy cupcakes. I'll have to try that the next time I want to go into the heavenly sugar coma induced by this cake. It will relax you more than yoga, and you'll find yourself sighing, "yommmmmm..."

 

When I made chocolate cake in culinary school, I was disappointed by the lack of flavour I tasted in the final product. The truth about many professional cake-makers is that they can't invest the resources into making a very chocolatey cake, and I was told that some of them use red food colouring to get that rich, dark colour and deceive our eyes. Heartbreaking! The only lesson I carried forward from that baking class to this cake is the technique of alternating wet and dry ingredients when making the batter. Using this method yielded a much fluffier cake, which is surprising, considering how dense it is. Crazy cake, it's so thick it bakes for almost an hour!

So please give this recipe a try, I think you'll be very much appreciated for it! My very sophisticated sister declared it the best, and my nephew asked me to be the cake baker for his next birthday party. My dad, the birthday recipient of the cake, and my life-long baking mentor, beamed with pride. I was tickled pink - or rather, chocolate.

Chocolatiest Chocolate Cake

Adapted from cupcake recipes by Epicuriousand A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

Yield: Two 9-inch cake layers or 24 large cupcakes

1 1/3 cup hot brewed coffee, separated (set aside 1/3 cup for icing)

2 cups sugar

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

½ cup canola oil

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided

extra chocolate chips, for garnish

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease 8- or 9-inch pan and line with a round of parchment (be sure to grease the parchment too). Sift flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together into a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, coffee, and vanilla.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a mixing bowl, if using handheld beaters), mix together the sugar and oil on low speed. Increase the speed to medium, add the egg and egg yolks, and beat until the mixture turns pale yellow, about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low and alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture in three batches.  Start and end with the flour mixture.  When the batter is just combined, shut off the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Stir in ½ cup of the chocolate chips.

Divide the batter between two pans and sprinkle 1/2 cup chocolate chips over the batter in each pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the cakes have a shiny, crisp texture on top with small cracks showing, and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool before icing them.

Mocha Frosting
Adapted from Still Nuts About Chocolate by Susan Mendelson

Yield: Makes frosting for a two layer 9-inch cake or 24 large cupcakes

1/3 cup hot coffee (reserved from cake recipe)

1 cup butter, softened at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar
1 1/3 cups cocoa pwoder
¼ cup milk

2 tsp vanilla

In a food processor, pulse the butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder until the mixture resembles a coarse, fudgy meal, about 10 seconds. Add the coffee gradually so that it doesn’t splatter, blending between additions. When the mixture looks smooth, add the milk and vanilla and blend until combined.

To decorate the cake, place one layer on your cake plate and top with a thick layer of frosting. Place the second layer on top. Coat the sides of the cake with frosting first, making sure to fill the gap between the two layers by putting ample amounts of frosting around the middle and then smoothing it out. Smooth more frosting over the top of the cake, making sure there are even amounts all the way around. Garnish with chocolate chips by placing them in a circle around the top edges of the cake.

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