Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake
A tried and true chocolate layer cake from Cook's Illustrated. This is a delicious classic chocolate layer cake, suitable for all kinds of celebrations!
Servings slices
Ingredients
Cake
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks) very soft, plus extra for greasing pans
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour plus extra for dusting pans
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate coarsley chopped
- ¼ cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
- ½ cup hot water
- 1 ¾ cup sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 2 egg yolks
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting
- 16 ounces semisweet chocolate finely chopped (tiny bit over 2 ½ cups chocolate chips)
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 1 ¼ cups heavy cream cold
Instructions
Cake
- Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat to 350℉. Grease two 9-inch round by 2 inch high cake pans with butter; dust pans with flour and knock out excess.
- Combine chocolate, cocoa powder, and hot water in medium heatproof bowl; set bowl over saucepan containing 1 inch of simmering water and stir with rubber spatula until chocolate ins melted, about 2 minutes. Add ½ cup sugar to chocolate and stir until glossy, 1-2 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and set aside to cool.
- Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Combine buttermilk and vanilla in small bowl.
- In bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whisk eggs and yolks on medium-low speed until combined, about 10 seconds. Add remaining 1 ¼ cups sugar, increase speed to high, and whisk until fluffy and lightened in color, 2-3 minutes.
- Replace whisk with paddle attachment. Add cooled chocolate mixture to egg/sugar mixture and mix on medium speed until thoroughly incorporated, 30-45 seconds, pausing to scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing about 10 seconds after each addition.
- Add about ⅓ of flour mixture; followed by half of buttermilk mixture mixing until incorporated after each addition (about 15 seconds). Repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining buttermilk mixture (batter may appear separated). Scrape down sides of bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at medium low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds.
- Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans; smooth batter to edges of pan with spatula.
- Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 25-30minutes. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack. Cool cakes to room temperature before frosting, 45-60 minutes.
Frosting
- Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth and glossy. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Empty the water from the saucepan and return the pan to the stove over medium-low heat. Add the butter and melt. Increase the heat to medium and add the sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt and stir with a silicone spatula until the sugar is dissolved, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add the melted chocolate, the butter and sugar mixture, and the cream to the bowl of a stand mixer and stir thoroughly to combine.
- Place the bowl over an ice bath and stir constantly with a silicone spatula until the mixture is thick and begins to harden against the sides of the bowl, about 1-2 minutes (frosting should be about 70℉ at this point).
- Place the bowl on the stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until frosting is fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Stir with silicone spatula until completely smooth.
- Frost cooled cakes.
Notes
- Don’t make the frosting until the cakes are cooled, and use the frosting as soon as it is ready. If the frosting gets too stiff to spread easily, wrap the mixer bowl with a towel soaked in hot water and mix on low speed until the frosting is creamy and smooth. Refrigerated leftover cake should sit at room temperature before serving until the frosting softens.
- If you aren't frosting right away, store finished, cooled cakes wrapped tightly in plastic at room temperature for up to 24 hours, until ready to frost.
- You can freeze the unfrosted layers as well. Wrap tightly in plastic (and then foil, for longer storage) and freeze until ready to frost. You can frost the cakes frozen and then allow everything to sit at room temperature to thaw before serving.
- Here’s a trick: When you are inverting a warm cake to a cooling rack, place a paper towel down first. It will still let the air circulate, but it prevents the cake from sticking to the rack.
- Further Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting instructions and photos found here.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice (1/12 cake), Calories: 779kcal, Carbohydrates: 77g, Protein: 10g, Fat: 51g, Saturated Fat: 30g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 14g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 170mg, Sodium: 441mg, Potassium: 422mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 53g, Vitamin A: 1122IU, Vitamin C: 0.1mg, Calcium: 96mg, Iron: 6mg
Calories: 779kcal
Cost: $20
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