JUST DESSERTS

DIY — Best Easy Chocolate Cake Ever

Easy peasy, even for beginners

First review: This was sooooo gooooood! I rarely try these recipes from Medium but this one was delicious! PersonalDevelopment

Thanks, PersonalDevelopment!

Evan’s birthday cake

Okay, I admit it. I’m a foodie. Truth is, I’m kind of a snooty foodie — there’s only so much real estate in my stomach and I’m definitely all about filling it with quality. Great ingredients make great food. And desserts.

So I’ve never understood why people buy store cakes. Store cakes are made with either shortening or seed oil — bad for the arteries. That fluffy colorful frosting — shortening. And food coloring.

And face it, unless a store cake is from some high end, fancy bakery that uses real butter, real vanilla — real things that you can pronounce — they just don’t taste good.

I get it. Not everyone bakes. And I get why. Some cakes are a lot of work and not a guaranteed outcome. But this recipe, I’ve never made a bad one. Moist — I wince when I have to use this word. Delicious. Every time.

And it’s easy, even for a beginner. No electric mixer needed. No creaming the butter and sugar. You make it on the stovetop with these ingredients:

The semi-sweet chocolate chips are optional. My grands like them, but I prefer none.

One more recommendation: invest in a set of Bake-Even strips — they’ll keep your cake from doming. I baked for years until I learned from son-in-law, Justin, that your cake doesn’t have to crown or dome. Nothing more frustrating than a dome when you’re putting together a layer cake.

Just soak the strips in water for about five minutes then wrap around each pan before slipping it into the oven. Note: Amazon sells sets of two, three or four.

Here’s how you bring this cake into being:

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)

1 1/4 cups dark cocoa powder

1 cup brewed coffee (brings out the chocolate flavor)

2 cups milk (non-dairy milk if you prefer)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar (I use white sugar and add 1 tablespoon molasses)

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour — or rice flour or a gluten-free flour blend*

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line three 8-inch round pans with parchment paper — never have to worry about cakes sticking to pan — OR grease and dust with cocoa powder.

Line 8-inch pans with parchment paper

1. Melt butter over low heat and add cocoa powder. Whisk until smooth:

1. Add coffee and milk and whisk until combined.
2. Add the sugars, eggs, and vanilla and whisk until smooth.
3. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to the liquid ingredients and mix just until combined. Sometimes I have to use the back of a spoon against the side of the mixing pan to blend in small flour clumps. Mix again and then:
4. Divide evenly between 3 prepared pans. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out mostly clean.
5. Cool before removing from pans (you might want to loosen the cake from the edges of the pan with a knife). Remove parchment paper. Cool completely before frosting.

*This cake is great gluten free, though gluten free versions are better the first day.

This time, I used 1 cup einkorn flour and 1 1/4 cups organic white flour but you can make it entirely of white flour or gluten free — it’s a forgiving recipe. I’ve never tried full einkorn flour. Yet. I’d do a half recipe and see how that goes.

Since it’s a large recipe, I also have my half-recipe version that fits nicely in a 9" x 9" pan:

FROSTING

Since the full recipe makes a large cake, it takes quite a bit of frosting. I use five cups of sifted powdered sugar, a cup of soft — not melted — butter, about a cup of chocolate powder, and about a half cup of whole milk, a tablespoon of vanilla.

This recipe uses more butter than I use, but it’s, no doubt, going to be even richer.

https://addapinch.com/perfect-chocolate-buttercream-frosting-recipe/

My daughter found Yammie’s recipe years ago when looking for gluten-free recipes. It’s great gluten free OR with organic flour. It’s the only chocolate cake we ever make.

Shout out to Yammie for this and other great recipes:

https://www.yammiesnoshery.com/2013/12/the-best-german-chocolate-cake-in-all.html

Thanks for reading. Happy baking!

Tagging Melissa Rock since she asked me to!

Here’s the party for which I made the cake — Grandson Evan turned 12.

A Birthday Bash Camp Out Extravaganza