Moist Chocolate Cake

Um, so I'm not sure I need to say much. I certainly don't need to convince you to make this cake. The truth is, I had you at the picture. Admit it. You logged on to check your dashboard and check your reading list. Maybe you saw the blog of one of your sweet friends who wrote about last nights Easter festivities and how they---UH, MOIST CHOCOLATE CAKE...half eaten, frosting smeared, gloriously dark---click. Yeah, I know how it went down. You came to my blog first, didn't you? Listen, I'm not cocky about many things, and I know I had nothing to do with you visiting today. This chocolate cake though? It's captivating, strong, domineering, powerful and it has supernatural capabilities. It makes you click. It draws you in swiftly, sinks in it's claws and doesn't let go. The chances of any of you making this cake in the next week is surely somewhere around 90%. The chances of someone making it today, like right now, before you even read that other friends Easter blog are like, at least 80%. If you don't, (heed my words now), you'll surely dream about it. You'll wake up thinking about it. You won't forget. You can't forget. Need more motivation? Read on.

You throw all the ingredients into a bowl and mix. There is no creaming of the butter and sugar, or alternating between dry and liquid as in typical cake recipes.. Just dump and mix. Sheer genius of a recipe. Also, folks, this cake is not messing around. It is straight forward, deeply chocolaty, moist cake with simple dark chocolate frosting. There is no "dark" chocolate in the actual recipe, but I find that when you use a lot of cocoa in a cake, as you do in this one, it comes out tasting richer and darker, or maybe less sweet if that makes sense. This cake is not pretending to be anything it's not. It's bad ass. It's the Marlon Brando of cakes.

What I love most is this cake tastes how you would expect a flour-less chocolate cake to taste, but has all the texture of a spongy, stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth, home style cake. Don't worry about frosting this cake beautifully or perfectly. Just slap it together and get it in your belly as fast as you possibly can because that's what this one is all about.

Moist Chocolate Cake

adapted from www.foodess.com

cake:

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup hot coffee (or 2 tsp instant coffee in 1 cup boiling water)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-inch baking pans and set aside (if you don't do this, the cake will stick). In the large bowl of a standing mixer, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add egg, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract; beat 2 minutes on medium speed. Stir in hot coffee (I just turn the mixer on low and pour it in slowly). pour batter evenly between the two pans and bake on middle rack of oven for 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool at room temperature for 10 minutes, then run a knife along the edges of your pan to loosen the sides and turn out completely on wire racks and cool before frosting.

Frosting:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup cocoa or three 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate squares, melted (I used a little more than 3/4 cup cocoa)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners sugar

6 tablespoons milk (approx)

In a large bowl, cream butter with an electric mixer. Add cocoa and vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy, adding more milk if needed. Icing can be kept refrigerated in an airtight container for 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

For a darker chocolate icing: add an additional 1/4 cup cocoa and an additional tablespoon milk to buttercream icing.

For a thinner consistency: add 3-4 tablespoons light corn syrup

Ganache would also be a great icing for this cake. This is best eaten the day it's made, but its still very good the next day. Any longer and it will start to dry out.