Girls' Day Chocolate Cake
This week has been a very baking-light week for me. Which is odd. Especially during the summer! We just got back from a busy weekend of 4th of July-ing, making an anniversary dinner for mom and dad, swimming, visiting, and girls'/guys' days in time to go back out to an anniversary party for AS and JS thrown by their kids. AS married NES and I just about a year ago now, so it was a special reunion. And their party (which happened to be six months late for logistical reasons) just happened to be on mom and dad's actual anniversary! Phew.
We made mom and dad NES's famous chicken and tortellini for their dinner. Because of preference/other considerations, he cut back on the red/cayenne pepper though, and used Italian seasoning instead. It came out really well. It's definitely another equal alternative!
(I even garnished the salad with basil and the plates with parsley, all from the garden! How fancy!)
And we had leftover cupcakes for dessert!
Happy Anniversary, mom and dad!
Anyway, that was a side track. Back to the story. So, mostly what I've been doing this week has been other types of projects. Projects involving lots of paper. I can't reveal them now, because said projects are a surprise for NES, but they will be no longer secret soon! And NES wasn't home tonight, so I could work on them without worrying about him seeing! I could also make a dinner I know he doesn't like.
So I chose French toast with the last of the fresh strawberries from the Farmer's market. Mmmm.
Then I realized that I also had fresh peas from the Farmer's market that I should eat. And I even found two peas in a pod!
French toast and peas? I've had weirder combinations for dinner. If you believe it.
But, I did bake on Saturday!
I was visiting with KEB, LB, KS and JB. LB had requested a cake-baking-session so that she will be prepared the next time a birthday comes up! I figured that a girls' day would be a perfect time to bake a cake, so we did.
I found a "deep, dark and delicious chocolate cake {with a hint of coffee}", and it sounded like KEB's dream cake. Well, other than peanut butter and chocolate.
So, after eating lots of grapes, KEB's tasty southwestern wontons and lots of carrots, and watching Pride and Prejudice (what can I say? LB hadn't seen it!), we settled in to bake a chocolate on chocolate cake. Could we have been more stereotypical?
But that's ok. It was a girls' day. It was allowed.
We each took different ingredients and measured them out.
The batter turned out really, really thin, but Love from the Oven warned me it would, so I wasn't worried. Maybe it wasn't the most typical cake for teaching though. Oh well. It did mean it was a wonderfully moist cake!
Then we baked the layers.
They didn't come out of the pans perfectly. But that meant that I coined a new phrase: "Frosting covers a multitude of errors." I think that's my new baking philosophy . . .
Anyway, once it did finally cool, we made frosting.
Maybe it was because of the imperfections, or maybe I just put frosting on too thick, but I had to one and a half the frosting recipe. I'll change it in the recipe. The original recipe just didn't seem to make much.
It wasn't the world's most beautiful cake, but hey. It worked. I frosted. I think that the adventurousness had warn out by then.
Mmmm, chocolate cake.
We ate it with chocolate chocolate chip frozen Greek yogurt. Yeah. We had more chocolate. At least it was {a little!} healthier than ice cream!
And there you go. The perfect girls' day baking adventure conclusion: dark, moist chocolate cake with lots of frosting and chocolate chocolate chip fro yo.
Deep, Dark and Delicious Chocolate Cake
adapted from Love from the Oven
Cake:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup dark cocoa (Hershey's makes a version)
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup hot coffee
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease (and flour, it will probably help!) two 9-inch cake pans, and line with parchment or wax paper that has been lightly greased.
Mix the sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa in the bowl of a mixer.
Add the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Beat with mixer for 2 minutes on medium speed. Mix in the boiling coffee until well combined. (Be aware: the batter will be thin!)
Divide evenly between the prepared pans.
Bake 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool completely.
Frosting:
9 tbsp. butter, softened
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup dark cocoa
2 tbsp. milk
1/4 cup coffee (cooled -- don't use hot, or your frosting will be runny)
1 tsp. vanilla
Beat butter on medium speed. Turn to low speed, and alternate adding the cocoa and powdered sugar with the milk and coffee. Beat until the consistency is good for spreading. If too thick, add extra milk.
Add vanilla, and mix until combined.
We made mom and dad NES's famous chicken and tortellini for their dinner. Because of preference/other considerations, he cut back on the red/cayenne pepper though, and used Italian seasoning instead. It came out really well. It's definitely another equal alternative!
While NES did that, I made a green salad and garlic bread.
(I even garnished the salad with basil and the plates with parsley, all from the garden! How fancy!)
And we had leftover cupcakes for dessert!
Happy Anniversary, mom and dad!
Anyway, that was a side track. Back to the story. So, mostly what I've been doing this week has been other types of projects. Projects involving lots of paper. I can't reveal them now, because said projects are a surprise for NES, but they will be no longer secret soon! And NES wasn't home tonight, so I could work on them without worrying about him seeing! I could also make a dinner I know he doesn't like.
So I chose French toast with the last of the fresh strawberries from the Farmer's market. Mmmm.
Then I realized that I also had fresh peas from the Farmer's market that I should eat. And I even found two peas in a pod!
French toast and peas? I've had weirder combinations for dinner. If you believe it.
But, I did bake on Saturday!
I was visiting with KEB, LB, KS and JB. LB had requested a cake-baking-session so that she will be prepared the next time a birthday comes up! I figured that a girls' day would be a perfect time to bake a cake, so we did.
I found a "deep, dark and delicious chocolate cake {with a hint of coffee}", and it sounded like KEB's dream cake. Well, other than peanut butter and chocolate.
But that's ok. It was a girls' day. It was allowed.
We each took different ingredients and measured them out.
The batter turned out really, really thin, but Love from the Oven warned me it would, so I wasn't worried. Maybe it wasn't the most typical cake for teaching though. Oh well. It did mean it was a wonderfully moist cake!
Then we baked the layers.
They didn't come out of the pans perfectly. But that meant that I coined a new phrase: "Frosting covers a multitude of errors." I think that's my new baking philosophy . . .
Anyway, once it did finally cool, we made frosting.
Maybe it was because of the imperfections, or maybe I just put frosting on too thick, but I had to one and a half the frosting recipe. I'll change it in the recipe. The original recipe just didn't seem to make much.
It wasn't the world's most beautiful cake, but hey. It worked. I frosted. I think that the adventurousness had warn out by then.
Mmmm, chocolate cake.
Deep, Dark and Delicious Chocolate Cake
adapted from Love from the Oven
Cake:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup dark cocoa (Hershey's makes a version)
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup hot coffee
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease (and flour, it will probably help!) two 9-inch cake pans, and line with parchment or wax paper that has been lightly greased.
Mix the sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa in the bowl of a mixer.
Add the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Beat with mixer for 2 minutes on medium speed. Mix in the boiling coffee until well combined. (Be aware: the batter will be thin!)
Divide evenly between the prepared pans.
Bake 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool completely.
Frosting:
9 tbsp. butter, softened
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup dark cocoa
2 tbsp. milk
1/4 cup coffee (cooled -- don't use hot, or your frosting will be runny)
1 tsp. vanilla
Beat butter on medium speed. Turn to low speed, and alternate adding the cocoa and powdered sugar with the milk and coffee. Beat until the consistency is good for spreading. If too thick, add extra milk.
Add vanilla, and mix until combined.
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