My First Chocolate Cake

I just made my first EVER cake from scratch. It's definitely not for those watching their figure, unless they'd like to watch their figure expand a few inches. I have had the most intense chocolate cake cravings but have not given in- until now. I used this recipe by The Baking Pan I had pinned on Pinterest.

Here it is:

INGREDIENTS:

Batter:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2½ cups granulated sugar

4½ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder - I used Hershey's Special Dark

1 1/3 cups vegetable or canola oil

1½ cups buttermilk

3 large eggs

1½ cups freshly brewed, extra-strong hot coffee

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Ganache:

12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces - I used a mixture of Semi-Sweet & Dark Chocolate chips

1½ cups whipping (heavy) cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare two 9-inch round layer cake pans; lightly grease the pans with shortening and dust with flour. Tip: to make baked cake easier to remove from pan, lightly grease the pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, and then lightly grease the top of the parchment paper and dust the pan with flour.

Batter:

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder; sift or whisk together to mix.  Using an electric mixer on low speed, add oil, buttermilk and eggs; mix well. Add hot coffee in a thin stream, pouring down the side of the bowl. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula so the mixture blends evenly.  Add vanilla and mix until batter is smooth.

Bake:

Spoon the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the surface with the back of a large spoon. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a long toothpick, wooden skewer, or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place pans on a wire cooling rack to cool for 10 to 15 minutes then remove cake from the pans and place the cake on the wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

Ganache:

In top of a double boiler, combine chocolate and cream. Place pan over simmering water (the upper pan should not touch the water.) Heat and stir the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat; cool to room temperature and ganache becomes thick enough to easily spread. Tip: Place bowl in a larger bowl of ice water to speed cooling and thickening, stirring Ganache as it cools.

Tip: Create a double boiler by filling a saucepan with 2 inches of water and heat to simmering. Place a stainless steel, ceramic, or glass bowl on top of the simmering water, the upper pan should not touch the water.

Using an offset spatula, spread ganache between layers and over top and sides of cake.

You may have noticed I have not included a picture of my creation. Well, I'm not too proud to say that my amateur attempt at this cake was impressive until the time came to assemble the cake. I completely forgot to trim the cake tops for layering- Sorry Mrs. Gates (my home ec teacher). Then, I could not get the gancache to thicken - but was so impatient (and hungry!) that I frosted it anyways and it looked terrible: like something out of a chocolate nightmare. And of course, the cake was a little dry because I left it in for another minute or so in fear I would under-cook it. None of this, though, stopped me from hogging an enormous slice.

So, my rookie cake wasn't the dreamy chocolate paradise I had imagined. Rob tried really hard to be over-the-top enthusiastic about how "decadent" it was. God love him.

Here's to the next one!

xox

   Riley