Finding the Best Chocolate Cake Recipe (Part 2)

[Desiderio]

This is the chocolate stout cake , unfortunately I didnt know how to prepar the bundt pan , this was my first one , and the surface looks pretty ugly , but the taste is amazing.It is soo dense so light and moist at the same time amazing,I definately can taste the beer but it enriches the chocolate flavor .it definately a keeper , this cake will be a party favor .

[Moderator note: The original Finding the Best Chocolate Cake Recipe topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Finding the Best Chocolate Cake Recipe (Part 1)]

Edited November 1, 2013 by Mjx
Moderator note added. (log)

[paynes1]

Hi Everyone,

If you would like a copy of any of the CI chococolate cake recipes, you can get them on the website for free when you sign up for a free trial membership which last for 14 days. Happy Baking!

[merstar]

Thanks. After filling out name, e-mail, password, etc. do you have to add your credit card # after it says' "Continue"?

Edited October 15, 2006 by merstar (log)

[paynes1]

Thanks. After filling out name, e-mail, password, etc. do you have to add your credit card # after it says' "Continue"?

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Yes you will have to add your credit card nmber.

[merstar]

Thank you.

[lorinda]

Update: I made the tweaked double chocolate cake as cupcakes with some additional tweaks. I decreased the baking soda to 1 tsp from 2 tsp and increased the eggs to 4.5 eggs. The tweaked version says 1/2 - 3/4 cup vegetable oil and I went with 3/4 cup. Baked at 325 for about half an hour for cupcakes that were about 1/2 cup batter. I made a 2/3 batch and it made 24 small cupcakes. They were so good. When I first made this cake I think I used just 1/2 cup vegetable oil and it wasn't as good as I was expecting, this time around it really came together as what I was looking for.

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Hi Michelle,

I have tried the WhiteTruffle girl tweaked version. While the taste and moistness is good, I find that the cake crumbles a bit too much for my liking when sliced. How did you find your version, with respect to crumbliness? Perhaps the extra oil in your tweaks would stop the crumbling problem?

Lorinda

[viva]

I made the tweaked Double Chocolate cake recipes this weekend (not whitetrufflegirl's, the original "tweaked" version simply because that's the one I saw first). It rocks. I love you guys.

Fortuitously, I made two 9x12 pans and cut out rounds for small layer cakes - which meant a plethora of scraps. I was practically in a chocolate coma.

[fodgycakes]

Update: I made the tweaked double chocolate cake as cupcakes with some additional tweaks. I decreased the baking soda to 1 tsp from 2 tsp and increased the eggs to 4.5 eggs. The tweaked version says 1/2 - 3/4 cup vegetable oil and I went with 3/4 cup. Baked at 325 for about half an hour for cupcakes that were about 1/2 cup batter. I made a 2/3 batch and it made 24 small cupcakes. They were so good. When I first made this cake I think I used just 1/2 cup vegetable oil and it wasn't as good as I was expecting, this time around it really came together as what I was looking for.

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Hi Michelle,

I have tried the WhiteTruffle girl tweaked version. While the taste and moistness is good, I find that the cake crumbles a bit too much for my liking when sliced. How did you find your version, with respect to crumbliness? Perhaps the extra oil in your tweaks would stop the crumbling problem?

Lorinda

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Lorinda,

Sorry I didn't answer you earlier, I didn't see your post until just now. I think I had similar crumbling with that first attempt of mine, which was using tweaks similar to WhiteTruffleGirl's. My second attempt with the addiitonal oil was much better in that respect. Try it!

[DonnaMarieNJ]

I was browsing through cookbooks looking for a simple chocolate cake recipe. There were so many to choose from, and I didn't know the differences between the recipes.

For instance, some of the cakes were made with buttermilk, some sour cream, some with butter, shortening or oil. What's the difference? How will these ingredients affect the texture?

There were cakes described as "chocolate," chocolate fudge," "deviled," or "deep/dark." Same question here: what is the difference in these flavors?

A simple layer cake or sheet cake is all I'm looking for -- nothing fancy. I'm also not looking for a recipe (another recipe will just confuse me more) -- just how to differentiate between the descriptions/ingredients.

Thanks!

[alanamoana]

I was browsing through cookbooks looking for a simple chocolate cake recipe.  There were so many to choose from, and I didn't know the differences between the recipes.

For instance, some of the cakes were made with buttermilk, some sour cream, some with butter, shortening or oil.  What's the difference?  How will these ingredients affect the texture?

There were cakes described as "chocolate," chocolate fudge," "deviled," or "deep/dark."  Same question here:  what is the difference in these flavors?

A simple layer cake or sheet cake is all I'm looking for -- nothing fancy.  I'm also not looking for a recipe (another recipe will just confuse me more) -- just how to differentiate between the descriptions/ingredients.

Thanks!

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with cakes in general, the differences you'll notice will be more with mixing technique more than anything else. often, this is accompanied by certain ingredients, for example:

warm egg foam method: can either be whole eggs warmed and whisked with sugar until volume increases and then dry ingredients and melted fat (butter) added at the end. this is close to a genoise which will give you a drier crumb and more delicate cake. not necessarily very chocolatey in flavor

variant on egg foam: separated eggs, yolks whisked with some of the sugar and whites whisked with rest of sugar everything delicately folded together. similar in texture and other qualities to what is mentioned above

chiffon: dry ingredients are stirred together, oil and other liquid ingredients are added, egg whites and sugar whipped and folded into the rest of the ingredients.

two stage: dry ingredients mixed together, softened fat added, liquids added in two stages (eggs added in second stage), everything beaten to aerate. high-ratio cakes. i think these cakes are closer to what americans are used to calling a layer type cake...certainly closer to what comes out of a boxed mix. probably denser in crumb and more chocolatey if that's what you're looking for.

this is just a basic overview.

edited to add: the two stage and chiffon method will give you something like devils food cake type cake. chiffon a bit lighter in texture. genoise (egg foam) type cakes will give you layers that are delicate and not too chocolatey...good for soaking with a flavored syrup.

deep/dark (at least in my opinion) implies something like a decadence or ganache style cake which doesn't fall into any of these categories. they are just baked ganache set with some eggs. of course, i think a lot of these designations are subjective. you can probably adjust some of the quantities of cocoa powder and such with the recipes to make the cake more flavorful, dense, rich, etc. but because of the reactions of cocoa powder with leaveners you'll need to understand that balance as well.

Edited December 30, 2007 by alanamoana (log)

[lorinda]

For instance, some of the cakes were made with buttermilk, some sour cream, some with butter, shortening or oil.  What's the difference?  How will these ingredients affect the texture?

Buttermilk or sour cream will result in a more moist (and possibly slightly denser) chocolate cake than recipes without. I prefer choc cakes with these ingredients. It would give a somewhat richer flavour than if the liquid component were, say, water. A choc cake made with all butter will have the best flavour however, upon cooling, it will have a firmer, drier mouth feel than a cake with all or part shortening or oil.

There were cakes described as "chocolate," chocolate fudge," "deviled," or "deep/dark."  Same question here:  what is the difference in these flavors?

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Choc fudge usually means a denser, darker, richer and moister cake than just 'chocolate cake', and will probably have a component of melted chocolate. Devils food cake is similar to choc fudge, but it could be lighter in texture.

So many recipes out there, so little time! After a year, I am still trying to find the ultimate yellow cake recipe, it never ends.

[DonnaMarieNJ]

Thank you!

[DonnaMarieNJ]

Since I'm still confused.....

I have 3 cookbooks - Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts; Carole Walter's Great Cakes; and RLB's Cake Bible. Please help me choose a great chocolate cake recipe. I think, from the description above, what I want is similar to a devil's food (layer cake) although any great chocolate cake would be appreciated.

All I need is a place to start. The 21 pages of this forum are too confusing for me. Can someone please point me to a great recipe in one of my books?

Thanks again.

[K8memphis]

Since I'm still confused.....

I have 3 cookbooks - Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts; Carole Walter's Great Cakes; and RLB's Cake Bible.  Please help me choose a great chocolate cake recipe.  I think, from the description above, what I want is similar to a devil's food (layer cake) although any great chocolate cake would be appreciated.

All I need is a place to start.  The 21 pages of this forum are too confusing for me.  Can someone please point me to a great recipe in one of my books?

Thanks again.

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I only have one of those books so I can't help there. But the recipe on the Hershey's can of cocoa is an excellent chocolate cake. Easy peasy and wonderful.

If you don't mind the mish mosh of extra ingredients this one is also excellent. It's like a nice texas sheet cake type fudgey cake. I make & fill with a cream cheese filling. It's been a very popular cake of mine.

Edited January 1, 2008 by K8memphis (log)

[merstar]

Here's a fantastic Devil's Food Cake, which I've made many times. Make sure you use parchment paper - the cake is so moist, it will stick to the pans like glue. I omit the Fluffy White Frosting (those types of frostings are usually too sweet for me), increase the filling (dark chocolate ganache), and use it for both the filling and frosting. (I use Ghirardelli semi-sweet). Also, I use brewed espresso instead of strong coffee. In addition, I keep this as a two-layer cake, rather than splitting the layers as indicated.

Devil's Food Cake With Fluffy White Frosting

http://www.godiva.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?id=518

[DonnaMarieNJ]

Thanks, everyone.

K8, what is the name of the recipe on the back of the Hershey's can? I'll have to look it up.

Thanks again.

[K8memphis]

Thanks, everyone.

K8, what is the name of the recipe on the back of the Hershey's can?  I'll have to look it up.

Thanks again.

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HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Cake

click here

You're very welcome.

Edited January 1, 2008 by K8memphis (log)

[Bruiser]

this is by far my favorite chocolate cake recipe and it's incredibly easy to make.

i can't recall when I got it, but it was used in one of Johnny Iuzzini's demos at The Chocolate show.

3 large eggs

350 g. granulated sugar

-----------------------------------

242 g. mayonnaise (homemade or store-bought)

1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

-----------------------------------

282 g. all purpose flour

85 g. dutch process cocoa powder

7 g. baking soda

1 g. baking powder

2 g. salt

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292g. water

-Place eggs and sugar in a stand mixer and whip on high speed - about 2 minutes- until light and creamy, (not necessarily ribbon stage)

-Scrape the bowl and add in your mayo and vanilla, mix to combine.

-Whisk together your dry ingredients, and alternate them into your egg/sugar/ mayo mixture with the with the water. (I usually do 3 additions of dry, 2 additions of water)

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 350 until tester comes out clean.

I've never timed it, due to my oven being a bit screwy. But I've used it for layer cakes, cupcakes, wedding cakes, etc, and it turns out every time.

Edited January 2, 2008 by Bruiser (log)

[JudyPH]

Hi!

I tried the latest version of the Double Chocolate Cake recipe (by whitetrufflegirl) and it came out a bit rubbery... i still want to try it again because i love the intense chocolate flavor.

What am i doing wrong with it coming out a bit rubbery? I made sure to not overmix. I also want to try the creaming method.... hope you could give me directions on how to do that too.

Thanks!

Judy

[JudyPH]

Here's the cake i made (tweaked double choc cake recipe)... the crumbs are really tight and it didn't seem to rise that well... what am i doing wrong? A bit rubbery too. Do you think the oil content is too high (used yoghurt plus the butter and oil)... or should i have tried the creaming method? Hope someone could enlighten me on this.

I iced it with almond IMBC and choc. caramel ganache with hazelnut praline. Although it tasted quite nice in the end, i still have not made a chocolate cake with a texture that i am happy with.

Help please...

[prasantrin]

JudyPH--are you based in the Philippines? If so, I wonder if it might be something about the ingredients. I've had chocolate cake in the Philippines which, while moist, has been somewhat heavy and rubbery.

Or not...I just did a search and found this:

What you call rubbery, Gisslen calls tough, and he says it is the result of too much flour, flour that has too high a protein content, not enough sugar or shortening, and/or overmixing. In short, it is the result of the formation of gluten, the elastic protein structure that you want in bread, but that you really don't want in cakes and pastries. Gluten is produced when liquid comes in contact with two of the proteins in flour and is stretched, which is exactly what happens in your mixer.

[JudyPH]

What you call rubbery, Gisslen calls tough, and he says it is the result of too much flour, flour that has too high a protein content, not enough sugar or shortening, and/or overmixing. In short, it is the result of the formation of gluten, the elastic protein structure that you want in bread, but that you really don't want in cakes and pastries. Gluten is produced when liquid comes in contact with two of the proteins in flour and is stretched, which is exactly what happens in your mixer.

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[prasantrin]

Yes i am based in the Philippines. 

So... its either the flour or sugar content, or overmixing?  I used cake flour and  followed the amount of sugar in the recipe. 

I'm thinking it might be using too much fat in the recipe.  The yoghurt i used was not store bought but came from the local farm and its delivered directly to my kitchen.  I wonder if my yoghurt has a high fat content thats affecting this recipe.  Hope someone would share their thoughts on this.

I am feeling a bit frustrated... i mean for a wedding cake maker, i feel like i'm the only who doesn't have a good chocolate cake recipe in their files. 

Help.

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If you click on the link, there is a more detailed explanation, I just quoted the most relevant part. There was something about shortening--not creaming it enough or something like that?

[merstar]

I am feeling a bit frustrated... i mean for a wedding cake maker, i feel like i'm the only who doesn't have a good chocolate cake recipe in their files. 

Help.

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Have you tried the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake from Cook's Illustrated, which is listed in this thread or the Devil's Food Cake with Fluffy White Frosting from the Godiva website? I find these two cakes superior to the Double Chocolate Layer Cake both in taste and texture.

[Mary Elizabeth]

My ideal chocolate cake is the "Just Desserts" devils food cake that is/was? sold in San Francisco. My favorite devil's food cake recipe is from the CIA Baking and Pastry book. It is the closest I have come to the "Just Desserts" devils food cake. It is very black, with a shiny crumb. The Just Desserts devil's food cake had a more open crumb. I wish I could get a little more open crumb in the CIA recipe.