Double Chocolate Cake

This is my all time favorite chocolate cake stand by. I LOVE it! It is enough batter to fill two 10″ rounds and that gives you a lot to play with if you are doing a novelty cake. This recipe hails from epicurious and I have had it in my secret stash for about three years.

For those of you who are new to the kitchen, please don’t be spooked by this recipe. The ganache is easy and too delicious to miss out on. If you don’t have unsalted butter. Big deal, go ahead and use the salted. I hope I can encourage you to not worry about perfectionism. So what, if it’s not perfect. It will still taste good, your family will love it and they will love you for making it! So here is a special treat for all of you chocoholics. Enjoy!

Ingredients

For Cake:

3oz of semisweet chocolate (I like ghiradelli, it taste good and is easy to find)

1 1/2 cups of hot brewed coffee

3 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups of unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch process) For those of you with a Kroger close by Kroger brand is not dutch process, Hershey’s is .

2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 tsp of salt

3 large eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups well shaken buttermilk

3/4 tsp vanilla

For Ganache:

1 lb semisweet chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp light corn syrup

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

Preparation

Preheat oven to 300 F, Grease and flour your cake pans. If you like cut out parchment paper to fit the bottom of each cake pan.

If needed chop chocolate, place in a bowl and pour the hot coffee over it. Let the mixture stand, stirring gently, until all of the chocolate is melted and smooth.

Into one large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a larger bowl beat eggs for about 3-5 minutes with an electric mixer (or until thickened and lemon colored). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and the melted chocolate mixture to eggs. Beat until well consistency is nice and smooth. Add your dry ingredients and beat on medium speed until well combined.

Divide batter evenly between your pans and place in the middle of your preheated oven. Bake 1hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool cakes before removing from the pans. Run a knife or a thin spatula around the edges of the pans before removing. Place on your rack to cool completely.

For Ganache:

Chop chocolate if needed and set aside. In a medium saucepan bring cream. sugar and corn syrup to a low boil. Do this slowly over low heat, whisking constantly until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Add butter to frosting and whisk well or until very smooth.

If you choose to frost your cake, then transfer to a bowl and let cool to a spreadable consistency. Or if you would prefer this to be similar to a glaze, then go ahead and pour over your cake warm. This works particularly well if you choose to use a bundt pan over two round pans.

This cake is best served at room temperature.

To see this recipe on epicurious visit: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Double-Chocolate-Layer-Cake-101275