Decadent Chocolate Cake

In preparation for my first paid birthday cake endeavor, I made the chocolate and teal fondants a few days ago (previous post, see the finished cake above!), and today I baked the cakes, to assemble and decorate for Saturday. Developing this chocolate cake recipe has been a labor of love, and I'm excited to share it with you!

This recipe originally began as a chocolate mocha cake, but as coffee isn't for everyone, it has since been adapted into a 100% chocolate cake. Decadent, delicious, dark chocolate cake. Yum.

Let me start by telling you a little about this delicious chocolate cake. When I bake, I like to incorporate slightly unusual, less standard ingredients to produce a more unusual flavor. For example, this cake is made from both unsweetened cocoa powder, but also hot chocolate mix (try varying the flavor of hot chocolate or use instant coffee beverage flavor in as well!). By replacing some of the cocoa powder with hot chocolate mix, the chocolate note is lightened (not gone! Just less acidic and bitter), creating a warm flavor that allows for the permeation of other flavors, such as vanilla (which I love!). In combination with the other ingredients, this cake is a moist chocolate cake that is not overly sweet and still has depth of flavor beyond that of chocolate – the one cake that even those who prefer white cake will enjoy!

Decadent Chocolate Cake:

½ Cup Butter Flavored Crisco
2 cups Sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour (I use all purpose)
2 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
pinch salt
approximately 1 tblsp vanilla (I use Penzy’s double strength vanilla)
1 cup half and half (I prefer half and half, but milk can substitute)
1 cup hot chocolate made with Water (or skim/1% milk)
half of a chocolate bar (dark chocolate, not baking chocolate)
½ cup (a little more than ½ cup) unsweetened cocoa
¼ cup (a little less than ¼ cup) hot chocolate mix (ratio of unsweetened cocoa to hot chocolate mix can be varied to suit taste)

In a large bowl, cream together Crisco and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. In a separate smaller bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda and powder until mixed. To creamed Crisco/sugar/eggs, add dry ingredients and liquids, and mix well. Coat pans with cooking spray and then flour, add batter, and bake at 350 on top oven rack for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. This recipe will yield two 10 inch baking rounds suitable for creating a layered cake.

Now comes the fun part! Decorating the cakes! Of course, chocolate makes everything easy! As you know, I am a repeat user of Peggy Weaver’s Fondant (see http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm) - it yields very easy to work with, superior tasting, and significantly cheaper (but more time consuming!) fondant than what is commercially available. As described in the last post, for this cake, I used the above cake recipe and made two 10 inch rounds, and two 8 inch rounds. The two 8 and 10 inch rounds were then filled and crumb coated with chocolate buttercream frosting. The bottom 10 inch rounds were then covered with chocolate fondant and the top 8 inch rounds were covered with teal fondant and matching decorations finished the look. Happy Birthday Caroline!