The Best Chocolate Cake EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you who Really know me, you know that I LOVE dark chocolate! It calls my name at all hours of the day. When I was pregnant with Jimmy, I swear that I could have eaten dark chocolate for every meal! This pregnancy, (thank goodness) I am craving more salty things (and salad…I want salad all the time!). So, anyways, back to the Best Chocolate Cake EVER!

Monday was the birthday of a very sweet lady in our church. She and her husband moved to Michigan from Arizona. (I am not sure I understand why she would love to move back to such a warm state… Hahahaha) She appreciates good food as I do. And I woke up Tuesday morning with energy and the motivation to whip up a cake.

Now I have nothing at all against a good box cake mix! I mean, seriously can anything in life be more easy! I have a recipe that I love to make when I get a good craving for gooey, melty, chocolate cake that can be made in the microwave in TWELVE MINUTES!!!! (how is that for fast calories!) 

I thought that I had used my last cake mix over the holidays, so I began to search the vast recipes on the internet that all claim to be amazing. I have an obsession of reading recipes. I love cookbooks and food blogs. (They inspire me…to eat that is) I knew that it needed to be simple and tasty and I needed to have all the ingredients on hand. (because of course I was NOT walking a mile to the store in the cold with two boys and my pregnant belly!) 

I decided on the following recipe I found on FoodNetwork.com. It’s Ina Garten’s recipe from her mom. It was really simple. (especially since I now have a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer!!! My new love in the kitchen, given to my by a very dear friend)

Beatty’s Chocolate Cake Recipe (source)

Ingredients

• Butter, for greasing the pans
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
• Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch x 2-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

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 speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, 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. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

I did not have any buttermilk. But it’s easy to “make.” Simply add a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk and let stand for five minutes. Done!

I let the cakes cool.

Then made a chocolate ganache filling. This is dark chocolate melted with a little heavy cream and cornstarch. And its is as yummy as it looks!

I split each cake in half to make more layers of ganache (cause there had to be LOTS of chocolate!)

This is the cake all layered up!

(I could have eaten it just like this)

Oh, Hello Jimmy! You have the TV remote! Want some chocolate ganache?

Jayden of course wanted to eat the cake right then, but settled on some chocolate ganache.

I decided to join him! Dipping a little graham cracker in. Jayden just used a spoon. =)

Ganache Face!

After all the Chocolate Ganache and trying to get things together for the boys dinner and realizing I was plumb tired out, I did not take any pictures of the frosting process or of the finished cake! (I apologize…but I probably would have gained more weight just by looking at the pictures over and over again!)

But, Jon snapped a picture of Linda (the Birthday Girl) and I right after everyone at small groups sang 

Happy Birthday!

Everyone seemed to love it. And my sister, Elizabeth, decided it was the best EVER. It really tasted so moist and fudge like. But not so sweet, because of the dark chocolate somewhat bitter taste balancing it out. Plus, there was coffee in the recipe. And coffee just makes chocolate so much better! So, I must agree with Elizabeth….it was The Best Chocolate Cake EVER! (all credit to the recipe and the Kitchen Aid Mixer…) I hope you try the recipe sometime. 

(And I do just want to mention that while in the midst of all this baking process…I found a box cake mix! hahahahahaha)

Happy Chocolate Moments to You!

Keikilani