Homemade Chocolate Cake

Yesterday was one of my co-workers last day at HCA. About a year ago, she received her Master's Degree in Social Work and is now off to bigger and better things. Okay, well maybe not "better" per se but I am little biased to our 10 kiddos up in the Residence. Anyway, we normally have good bye parties for both staff and kids when it is time for them to transition out of HCA complete with presents and a cake. I had been looking for an excuse to try out a recipe before next week's baby shower for a friend so I jumped at the opportunity and volunteered to make it myself.

Lucky for me, Jana was a fan of Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Frosting, which is just what I needed. I scoured the internet and my cookbooks to find a recipe. I finally settled on a recipe from Hershey's after reading all of the good reviews as well as noticing that some people use it for their tier cakes (which is my task for next week). Next it was to find a recipe for Chocolate Frosting. I ended up with using my America's Test Kitchen recipe for Quick and Rich Vanilla Frosting but used their suggested adaptations to make it into a Chocolate Frosting. While I followed the recipe step by step for the cake, I had to kind of improvise for the frosting which I can explain a little later.The resulting cake was delicious and very rich. Definitely a good match with a glass of milk.
I didn't get a really good picture of the cake once it was cut because I was at work. But you will notice that there is a white, oreo-like filling. Well, though others claimed it was good, I wasn't a huge fan. I could taste a hint of cream cheese and when you aren't a fan of cream cheese in the first place, I didn't absolutely love it. So with that said, I'm not going to post that recipe until I can perfect it a bit more.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

recipe by Hershey's

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. 10 to 12 servings.


CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.

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Alright, so about the frosting. I don't have an actual "recipe" for you of what I did because of a couple reasons. When you use their Dark Chocolate variation to their frosting, they have you substitute chocolate for cream, reduce the amount of sugar, etc. However, if you were making a three layer cake (as I was doing), they had you increase the cream, butter, and sugar. I tried my best to convert the variation with the increase but then at the end was just throwing this and that in (such as extra cocoa powder, powder sugar, and a touch of cream) to make it the taste and consistency I was looking for. The good thing about America's Test Kitchen is that even though they know that they have found the "best" recipe, they realize that their readers will put their own twist on it. So the easiest thing for me to do, is just give you the Vanilla Frosting recipe, the Dark Chocolate Variation, and well as their note about increasing the amount of frosting for 3 layer cakes and then let you do the rest ;o)

Quick and Rich Vanilla Frosting
by America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Makes: 3 cups
Start to Finish: 10 minutes

This makes enough frosting for a two layer 8 or 9 inch cake or a 9x13 inch sheet cake. For a three layer cake, increase the heavy cream to 3 Tablespoons, the butter to 3 sticks, and the confectioners' sugar to 3 cups. Be sure to use unsalted butter here or your frosting will taste salty.

• 2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch salt
• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Stir the cream, vanilla, and salt together in a small bowl until the salt dissolves. Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium high speed until smooth, 30 to 60 seconds. Reduce the speed to medium low, slowly add the confectioners' sugar, and beat until smooth, 2 to 5 minutes. Beat in the cream mixture. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, 4 to 8 minutes.

To Make Ahead: The frosting can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. Before using, let stand at room temperature to soften, then whisk briefly to re-fluff.
Dark Chocolate Variation: Substitute 8 ounces melted semisweet or bittersweet chocolate for the heavy cream and reduce the confectioners' sugar to 2 cups. Beat 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder into the butter and sugar mixture.