I can’t wrap my head around the fact that it’s November and Halloween is over, but sure enough Thanksgiving is on the way and Christmas will soon follow. Enjoy the holidays, everyone! And in the meantime, here’s a recipe called Old Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake for you to try.
Old Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake Notes
Old Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake is adapted from The Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook
Both Unsweetened Chocolate and Cocoa Powder
Like the old Devil’s Food Cake, this one has 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, some water, and cocoa, but it doesn’t call for brown sugar and it employs only one flour rather than a combination of two. It also calls for a couple of egg yolks which add moisture to the crumb. The original recipe has a frosting that goes with it, but for this cake I used my old favorite. We really enjoyed this one and I’ll definitely make it again.
Old Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 4 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped (114 grams)
- 1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 1 3/4 cups sugar (345 grams)
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (245 gram)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks at room temperature
- 12 tablespoons 168 grams unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces, at room temperature
Favorite Chocolate Frosting
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 3 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar sift or aerate before using (about 9 oz)
- 3/4 cup natural style cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sour cream room temperature
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 to 6 tablespoons of heavy cream plus more as needed or use a combination of cream and whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour 2 9×2 inch round cake pans.
- In a heatproof bowl set over simmering water or in the top of a double boiler, combine the chocolate, cocoa powder and water. Heat, stirring often, until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth.
- Add 1/2 cup of the sugar to the chocolate mixture and stir until glossy. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
- In a measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk and vanilla.
- In a stand mixer bowl with whisk attachment or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, beat the eggs and yolks for 1 minute. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups of sugar and beat on high for 2 minutes or until mixture is pale and fluffy.
- Pour the cooled chocolate mixture into the mixer bowl and beat on medium speed (if using stand mixer, switch to paddle attachment) until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the butter, one piece at a time, mixing for about 10 seconds after each addition. With the mixer on lowest speed (or by hand), alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture starting and ending with the flour mixture. The batter may look slightly curdled. Beat until thoroughly combined.
- Divide the batter between the cake pans, smoothing the top until even. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Remove the pans to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out of the pans and let completely, at least 2 hours.
- Frosting: To make the frosting, beat the butter until creamy. Gradually add 2 cups of the sugar and beat until well mixed, then add the cocoa powder and beat until mixed – it should look crumbly and pasty. Add the sour cream and salt and beat well, then gradually add the remaining sugar and cream, scraping sides of the bowl, until frosting starts looking smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust sugar and cream as needed.
Anna
Hope you like it!
Katrina
Recipe printed and about to make this cake. My dad is thrilled. I’ll let you know.
Katrina
I’ll let you know. I don’t think my dad will object to chocolate cake for Thanksgiving. 😉
Sonya
Yes, you can do it! 🙂 🙂 It is really fun to do those, though in some ways you probably already know the differences if you’re really familiar with the old favorite. Still, I love doing side by side comparisons and I’m still surprised how helpful they are (at least for my husband and I) in picking our favorite recipes! Look forward to hearing how that “taste test” turns out!
Thanks for the info – that was cool to know about the differences between the 2 recipes!
Happy baking 🙂
Anna
Sondra, the “Moist and Tender Devil’s Food Cake” from 2000 is the one I was referring to in the post. It calls for brown sugar, a lot more water and 2 kinds of flour. I love that one, too. This one is a little stiffer and taller.
How cool that you baked 14 cakes side by side! Sounds daunting, but you are right in that chocolate cake comes together quickly. I’m thinking about making a quick one layer version of our old favorite just to do a side-by-side comparison. If you can do 14, I can do one quick layer ;).
Sonya
That sounds delicious!!! My favorite chocolate cake is the Moist and Tender Devil’s Food Cake from Cook’s Illustrated (2000), but I really think that each person has their own favorite qualities in a chocolate cake. I actually baked 14 different chocolate cakes side by side – including a few from your website!! 🙂 Yes, I have OCPD!!! LOL. I learned that my husband and I prefer Callebaut over Hershey’s, which I know is just down to personal taste, and that there are a lot of really good chocolate cake recipes out there! That was the biggest taste test I’d ever done and will ever do, but I was surprised how quickly it went – cakes fortunately aren’t very time consuming to put together! Some were tossed and many were frosted the next day for my husband’s co-workers.
Anna
It had a nice structure to it. The crumb was very even, it was tender without being mushy and it was just a nice, stately cake. It was a less sweet cake, too.
Sonya
What did you think of it?
Anna
I hope you do because I’d love to get a second opinion from a fellow baker.
Katrina
Yummy Yummy! I wish! Going home in a few weeks, maybe I’ll make this for my dad.