It’s national chocolate cake day!! Can I ask a question? Who decides this stuff? I’m not complaining by any means, but is there like a society that gets together and they just name that day of the thing they’re craving? Can I join?? I think it’s this amazing conspiracy, or horrible joke, that someone thought of to put out a name of a food to see how many people they can get to eat it because they see a word association. It’s brilliant really…
Because today I’m craving chocolate cake! Is anyone else? More importantly, my mom’s famous chocolate torte with creme de menthe filling and chocolate buttercream. This cake was served at family birthdays, special functions, and has been a much requested item at school functions/silent auctions. It just looks so fancy. I made a mini version, well, because I love mini cakes. And naked cakes. GOOORGEEEEEOOOUUUS.
I’m going to give one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes from Ina Garten. The most important thing about this cake is really the assemblage/filling/frosting/ ok the whole thing. If you do have a favorite chocolate cake recipe that you’d like to use, go for it. But this really is quite spectacular, and incredibly moist. (I’m very sorry to use that word, as I know it’s one of the most hated words on the planet. Moist. Ok sorry I had to.)
- 1 3/4 cups flour (plus more for coating pans)
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cups cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk (buttermilk substitute = 1 cup milk to 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice)
- 1/2 cup oil
- 2 eggs -- at room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup hot coffee
- 4 tbsp softened butter - Not melted!
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- Couple tbsp milk- until you get the texture that you want.
- 6 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp oil (this is equal to 2 oz. of melted chocolate-- unsweetened)
- 1 1/2 Cups whipping cream
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar (or to taste, you can have it less sweet or sweeter, I usually just do it to taste, but a half of a cup should get you pretty close)
- 1-2 Tbsp Creme de Menthe liquor (again or to taste) -- or 1/4-1/2 tsp peppermint extract
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line 2- 8"round cake pans with parchment paper, and butter/spray, and flour them. Set aside.
- Sift or whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in large bowl or kitchen aid. In another bowl combine buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla, and mix until well incorporated. Slowly add to dry ingredients. Add coffee, and mix until just combined. It will look runny. That's ok!
- Pour into pans that are conveniently prepared, because you were ahead of the game, go you!
- Bake for 35-40 min. A cake tester/toothpick should come out clean. Cool in pans for 30 minutes. Take them out of the pans, cool completely, or pop in the freezer for a few minutes. You want to be able to handle/cut without them falling apart.
- Mix together the cocoa powder and oil until well incorporated. Add and beat into the softened butter. Next add in powdered sugar, and slowly add in milk, until you get a thick but spreadable smooth texture.
- Whip whipping cream in a chilled bowl until soft peaks form. Add in powdered sugar and liquor (peppermint extract). Beat again until stiff peaks form, and the taste desired is acquired.
- After the cake rounds have cooled, using a circle cookie cutter/biscuit cutter, cut out 3-4 circles per round. After, slice the mini cakes rounds in half, making thinner mini cake rounds. Do not cut them into half moons. That will not look quite right...
- Sandwich the creme de menthe whipped cream in between cake round layers, smoothing it out to the sides. I was pretty generous with my whipped layer, but I do warn you that it is slippery! After topping with a cake round, dollop, or using a frosting bag and tip, the chocolate buttercream on top. Garnish with either powdered sugar or cocoa powder. Serve and eat! Or refrigerate to give it a fancy ice box cookie feel. No matter what, it's SCRUMPTIOUS!
It really isn’t that hard. I feel like it looks or sounds way harder than it actually is to achieve. And if it doesn’t turn out perfect, so what, who cares. Call it rustic.
It’s the in thing anyways.
Happy Choco cake day ya’ll!! Be honest, you kind of want some right? Those brilliant people…
-The Wife
Tennie Palmeri says
Hey, I love your post. I recently completed an post on preserving gammon. I love to make my own beef for New Year!. We will be creating a nice dessert to go with it. The children will be on holiday and I am positive they are going to love it.