Chocolate Cake

I have tried many chocolate cake recipes over the years, looking for 'the one.' As a lover of chocolate, and of cake, it seemed like a worthy task. Surprisingly, many chocolate cakes turn out dry, inadequately chocolatey, too sweet, or lacking in depth of flavor. We have settled on two family favorites, one traditional and one flourless, for those occassions when a chocolate cake is in order. We also have a favorite in JaCiva's seventh heaven chocolate cake, but that is another story entirely.


A few surprises for us regarding cake-baking went against our usual baking philosophy:

1. Oil is better than butter. Usually, butter is best, and good butter is even better (bester?). But, for cake that sits around for a few days being nibbled on, butter tends to dry out and get stale. Canola oil seems to stay moister longer.


2. Layers of flavor. The recipes we liked ended up having flavor combos that left our palates interested throughout the entire bite. Chocolate is fabulous, but not enough to deserve an entire cake. The coffe and buttermilk in this recipe provide some depth.


3. Regular icing is the best. I don't like cream cheese frosting, but if you do, it might be a nice option. Initially we tried several varieties of chocolate ganache for the icing, but a layer of fudge atop a rich chocolate cake was just too much. I still use a ganache to glue back together any fault lines I create when removing cake from the pan, but I stick with the Hershey's cocoa frosting recipe for the rest of the cake.

The chocolate cake recipe I like was clipped from a Portland Monthly magazine.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
  2 1/2 cups sugar
  1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  1/2 teaspoon salt
  1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  1 1/3 cup canola oil
  1 1/2 cups buttermilk
  3 large eggs
  1 1/2 cups hot extra-strong brewed coffee
  1 teaspoon vanilla

Ganache:

• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2/3 cup cocoa
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
  

I basically add the ingredients, in the order listed, to the stand mixer. Mix it up until it is a pretty thin, uniform batter. Then pour into 2 9 inch cake pans and bake at 350 for 35-50 minutes. (If you are less freaked out by non-stick spray, it would probably help a lot. I just can't bring myself to use it...) Cake should bounce back when lightly touched, and a toothpick should come out clean with moist crumbs.

Let it cool in pans, then out of pans, til room temperature. Cut off the tops to make two equal cylinders. Easier said than done.

Make a ganache by melting 1 cup chocolate chips with 1/2 cup heavy cream. Melt in the microwave for 1 minute, or over a double boiler. This works well for gluing the cake mistakes back together, and fixing the two layers together.

Whip up the frosting and dump it all on top of the top layer of cake. Using a spatula, mush the frosting back and forth without picking the spatula up. This helps reduce crumbs. Mush it back and forth and over the edge and smooth the spatula down over the sides until the whole cake is covered. Icing is good, but also important for sealing in the moisture, so cover all the surfaces.

I keep mine in a covered cake stand for several days. It usually ends up an odd shape due to the slivering off of nibbles...