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Flannery's Gracious Coffee Fudge Cake

Source of Recipe

From "A Good Meal is Hard to Find" by Amy Evans and Martha Foose


Recipe Introduction

"'I have given up trying to be a gracious lady...I am going back to raising mandrils'—Flannery O'Connor, in an undated letter to editor Robie Macauley."

List of Ingredients

Cake:
â—¦ 2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
â—¦ 2 ¼ cups granulated sugar
â—¦ 1 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
â—¦ 1 tablespoon baking soda
â—¦ 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
â—¦ 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
â—¦ 1 ½ cups buttermilk, at room temperature
â—¦ 1 cup strongly brewed coffee, at room temperature
â—¦ ¾ cup canola oil
â—¦ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
â—¦ 3 large eggs

Dark Coffee Fudge Frosting:
â—¦ 2 ¼ cups (4 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
â—¦ 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
â—¦ ¾ cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
â—¦ ½ cup strongly brewed coffee, at room temperature
â—¦ ½ cup sour cream
â—¦ 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
â—¦ ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
â—¦ 10 ounces dark chocolate, melted


Recipe

To make the cake:
Heat your oven to 350° F. Spray three 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick baking spray or butter them and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together your buttermilk, coffee, oil, vanilla, and eggs. Add your buttermilk mixture to your flour mixture and whisk until smooth. Divide your batter equally among your cake pans.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. Let your cakes cool in the pans on wire racks for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto the racks to cool completely.

To make the dark coffee fudge frosting:
In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat your butter on medium speed until very fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Sift your powdered sugar and cocoa powder into a medium bowl. While mixing at very low speed, add the powdered sugar mixture to the butter. Add your coffee, sour cream, vanilla, and salt and mix until well incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Add your melted chocolate and beat on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.

Put your first cake layer rounded-side up on a cake plate.
Spread about 1 cup of the frosting evenly over that layer. Put the second cake layer on top and repeat with another layer of frosting. Put the final cake layer on top, rounded-side down. Spread a thin "crumb coat" of frosting all over the cake to seal in any loose crumbs. Refrigerate your cake until the frosting begins to firm up, 15 to 20 minutes. Spread your cake with all of the remaining frosting.

Makes one 8-inch layer cake