smitten kitchen best chocolate cake

:-)). Thank you, Deb, for all you do! Im not sure which area I am suppose to add the 1/2 tea of vanilla too. The frosting was a bit too sweet for my guys (their tastebuds, not mine) so we might go with a ganache next time. Next time, Ill try your cake recipe, too (only remembered I wanted to try this when the other one was in the oven!). I made this recipe into cupcakes, doubled, 3 times today. Two things: I havent read in awhile (not for any reason on your part, but like tv shows, I like to stock up on blog posts I love and then completely bingeI should not admit this unhealthy behaviour, but there it is) so, CONGRATULATIONS!! This looks amazing Deb what a perfect cake! INSTRUCTIONS. When can we pre-order the new cookbook? I will absolutely make this again. Going to try out this recipe for my daughters birthday! I know it tastes quite different. I feel like Im talking to a celebrity!! I made mini-cupcakes for my son. Depending on the recipe, you can melt the butter or shortening and mix in the cocoa until smooth, or just add it to the ingredients as is if it works (like in frosting). 16 celebration! Hi! The icing needed a bit more milk but other than that, perfection in a baking cup. This is absolutely a keeper. Which means that its time for me to actually make it instead of just admiring the photos. We had one at Tilth up here in Seattle this last weekend- it had buttermilk, browned butter, hazelnuts and currants and I want to eat there everyday just for this one scone! The batter is a touch saltier but I like that in a layer against such a sweet frosting. My daughter is already asking for her birthday to make the SAME! Oh. Im making this in 2 6 layers for my mothers birthday- can I freeze the layers ahead of time for a couple of days? :) (Also, see Joannes comment!). This is the BEST chocolate cake Ive ever made. Its what I have always wanted my homemade chocolate frosting to taste like. When I warned the batter might look uneven, this is what I meant. This was DELICIOUS! As luck would have it, my husbands birthday is tomorrow, so Im using this occasion as my excuse! In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, graham-cracker crumbs, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Im going to make it for my kids fifth bday party. Followed the recipe exactly and made 14 cupcakes (baked for 19 minutes). Thanks! It was really easy, nice treat. Delicious! I actually had to be super careful plating it to frost. This cake was so easy to make and was well loved by all who tried it! Yes, this is everything I want. Cupcakes for my sons birthday, a tiered-cake for my husbands birthday, a snowy weekend afternoon that calls for chocolate cake This is pretty much the only kind of cake we make now. Thats what I usually have on hand. I am considering 88 two layers. Hey Deb. handfulofshadows I actually continually tweak this cake, but I tend not to edit the earlier versions because they work and everyone is happy with them. Im not sure which on the bars are but can I use them for the frosting or does it definitely have to be unsweetened chocolate? I made this cake tonight for my daughters 3rd birthday and it came out PERFECTLY. Id use flour or cornstarch instead of cocoa (or half of each) and white instead of brown sugar. But so thick that the cakes moist crumb couldnt hold up to it. Recipes. Not too rich. I just made this with gluten free 1:1 replacement flour for a friend for her birthday and it was so good and so moist. But why did I have little bits of chocolate in the frosting? I think it was too close to the bottom heat source too. ;). Thanks for responding! So so so good! G-d!!!!! http://www.youtube.com/sparklesandsuch26, Jenny Yes, you can make 2 6-inch round layers from this cake; the layers would be ever-so-barely-slightly thicker than the 8-inch square would be, but not a bad thing, as you can see the 8-inch square is very thin (maybe .75). I was attempting to recreate the birthday cake my boyfriends mom made him growing up: a chocolate cake mix+pudding mix based recipe. Love your Im pregnant recipes! At 38 weeks, Ive decided I really should eat whatever I want, especially things that might cause problems when I start breast feeding in a couple weeks. Thank you for cheering us up! I get impatient so I usually do both. :) Do you have a suggestion which of your fabulous chocolate cakes might best survive the two-day mailing across country? Generously butter sides of pan and parchment round. I specifically went looking for an I want chocolate cake now and happen to have leftover buttermilk recipe. Do you have a recommendation for a less sweet chocolate frosting? The icing was fluffy goodness perfectly spreadable, delightfully lickable. However, I did substitute a glaze of orange marmalade instead of the buttercream frosting, since I was fresh out of butter, so maybe that sugar balanced it out. I will keep this one in the mental file folder for sure. :). I had the following complications: My stand mixer struggled with such small amounts of things, but the hand mixer is in a storage box somewhere, so the Kitchenaid and I had to make do. I made this yesterday and was so pleased by the result. Score!). Deb does it again!!! It turned out amazing, just as advertised, and I enjoyed eating it a lot :p. I am a nervous cake baker but I would like to make this for my sons bday in a few days. How did I even miss that! Great recipe, easy to make. We used the Hersheys special dark cocoa and 6 large muffin wells came out perfectly in 18 minutes. I only got ten cupcakes. Thank you! So good! Now Im craving chocolate cake! I add the frosting inside the cupcake and on top. If anyone is like me and has a Costco sized version of coconut oil theyre all too eager to use (vs expensive organic butter), use coconut oil! I hope I can get to the bottom of it. Just enough for a big swirl on 12 cupcakes and even tastes good made vegan with earth balance buttery sticks. Love the single layer recipe. I used the alternative to buttermilk she mentions and used 1/2 cup strong coffee and 1/4 cup whole fat Greek yogurt (though doubled in my case, and the cake was deeply chocolatey and moist. Moral of the story is: even if you forget the buttermilk, the cake isnt half bad :). What do you suggest? Yum! My baking tome was slightly less, but I always consider baking times rough estimates. I finished it with wilton buttercream frosting. Ill definitely stick to the stand or hand-held mixer when making frosting in the future. OMG. Is it true that 1/2 teaspoon sea salt has about 1/2 the sodium of table salt? It rarely is in my experience, often because there are other acidic ingredients in the mix (here, buttermilk, even eggs, brown and white sugar are slightly so). Proudly powered by WordPress. He even drove the train around the tracks. I find that its hard to get a bittersweet chocolate taste in a cake from bittersweet chocolate itself, because the chocolate itself is sweetened. I read a comment on how to get the swirls and Debs guidance was spot on!!! I have one question, can I use gluten free flour? Then yesterday I made it again with mini 6 cake rounds. Thanks Deb!!! I can relate, as I was dry sick when growing each of my two little people. Lynda. 3/4 cup (145 grams) firmly packed dark brown sugar Its really airy actually and isnt overly sweet. I want to bake this beautiful for my daughter`s 14th bday Thursday. Eight years ago: Baked Tomato Sauce, And for the other side of the world: The recipe is a favorite of our Editor-in-Chief, Faith Durand, who described these squares as a "solid tablet of butter and sugar." With a recommendation like that, it had to go on the list. Emily If my notes are correct from the last time I converted it, youll get 12 standard. ps: your banana bread recipe CHANGED MY LIFE. I was hoping it would work with the quite sweet yellow cake my husband requested but I was to worried about it to wait and see. Its been a pretty miserable week, and this cake is exactly what I need. Nailed it! What am I doing wrong??? So in the batter went, and crossed the fingers were. Its just like the soft, fluffy chocolate buttercream frosting I used to get on cupcakes from my old favorite cupcake shop, which I always wished I could replicate at home. (Me: Hmm this looks wrong..its all lumpy. Much tastier and more fun than the box mix I was about to do instead. It might be worth making another one (oh, the hardship!) Ill have to give this a try for comparison. YUM. measurement question! The cake came out fine, but the batter was just that pourable batter, not the spreadable, brownie batter-like kind in your photo. Make sure you use the bake setting, not the broil setting (I did that once when I was a kid!) Ill definitely have to make it again. Chocolate cake was a frequent visitor to my kitchen in those days. The tart cranberries helped to cut through a bit of the rich chocolate and the frosting was smooth and creamy with just a little bite of ginger. I made it on Saturday with my 5 year old and it was a huge success among adults and kids alike. Deep chocolate flavor, not too sweet, very easy to mix up and bake. I used to think all chocolate cakes were either boring, dull, and dry, or so dense and moist that they couldnt actually be called cake. So you cream the butter & sugar, then add egg and the buttermilk. Very observant! Lucy Im sorry to hear that. Great little cake, so nice to have something smaller and delicious! Delicious cant believe how high mine rose and how moist and rich it was. Darn! sunken black forest cake. The icing on this was great! You never disappoint. It came out perfectly baked, not very risen. Im using a Williams-Sonoma Gold Touch 88 here. Must purchase metal 88 pan ASAP. The cupcakes baked for 17 minutes to perfectionSO GOOD. stephanie I suppose you could use a bittersweet chocolate, the most bitter you can find, but it will make the frosting more sweet/less dark. Best chocolate cake ever. So, tomorrow is my birthday, and Im already planning to make David Lebovitzs salted butterscotch pudding, BUT we are also getting a decent snowstorm, so I think the weekend might require this chocolate cake as well! I riffed off your frosting to make rocky road frosting by adding mini marshmallows and chopped toasted pecans. YUM. Emily Im not sure how well this holds a clear shape (you might use the Chocolate Butter Cake here, for more of a pound cake effect) but this would be otherwise just find in a round pan. So happy about the sprinkles. This was fun to make and eat for my first gathering with a friend post-vaccination. Just did it in a 913 and working on the frosting now! and tastes great. but this cake is such a nice size, with a good frosting-to-cake ratio. After the corn muffins. A little more butter / less flour? Thank you! It worked really well. My baking-phobic girlfriend made this for my birthday. It will turn out great. Will try a better quality cocoa powder next time tho I used Ghiradelli. Reading this blog right now brings back so many memories. One of the easiest and most satisfying chocolate cake recipes ever. (I thought the cake was perfect by itself; kids wanted frosting; I ate cake and frosting separately and was in heaven!) Every year I make my kids half a cake for their half birthday and this made a PERFECT half double layer cake. Delicious ! Yum! My (Italian) mother also used to say that if a woman craved a certain food during pregnancy the baby might end up having a birthmark in the shape of that food. Should the butter quantity for the frosting be 1/2 cup or 4 oz? Fewer bakeries this time, but more baking in the kitchen. I agree that it can make a passable thickness for a 913, but clearly, I was going for excess here. I made the cake a couple days ago, and served it only yesterday. Were probably not going to add frosting, as going paleo has made us really sensitive to sugar, so this cake by itself is sweet enough. I wanted a thicker cake layer so halved the ingredients from the fudgy sheet layer cake recipe. I think I could eat this frosting by itself. Adjusted the cake for high elevation (extra 1 Tb flour, 1 Tb less of sugar, and 2 eggs instead of the 1+yolk) and it was perfect.