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| The Famous Chocolate Cake! |
There's no denying it: I like cake. This cake — The Famous Chocolate Cake — is my favourite, and the most-requested cake choice by my family at get-togethers, birthday parties and barbecues.
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| Jason and Pam serve the cake with ice cream; Robin waits in anticipation for his piece. |
It has a rich, deep chocolate flavour and a dense and moist crumb. It is easily customizable with different fillings such as custard or raspberry jam. It is simple to make and if you follow the instructions, it will never fail you. Enjoy it, as we did, with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon or an ice-cold glass of milk.
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| A little slice of heaven |
I made the espresso-chocolate version for this party and that's the recipe below. There is a note at the end with suggestions for customizing the cake to make it your favourite, too!
The Famous Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
The Famous Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2/3 cup margarine (not from a tub!), room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate (4 squares), melted & cooled
1 1/4 cups water
3 eggs
Cooking spray
A little more flour to dust your cake pans
Method
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a stand mixer or using a large bowl with a hand-held mixer, combine all ingredients except eggs and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl, add eggs and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Don't skip the timing -- use a timer!
Spray two 8" cake pans with cooking spray and dust a little flour in each, spreading it around to coat. Divide batter equally between the two pans, and thump on a little on your counter top to remove air pockets.
Bake from 28-35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Start testing your cakes about 5 minutes before you think they will be done, and then every couple of minutes after that.
Cool completely before frosting with Rich Chocolate Espresso Frosting. I like to wrap mine in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Rich Chocolate Espresso Frosting
Ingredients
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon water
3/4 cup dutch process cocoa
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
Method
In a stand mixer, beat butter, vanilla and water until light and creamy and the vanilla and water have mixed in; this could take up to 5 minutes if your butter is cold.
Sift cocoa and icing sugar and add to butter mixture and mix to combine. Add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time until you get the consistency you like.
Putting it all together
Place one cake layer on a plate. Add 1 cup of frosting on top and spread around to edges. Place second cake layer on top. Frost top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Use all of the frosting if you like lots, or save the leftovers for breakfast!
Cake Options
- Instead of frosting between the two cake layers, use seedless raspberry jam or custard.
- Leave out the espresso powder and salt for a sweeter, more chocolatey cake.
- Vanilla frosting is good as well; follow frosting recipe above but leave out cocoa and espresso powder.
Check out Linda's scrumptious twist on the Famous Chocolate Cake: Red, White & Chocolate over at For Goodness Sake. It looks amazing! Linda, I can't wait to try your version!
How would you customize it?
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2/3 cup margarine (not from a tub!), room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate (4 squares), melted & cooled
1 1/4 cups water
3 eggs
Cooking spray
A little more flour to dust your cake pans
Method
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a stand mixer or using a large bowl with a hand-held mixer, combine all ingredients except eggs and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl, add eggs and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Don't skip the timing -- use a timer!
Spray two 8" cake pans with cooking spray and dust a little flour in each, spreading it around to coat. Divide batter equally between the two pans, and thump on a little on your counter top to remove air pockets.
Bake from 28-35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Start testing your cakes about 5 minutes before you think they will be done, and then every couple of minutes after that.
Cool completely before frosting with Rich Chocolate Espresso Frosting. I like to wrap mine in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Rich Chocolate Espresso Frosting
Ingredients
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon water
3/4 cup dutch process cocoa
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
Method
In a stand mixer, beat butter, vanilla and water until light and creamy and the vanilla and water have mixed in; this could take up to 5 minutes if your butter is cold.
Sift cocoa and icing sugar and add to butter mixture and mix to combine. Add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time until you get the consistency you like.
Putting it all together
Place one cake layer on a plate. Add 1 cup of frosting on top and spread around to edges. Place second cake layer on top. Frost top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Use all of the frosting if you like lots, or save the leftovers for breakfast!
Cake Options
- Instead of frosting between the two cake layers, use seedless raspberry jam or custard.
- Leave out the espresso powder and salt for a sweeter, more chocolatey cake.
- Vanilla frosting is good as well; follow frosting recipe above but leave out cocoa and espresso powder.
Check out Linda's scrumptious twist on the Famous Chocolate Cake: Red, White & Chocolate over at For Goodness Sake. It looks amazing! Linda, I can't wait to try your version!
How would you customize it?
6 comments:
Just saved this to my recipe bookmarks! I might customize it by cutting the layers in half, filling with whipped cream and/or cherry filling, and use almond extract in the chocolate buttercream. In fact I think I just talked myself into making it for this coming weekend. :)
That sounds delicious, Linda! Let me know how it turns out for you. Cheers!
It tastes fantastic! The cake is so good I want to make it plain next time. :) This is an honest-to-goodness outstanding cake - thank you for sharing your recipe. I'm getting a post together for my blog & will certainly link and credit it back to your blog!
If asked, I may have traded my only child for a piece of this cake right now! haha - This is my next baking project for sure! :D Looks delish!
I made a ruffle cake using your recipe. DELICIOUS! This is the first time that a chocolate cake of mine has turned out so well! Thank you so much. Check out my cake...http://ivydesigns.blogspot.sg/2012/07/chocolate-ruffle-cake-delicious.html
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it! I think your cake is absolutely beautiful =)
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