Email to Cat      

Very Good Chocolate Cake

Source of Recipe

From "The Gift of Southern Cooking" by Edna Lewis


Recipe Introduction

"This is an ideal two-layer chocolate cake. Rich, moist, and chocolaty, it can be stirred together by hand, no mixer necessary. As with some other Deep South recipes, vegetable oil, especially peanut oil, is used in place of butter or other solid shortening. This is so moist it doesn't travel well; store in a cool, dark area, but do not refrigerate."

List of Ingredients

The Cake:
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1½ cups cake flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• 1 cup hot double-strength brewed coffee
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract

The Frosting:
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
• â…“ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 pound semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• ¼ cup hot double-strength brewed coffee
• 1 tsp vanilla extract


Recipe

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

To make the cake:
Sift together the sugar, flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. Pour the hot coffee over the finely chopped chocolate, and allow the chocolate to melt completely.

In a separate bowl, whisk together until well blended the eggs and vegetable oil, followed by the sour cream, vanilla, and coffee-chocolate mixture. Stir this liquid mixture into the dry ingredients by thirds, stirring well after each addition until completely blended. Divide the batter evenly between two buttered and floured parchment-lined 9-inch cake pans. Drop each cake pan once onto the counter from a height of 3 inches, to remove any large air pockets, which could cause holes or tunnels in the baked cake layers. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the cake springs back slightly when gently tapped in the center or a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove immediately to cooling racks, and allow to rest for 5 minutes before turning out of the pans. Turn the pans face-down onto the cooling rack, and carefully lift the pans off. Allow cakes to cool -completely- before peeling off the parchment bottoms and frosting.

To make the frosting:
Heat the cream, butter, sugar, and salt in a heavy saucepan until the butter is melted. Add the chocolate, and cook over very low heat, stirring constantly, just until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat, and blend in the coffee and vanilla. Transfer the frosting to a bowl to cool, stirring occasionally, until it is of a spreading consistency - about 1 hour, depending on the temperature of the kitchen.

To assemble the cake:
When the frosting is of a spreading consistency and the cake layers are completely cooled, put one cake layer on a serving platter, bottom side up, and frost the surface thickly. Top with the other layer, bottom side down, and frost the top and sides. For best results, allow the cake to sit for 2 or more hours before slicing. Store, covered, at room temperature.

Makes one 9-inch cake;
enough to serve 12 to 16