Perfection! Next time will try with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Made this tonight and shouldnt have, but am so very glad I did. Ive made this a few times and it always seems a little on the dry side. Elaina Baking time for cupcakes is less; I usually start checking at 15 minutes. Youll want the full yield of frosting for each layer, especially if youre covering the sides. Plush, soft, the icing was fluffy. 2017 on smittenkitchen.com | 2009-2023 . I made this last night and it was delicious! I love the pasta and chocolate dietJust add wine and espresso and Im all set! I made this tonight and used your suggestion of red wine and yogurt if youre out of buttermilk. So much so, that I think I might name a few of my extra pounds after you . This was delicious, especially the frosting! Hey Deb! Beat the 12 tablespoons (170g) of butter with the 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (225g) of sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. I do so love other grown women who know that the necessity of rainbow sprinkles is a real thing. Was there a brown butter-sugar glaze on it too? Standard cupcakes usually bake 16 to 18 minutes, but check in a minute or two early to be safe. The cake turned out very moist, really delicious. SOS i have my boyfriends bday coming up and I know thats what hed love! Congratulations! This was so good. Love this cake and its counter part in the party cake builder section of your book!! Fantastic recipe!! I have made this cake dozens of times, it is easy and delicious. Obviously, I had to test a spoonful or two. If it makes a difference, I am coloring the frosting to make Pigeon and Hungry Caterpillar cupcakes. Even the first piece of cake, which was shortly after icing it, the frosting was still very soft and the flavor was intensely bitter chocolate. and its better still not as sweet as if Id made it with chocolate chip melts or something like the Green & Blacks milk chocolate and it looks smashing, once again! I only had one medium egg and yogurt instead of buttermilk. Emily Im not sure how well this holds a clear shape (you might use the Chocolate Butter Cake here, for more of a pound cake effect) but this would be otherwise just find in a round pan. Reasons for this: the pickled onion recipe should be on my fridge, the sweet tart recipe I use with everything, etc. Love that you include the alternatives for the liquid moisture. I will try this recipe with coffee :) Im excited to experiment with unsweetened in place of bittersweet chocolate- I hadnt thought of that before! So glad I didnt read the few negative comments. Did in a 9.5 pie pan, which alters the edge texture a bit, but that was what was on hand! Needless to say, I wont be making this cake, but Ill stay tuned :). Hi, I am baking this for the second time now and there is no way for it to be done in 22 minutes. Never thought of using wine in cakes before:-) and wine and coffee and chocolate together :-) It was yummy. Hi, am I able to make the frosting in advance (perhaps 3 days or so) and leave in the fridge until required to frost the cake layers? Im trying to print some recipes, but the print recipe links that appear are not working (I use Google Chrome). I might even sub some w.w.pastry flour to please the husband. Stat! Im salivating. This icing, which we used for our sons birthday cake, is my favorite. Can you tell me what size is your strainer in the picture? Ha! Made this last night and used the sour cream chocolate frosting from your best birthday cake, I was cheap and had a little left over. Your writing is awesome, the photos are perfectly approachable and I love the process photos. This cake was fantastic and was so easy to put together. YES, YES, YES!!!!!!!!! 3. Or The Nothing Is Ever Going To Be Okay Again If I Dont Have Chocolate Cake Cake. Thank you. Thank you for the laughs and the chocolate as I wrap up my hell week! Wipe clean, wash, and dry your electric beater (s), and beat egg whites and salt in a separate bowl until firm peaks form. I made this with a mix of yoghurt and single cream, light brown sugar instead of dark, and caster sugar instead of granulated. What did I do wrong? I love your recipes and you are my go to baking site. I look forward to trying it again with regular Dutch process cocoa. Loving this one. And now youve posted the cake I have dreamed of. YUM!!! So so so so delicious. Oh, this is a great cake. So I googled smitten kitchen chocolate cake, and when I saw the name of the recipe, I knew it was the one. Im going to triple the cake recipe but do you think I need to do the same for frosting? I would buy anything those swirls were trying to sell me. 16 celebration! 1 / 4 cup / 21 g dutch-process cocoa Wow theses foods look so amazing!! 3/4 cup (145 grams) firmly packed dark brown sugar It worked, and the toddlers had no problem with it. We had a lot of fun, and the frosting is the best I have ever had in my entire life (she insisted I write that, its all I could repeat after eating it!). The batter is a touch saltier but I like that in a layer against such a sweet frosting. So, push and then make an S-swirl, push and S-swirl, repeat and always quit while youre ahead (hard, because its so fun). Privacy Policy. Megan You could halve this in a 6-inch round. Deb, youve done it again! My larger offset languishes in the drawer unused except for sheet pan spreading jobs. And while Im happy to tell you that my interest in most foods (except for chicken, sweet potatoes and soup, they know what they did) has returned, my devotion to these categories hasnt waned in the slightest. Pamela I mention concerns about Dutched cocoa under the recipe. I adjusted to the 115 g of butter without adjusting for the extra heavy cream. At 38 weeks, Ive decided I really should eat whatever I want, especially things that might cause problems when I start breast feeding in a couple weeks. when I suddenly NEEDED brownies, so I feel you on this! Im going to make it for my kids fifth bday party. :) Yes, that was what I meant by uneven. I so want this. Hey Deb This looks marvelous! Just so happens I made the everyday chocolate cake in the loaf pan over the weekend for my dads birthday. I may have made a few frosting graham sandwiches for myself along the way. For a cake like this, thats flexible, you can use either what you get in volume (from your 1/2 cup) or weight (145 grams) and youll be fine. So, made this today in honor of my little girls birthday (and of course shes too young for this, thus the in honor part). I just made your best birthday cake with the addition of chocolate chips for my fiances birthday, and he requested a chocolate buttercream frosting. I liked your frosting a lot, but the chocolate didnt fully emulsify. Thanks so much! had seconds. Ill put it this way: I, too, am obsessed with layer cake moisture but since I got this configured exactly the way I like it, I havent made another chocolate layer cake. I wisely made 1/2 batch of frosting which was for me the perfect amount. I was convinced by your cake spiel that I, a novice baker, too could make a cake but have been let down twice. Joy Yes, it gets more moist as the days go on. My cake dint rise too much i cooked in toaster oven.. Was that it?? I was meaning to ask you about that as I read through the recipe and your note was a very welcome surprise. weight gain which I finally lost, literally, three weeks before this second pregnancy. I did have to make the substitution of sour cream thinned with milk for the buttermilk, but it was still a fantastic cake! We have an egg allergy in the family has anyone tried making this recipe with an egg substitute? (Ive mostly cut out eating sugar but this cake looks like it has little enough of it that it would be good when I want a treat!). It baked in 20-25 minutes. I love that I dont have to go to five different grocery stores to find the ingredients. The frosting is awesome as well! Going to make this this weekend for my nephews birthday. I am in Denver (5280 ft) and used this page as a guide for adjusting for high altitude http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipe/high-altitude-baking.html I added the extra flour and reduced the sugar like the page directs, but did not adjust the leavening. Monday was my birthday. I was a little worried as Im a beginner baker but it was a total hit!! Your food aversions made me smile. Set aside. Sally Usually in the fridge for a day does the trick. Thanks. Do you mean other chocolate flavors or the style of frosting, in a food processor? My head isnt working for conversions right now: will this make a 6 round 2-layer cake as is, or would that require halving the recipe? Making this as cupcakes for my sons birthday party, but do I need to adjust cooking time or oven temperature?? Less so on the first day. Maybe tonight?! I thought that there would be too much frosting, but no! Divine! see? However, the book has a slightly different amount of baking powder (3/4 tsp). (I use this brand.) For me, this always ends with a liquidy batter with tiny capsules of butter/sugar floating, so I assume thats the norm. I bought a bundt cake pan (9/10 inch I think), how can this recipe work with the pan?!?! Thank you! Thank you!! Two notes: I baked the cake for 27 min and it was a teeny bit dry watch carefully as it gets close to being done. I was so happy when I saw this recipe as I knew due to schedules including mine Id be home and no one would be making me a cake for my birthday yesterday, so this one fit the bill! He even drove the train around the tracks. It was really easy, nice treat. Do I defrost 4, decorate them tonight and frost the rest just before serving on Sunday? This one looks just absolutely perfect! Delicious cake, have yet to be let down by anything smitten kitchen yet honestly. .. is that normal? Its weirdly labourous but worth the time. I made this tonight. Thanks. Yes, this is everything I want. Probably need to stick to 20 min. -I used regular cocoa powder and absolutely missed the Dutch cocoa powder, so go for the gold here It will be on the Christmas menu from now on. This one looks like a keeper for any midnight cake treat. A fantastic recipe! This cake was really delicious and quick to make, which I appreciated. The cake was delicious! One of Debs many charms is that her recipes are accessible, using easily-obtained ingredients. Normally I cook in vast quantities (no idea why, its just me and hubbymaybe I was the mother of 8 in a past life?) I had to laugh at your comment about sweet potatoes. I dont like a lot of icing on my cake. Hi! This is what makes you, YOU!! The standard Id say for this size is 8 tablespoons instead of 6. What a difficult choice ! Out of buttermilk can I add a bit of vinegar to some slim milk.think I will wait until I get the buttermilk hate to tamper with a great recipe. they took about 18 minutes. Baking soda is actually part of baking powder. Completely organic and perfect. I NEVER comment, but this hit me right in my stress-baking sweet spot and I made it yesterday with a three year old and a baby underfoot. 1 / 4 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt. This is the BEST chocolate cake Ive ever made. Im not sure which on the bars are but can I use them for the frosting or does it definitely have to be unsweetened chocolate? Despite not having quite the right ingredients (had to use salted butter, 2% milk, and messed up the eggs and did all whole instead of one yolk and one whole) it turned out perfect. You made it a Sweet! Can anyone help a lady out on how long I should bake standard cupcakes? I got back from work at 8pm without a plan for my husbands birthday and managed to bake, cool, make a bodega run for confectioners sugar, decorate, make cacio e pepe, and open a bottle of wine within 90 minutes! Can you help? The last two times I made only half the frosting, which still gave the same effect as the photos did. Lucy Im sorry to hear that. From the fridge, its a bit of a pain. A perfect not too sweet cake with a cloud of fabulous frosting. Smitten Kitchen's Blondies, Infinitely Adaptable is an adaptation of Mark Bittman's recipe that Deb Perelman has baked with every alteration imaginable. Stir on low until just combined; scrape down bowl a final time. Going to try out this recipe for my daughters birthday! But the choice of recipes plus the use of WEIGHTS for ingredients overpowered me. This was exactly what I was craving! The frosting was fantastic, creamy and smooth using the food processor. Love your recipes:) I just moved a few weeks ago from Brooklyn, NY to Germany and I wanted to see if you had any insight on the baking soda/baking powder issue. Put the chocolate, butter, and salt in a large microwave safe bowl. Aarthi I havent, but it sounds really good. happy days all the way from Ireland. Oh my I need this now! Better the same day. Its supposed to be reserved for only specific times? i got 12 standard size cupcakes plus one bigger one, made in a custard cup. Pour in chocolate, milk and vanilla, beat until combined, then one more minute to whip it further.] You never disappoint. (The taste test tomorrow) simple and easy to follow recipie (im addicted to your Instagram too!). Many of the older cakes and almost all in the last couple years are one-bowl or at least each component is. Came out perfect baked in a 9 inch round. If larger squares, 9 to 12. Held up great and was perfect. Came out perfect! anyway, the cake itself is delicious, tender, and easy. Truly a fast cake to whip up!! Note: when I do pack it and weigh it, 145g actually comes to a little over 1/2 a cup of brown sugar. First piece I had with chocolate milk, the second with scotch. I followed the instructions exactly and the cake turned out beautifully. Ill try it again without the modification. Sorry so late to respond to this comment; no reason you cannot. Thank you! A winner! Lovely, Deb, thank you. Third. 1/2 cup (4 ounces or 115 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature Great cake! So you cream the butter & sugar, then add egg and the buttermilk. :/. No, sorry, I dont have a tag for it. Just finished frosting the cake and Id recommend adding the salt. For a summer party I baked triple the amount on a large tray, with mascarpone raspberry topping. Its 5:20 am and Im looking at cake recipes. This is a longtime favorite; its fluffy in an old-school way. You can make the frosting in advance; unless your kitchen is really hot, you can keep it at room temperature (cool room temp is best). Thanks! . I 1.5xd the frosting for a 913 and was happy with the coverage. I LOVE your recipe blog!! Looks great. I made this a few weeks ago, and made the frosting as written whereas normally I use powdered cocoa. Thank you for sharing the recipe!!!!!!!!!!!! My daughter wishes for a chocolate layer cake filled with chocolate chip ice cream for her birthday next week, and 6 cakes are my familys favorite size. You might want to check out the comment guidelines before chiming in. (this is my idea of an egg dish, fwiw!) It is good to note that dried butter milk plus water works in this recipe. . best chocolate cake ever! Because baking soda (not baking powder, which has cream of tartar as an acid) needs an acidic ingredient to activate it, there is some concern that the using Dutched cocoa in a recipe only leavened by baking soda will be a problem. Note to self: Keep cake ingredients and directions separate from frosting info. Oops! How well do you think it would hold up in a totally round pan (like the Wilton Sports Ball pan)? Got about 10 from a single batch, and baked about 24 minutes in my oven. Thank you for the recipe and inspiration. Less temptation as it sits on my counter! I think SmittenKitchen is AT LEAST 10% of the reason why my fiance proposed to me. Actually, Id probably keep 1/4 cup buttermilk, just so the batter wasnt too thick to work with. I did use butter and sour cream in the recipe, so I guess it is primal, not paleo. You also ruined me with Dutch processed cocoa. Thanks Deb!! Chocolatey, soft-textured but not crumbly, sweet but not overpowering. I used the alternative to buttermilk she mentions and used 1/2 cup strong coffee and 1/4 cup whole fat Greek yogurt (though doubled in my case, and the cake was deeply chocolatey and moist. Looks lovely! I will admit I subbed bittersweet choc for the unsweetened because thats what I had. Im an (unapologetic) chocoholic. Add the egg, yolk and vanilla and beat until combined, then the buttermilk and mix again. Thanks. YUM. My belly partner is revolted by anything sweet or dessert-y, even though thats what Im craving the most (now that the morning aka 24/7 sickness is gone)! Thanks for the doable, approachable, ingredient-accessible recipe. I laughed at the we cut it into 16 small squares. I finally made this cake today (despite having seen the recipe many times) after being enabled by the Cup of Jo post. And I have a prediction,,,you will be having a girl!! Just did it in a 913 and working on the frosting now! This cake looks so delicious! I may turn this into a regular Christmas cake :). My husband promised my kids dessert last night, and it was up to me to fulfill this promise. I ended up snagging a more squared-off metal 88 while out running errands today, so thin-cake crisis averted. Line a 15cm round springform tin with a circle of parchment paper. With every bite the grumpiness and stress and bickering melted away. If only I had enough patience to wait to make a cake until today. I used to think all chocolate cakes were either boring, dull, and dry, or so dense and moist that they couldnt actually be called cake. Thank you! Baking time for cupcakes is less; I usually start checking at 15 minutes. While it did turn out for all intensive purposes just fine, I had separated one egg, added the yolk as instructed and was then left very confused on why Id separated them as the whites were never mentioned.