Birthday Chocolate Cake from Barefoot Contessa
Cake interlude to my NYC posts
Just over a week ago it was my twin brother and mine’s birthday (we were 24) and a large amount of my family came back home for the weekend for a visit. I wanted to make cake because it was my birthday and well…I wanted cake (not that I needed an excuse). A request came through from Simon, my brother, that chocolate cake was wanted so I started looking for a recipe as I didn’t currently have one I would regularly turn to. At first I was going to try the recipe from smittenkitchen.com but decided against it when I saw oil in the recipe, as so-far I have never been completely happy with oil cakes. None of my baking books had a cake I wanted to try apart from the guys from Baked. I have been wanting to try there Sweet and Salty Cake for ages but when I looked at the recipe I decided that this was not the occasion to try it. I then came across this recipe from Ina Garten on theamateurgourmet.com it looked great and I was settled on it but then I saw the Oil!! Time was running late and I needed to go to the store so decided to trust the rave reviews I had read and im very glad I did. The buttercream is not overpowering or too sweet and perfect for the cake which is fudgy with a really strong chocolate flavor but not too dense.
1 3/4 Cups Plain (ap) flour, plus more for pans
2 Cups Sugar
3/4 Cups Cocoa Powder
2 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt
1 Cup Buttermilk, shaken
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Extra-Large Eggs, at room temperature
1 Tsp Pure Vanilla extract
1 Cup Freshly Brewed Hot Coffee
1. Preheat the oven to 170 C / 350 F and butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans, Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low to combine.
3. In another bowl, whisk to combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35/40 mins, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 mins, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
5. Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a plate. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with buttercream. Place the second layer on top, and spread the buttercream evenly on the top and sides of the cake.
My brother decided to film me baking and made a really great video of the process
Chocolate Buttercream
170g Quality Semisweet Chocolate
226g / 1/2 lb / 2 Sticks Butter, room temp
1 Extra Large Egg Yolk (room temp)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/4 Cup Sifted Icing Sugar
1 Tblsp Instant Coffee Powder
1. Chop the chocolate and put in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water and melt, set aside to cool to room temp.
2. In your electric mixer beat the butter on medium-high till fluffy and pale around 3 minutes.
3. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat for a further 3 minutes.
4. Turn mixer to low and gradually add the sugar then beat on medium high until smooth and creamy, making sure to scrape the bowl halfway through.
5. Dissolve the coffee in 2 tblsp of hot tap water, on low speed add this and chocolate until blended.
