Double Chocolate Cake
Cake:
4 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 8-inch, round cake pans or a 13
x 9 baking pan.
Place the chocolate squares in a small, microwaveable bowl. Microwave in
30-second increments and stir the chocolate mixture to make sure it is being
heated evenly (microwave, stir, microwave, stir). By melting the chocolate in
small time chunks you prevent it from burning. Burnt chocolate is nasty and not
useable. Let chocolate cool.
Sift (or stir) together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, cream
butter for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add granulated and brown sugars and
mix for 1 minute. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and beat until well
combined. Add sour cream and mix for 30 seconds. Add melted chocolate and mix
until incorporated, about 20 seconds.
Alternately, add dry ingredients and buttermilk (add 1/3 buttermilk, mix for 20
seconds, add 1/3 flour, mix for 20 seconds) until it's all used up. You don't
have to measure it, just "eyeball it." Basically, you just want to make sure
everything is well mixed and that the dry ingredients don't go flying out of the
bowl. Keeping the mixer at a low speed will also help.
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until toothpick
inserted in center comes out clean. Set a timer (or watch your watch) for the
lowest amount of time (25 minutes) and then check. You can always keep it in
longer, but you can't save it if it's burnt!
Cool. Remove from pans and frost with Fudge Frosting.
Tester's note: Our cake turned out dense and a bit dry. We'd suggest sifting the
flour and being very careful not to bake too long.
Fudge frosting:
3 ounces (3 1-ounce squares) unsweetened chocolate
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (you can find this in the "baking"
aisle, also)
1 stick unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Place chocolate, milk and butter in a small saucepan and heat over low heat.
Stir constantly until smooth and thickened, about 3 minutes.
Once thick, turn off heat and add vanilla. Let cool for 5 minutes, then you can
use it to frost the cake. If you used two baking pans, place one cake layer on a
plate. Ice the top of the cake. Place second cake layer on top, and ice the top
and sides of the cake. If you only used one pan, frost the top and sides of the
cake.
Serves: 8 to 10 |