I don’t need to do a lot of explaining today since I sang my chocolate cake praises in my last post. If you missed it, this is the cake recipe that goes with this chocolate frosting that I could eat plain from a bowl. The cake was on the cover of the “All-Time Best Recipes” Collector’s Edition from Cook’s Illustrated. My one piece of advice is that you take the time to follow all of the steps as written. What I’ve found with Cook’s Illustrated is that every minute step and process has a very specific purpose. These people try a recipe 428 different ways in order to get the best result- so I try not to stray too much- especially when it comes to baking! This is just a great, basic, perfectly chocolaty, moist, delicious old-fashioned cake. I say we just get right to it, don’t you? Oh, one tip first: When I’m embarking on a big project like this (not that a cake is a huge project, but it does take time. And lots of dishes.) I often make the cakes one day in advance. When completely cooled, wrap well with plastic wrap and then place in an airtight container. Either store overnight, or pop in the freezer for a few days (or weeks). Totally cuts down on time and dishes the day you will be making and eating your delicious cake!
Alrighty then. Unsweetened chocolate. If you are like me, this will instantly take you back to your childhood when you sneaked into the pantry and assumed it was semi-sweet. Mean Mom, very mean.
Use a small glass or metal bowl to create a double boiler. This pudding-like mixture is one of the tricks to the great texture of the cake. We’ve got the melted chocolate in there, as well as some cocoa powder and hot water.
It will start to thicken, and if you let it- it becomes quite thick.
But then you add some sugar
And it magically becomes soft and smooth and glossy.
I love magic of the chocolate variety.
Set that aside to cool and you’ll whisk up some eggs until they’re nice and frothy. The recipe calls for a stand mixer,
but you can certainly make this with a hand mixer as well.
In goes more sugar, because, well, we’re making a cake here people.
And then that chocolate pudding-ish stuff
And then some very soft butter. Seriously, soft. Not melted, just super duper soft. Apparently I have no pictures of super soft butter, but trust me. It’s in there.
Mix up those dry ingredients
and alternate them with the buttermilk + vanilla. Yes, it’s important to alternate! I have a hunch there’s people who ignore that step in baking, and it definitely affects the outcome.
If you dump everything in at once, you’re just making a big chocolate muffin 🙂
In the batter goes to the pan and then onto the oven. Here’s a trick: When you are inverting a warm cake to a cooling rack, place a paper towel down first. It will still let the air circulate, but it prevents the cake from sticking to the rack.
Once those babies are cooled you can frost. Place your first layer on your serving platter or cake plate and slather some frosting on top.
Place the other layer on top and try to pretend it’s not just a huge whoopie pie wanting to be eaten right then and there.
From there, I don’t try to be pretty, I just start slathering. Place a large amount on top so that you always have something to spread around.
This way you don’t really need a crumb layer.
Try to get everything evenly coated- seriously, doesn’t have to be pretty yet! It’s more important that the frosting is evenly distributed. See? Messy cake.
Once you are to that point, you can use an off-set spatula to gently smooth out the sides. It helps to run the spatula under very hot water first and dry it off before spreading.
For the top, I just use a spatula, or even a spoon, and make sort of a figure eight pattern to swirl it around. We’re going for sort of a casual elegance here. Shabby-Chic. Casual Friday, but with heels. Catch my drift?
Then you can cut into that sucker…
And I will not judge you for making moaning sounds when taking your first bite.
And possibly every bite thereafter.
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake
Cooks Illustrated All-Time Best Recipes, David Pazmino
Note: Don’t make the frosting until the cakes are cooled, and use the frosting as soon as it is ready. If the frosting gets too stiff to spread easily, wrap the mixer bowl with a towel soaked in hot water adn mix on low speed until the frosting is creamy and smooth. Refrigerated leftover cake should sit at room temperature before serving until the frosting softens.
12 Tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft, plus extra for greasing pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting pans
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsley chopped
1/4 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 cup hot water
1 3/4 C sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs, plus 2 large egg yolks
Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch round by 2 inch high cake pans with butter; dust pans with flour and knock out excess. Combine chocolate, cocoa powder, and hot water in medium heatproof bowl; set bowl over saucepan containing 1 inch of simmering water and stir with rubber spatula until chocolate ins melted, about 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup sugar to chocolate and stir until glossy, 1-2 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and set aside to cool.
Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Combine buttermilk and vanilla in small bowl. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whisk eggs and yolks on medium-low speed until combined, about 10 seconds. Add remaining 1 1/4 C sugar, increase speed to high, and whis until fluffy and lightened in color, 2-3 minutes. Replace whisk with paddle attachment. Add cooled chocolate mixture to egg/sugar mixture and mix on medium speed until thoroughly incorporated, 30-45 seconds, pausing to scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing about 10 seconds after each addition. Add about 1/3 of flour mixture; followed by half of buttermilk mixture mixing until incorporated after each addition (about 15 seconds.) Repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining buttermilk mixture (batter may appear separated.) Scrape down sides of bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at medium low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans; smooth batter to edges of pan with spatula.
Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 25-30minutes. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack. Cool cakes to room temperature before frosting, 45-60 minutes.
Frost with: Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting
Questions & Reviews
Was sad when I made the cake it collapsed and poured over the sides.. Was very sad the cake was ruined..
I am so sorry to hear that!
I need a chocolate cake for my 2 year old grandson’s birthday. I have researched recipes and do not want one with coffee/expressso. This recipe looks perfect. Can it be made in a 9″x13″ pan? How long should it cook in that size? Will it be fluffy and moist?
I’ve never made it in a 9×13 pan, but you can certainly do that. I can’t give you any direction because I’ve never done it that way, you’d just have to play it by ear. Good luck!
Do you know where I could find dutch processed cocoa in Meridian, ID? 🙂 Would the Hershey’s Special Dark that is a blend of dutch and natural work? Thanks!
Yep, I have totally used the blend before. And I’m pretty sure I always find dutch processed at Fred Meyer. It’s the one in the Orange and brown container! COULD be Winco I’m thinking of, but I think I get it at FM 99% of the time. Hope that helps!
This cake made me cry…it stuck to the pan and was terrible flipping out. I’ve sorta pieced it back together and froze them so I’m praying they hold up for the frosting.
However, the chunks of cake that were too sad to piece together, I ate and I’m happy to report the we’re delicious.
Crazy, I’ve never had that happen- that’s so sad! I’m glad it still tastes good though 🙂
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This was the best chocolate cake I’ve made in terms of flavor. My cake turned out a little crumbly though. Any suggestions for next time? Also, the frosting was hard this morning. How do I soften it up to the consistency it was when I frosted the cake?
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Could I substitute boiling coffee for the boiling water? I heard coffee really brings out the chocolate flavor. I love chocolate.
This looks awesome. One question: how long does it take to make this cake — in total?
I just tried this recipe and it was delicious and mouthwatering. My only issue with it was while cutting out slices it was way toooo crumbly and kept falling apart. What did i do wrong???
I’m not sure Annie- it’s definitely not crumbly!
Divine! Made it for a party and it was a huge hit. Five stars.
You know this is going to be my birthday cake, right? This tasted AMAZING!!
I have had better chocolate cakes.I won`t be making this again
Really? Why? What did you do wrong?
What if I only have semi-sweet baking chocolate? Should I use less sugar?
No, sugar isn’t just for flavor, it’s for a complex baking process and adjusting those amounts will change the result of the cake. I’d just grab the right chocolate, or use semisweet instead (knowing it will be a bit sweeter.)
So I’ve made this cake about 5 times, and I think only once it hasn’t collapsed too badly. All the other times it has collapse some, and most of the times it has collapsed too much to be salvageable. What is the deal? I don’t open the oven in the middle of it baking, I have used fresh baking soda, and I try to be super careful when taking them out of the oven. It’s ALWAYS when I take them out and place them on the counter that they slowly deflate. Any ideas? I love this cake so much with the frosting, but it’s depressing when it doesn’t turn out!
Made this yesterday and topped it with chocolate ganache and decorated it with Italian Meringue Frosting (Peanut Butter Flavour)!!! Heaven on earth!
I made this last night. The cake came out dense and soft and the frosting very soft and creamy. I first i thought that the old “hershey cake” had it beat. But this cake, the chocolate taste sorta expands in your mouth while eating. And the icing is light smooth and chocolatey. My hubby gave it 2 thumbs up. It’s a different chocolate taste in a good way.
Made this cake last night for a work event. Excellent choice. Huge his with my chocolate-loving co-workers! Will definitely use this recipe again!
Oh heavens. I have to bring a cake to a friend’s birthday celebration tomorrow so I made this cake tonight. If the batter is any indication of how yummy the cake itself is, then I don’t think my friend will be getting any of it because I might just finish it off! Great instructions and perfect cake! Thanks!!
I made this cake today, and it is heavenly! Thanks for sharing and for being so thorough with all the instructions.
my cakes always seem to have a big hump in the middle which i then have to cut off to make my cake level. help!
That’s really not uncommon Mary- that’s why we level cake’s in the first place. I love that part because you get to eat it! 🙂
Just made this decadent cake & frosting today and my husband and I both think it is the absolute BEST chocolate cake ever! If you knew the degree of our chocoholism, you’d know what a compliment this is! LOL Love your blog and am looking forward to trying many more of your recipes. Thanks for sharing!
Ok, so I did this recipe like last year and it turned out moist and delicious but I mad it today and now its all crumbly and dry? I followed the recipe exactly as you said and all but…it kinda failed… I don’t know what happened? The only new thing from last year is my oven. I baked the cake in a convection oven. Was it that?
I have no clue Alicia, sorry 🙂 If the only thing that has changed is your oven, then I’d say it’s your oven!
Looks so yummy. I am definitely trying it.
Hi! 🙂 Would this recipe work if I will use it to make chocolate cupcakes? 🙂 If ever, how long will it take to cook them? Thank you!
Probably- you’ll just have to eyeball it, I don’t know how long!
I made this cake for one of the layers for my brothers wedding cake and filled the center with the chocolate cream from another chocolate cake you have on this site, and I got RAVE reviews. Thank you so much for posting this. The cake was moist and turned out ( I have problems adjusting for the high altitude here in Utah) The Chocolate layer was gone in a matter of minutes. Going to make it again tonight only for cupcakes for my twins birthday treat to take to preschool. This is so yummy!!!!
Just wanted to come back and say that I made this cake yesterday after a craving for chocolate cake (and of course kiddo & hubby were totally fine with that!) and WOW. This was exactly what I wanted. Especially the frosting – it is absolute perfection. Thanks for the recipes. 🙂
Hi Sara!
I am amazed by your website and your recipes! I think I’ve tried making almost (or at least 85%) everything oyu have here. Can’t ever find anything wrong. The pictures make it always so easy!
My question on this cake is: Isn’t so many eggs going to make the cake a little dense? I am planning to bake it for my husband’s b-day tomorrow but I am putting his favorite frosting in the middle (brazilian brigadeiro) and am affraid it wont work if the cake is too dense.
What would you suggest?
Thanks a lot!
Natalia, it’s not overly dense. I mean, it’s more dense than a boxed cake mix, but it’s nice and soft still. I can’t think of ANY frosting that it wouldn’t be good with!
Thanks Sara!
I’ll be baking them tomorrow. I can’t wait to try it with brigadeiro frosting! My husband will be very happy!
Thanks again! U’re always so prompt and courteous with all people that post here.
Hi i was just wondering if you could give me the recipe for your brazilian brigadeiro? I’ve tried to make this before but can’t find the recipe again online. Thanks