Finding the Best Chocolate Cake Recipe (Part 1)

[cathrynapple]

strangely, i cover mine with clouds of italian meringue and brown it a little.

[JayBassin]

I'm thinking of using the tweaked recipe to make two half-sheet pans as the cake in a buche de noel, but I'm a little concerned the cakes would be too fragile to roll. I would use the sour-cream version without butter because the cakes would be rolled and chilled. Any opinions as to whether the batter would work well this way?

[nightscotsman]

I suspect that this cake recipe won't be flexible enough to roll without cracking and falling apart. You're probably on safer ground if you use a sponge-type cake like a biscuit that you soak with syrup.

[Wendy DeBord]

If you have the Spago baking book, theres a great recipe in it for a chocolate cake roll. It's what I use.

Hum, I know lots of other people use it too.......maybe someone has the recipe handy and could post it for you?

[skyflyer3]

I made the latest version on Sunday for my spouse's bday.  I wasnt that impressed.  It was a tad dry( I might have overbaked a bit) and while it was very chocolaty, I found it no better than my go to chocolate cake( Black Magic by Hershey's).  I frosted with a sour cream ganache and used some cherry butter in between the layers.

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I made this cake last night (this time mixing the butter with the other wet ingredients), and found it a little dry as well. I think I may have overbaked it, though - I kept doing the toothpick test, and getting crumbs on the tester. It was springing back fine, though. How do y'all gauge done-ness for this one?

[onehsancare]

If you have the Spago baking book, theres a great recipe in it for a chocolate cake roll. It's what I use.

Hum, I know lots of other people use it too.......maybe someone has the recipe handy and could post it for you?

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Please, could someone post it?

[nightscotsman]

I made the latest version on Sunday for my spouse's bday.  I wasnt that impressed.  It was a tad dry( I might have overbaked a bit) and while it was very chocolaty, I found it no better than my go to chocolate cake( Black Magic by Hershey's).  I frosted with a sour cream ganache and used some cherry butter in between the layers.

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I made this cake last night (this time mixing the butter with the other wet ingredients), and found it a little dry as well. I think I may have overbaked it, though - I kept doing the toothpick test, and getting crumbs on the tester. It was springing back fine, though. How do y'all gauge done-ness for this one?

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It does sound to me like you overbaked your cake. A few crumbs on the toothpick are fine as long as there's no actual raw batter and it springs back from a soft poke.

[Wendy DeBord]

I used to use this recipe for my chocolate cakes a few years back. It's a really good cake, but I find it too delicate for layer cake applications.

It's from "Spago Chocolate" by Mary Bergin and Judy Gethers, published by Random House in 1999. It's a really good book, by the way!!

"Roulade au chocolate pour Julia", page 32.

1 1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp. sugar

1 c. ap flour

3/4 c. cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

4 eggs, seperated

3/4 c. vegetable oil

1/2 c. water

2 egg whites

Dirrections adapted into my own words:

Put the 6 egg whites in a clean mixing bowl and set aside 1/2 c. of the sugar, that will be whipped into them.

In another bowl whip together the yolks, oil and water.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, soda, powder and salt. Gradually add those sifted ingredients into your yolk mixture.

Then whip your whites gradually adding the sugar until they are firm.

Fold the firm whites into the batter. Pour batter into a sprayed and line sheet pan (aprox. 12"x 17"). Bake at 350F. When finished baking cool in the pan...don't unmold it onto something else because it will stick to another surface regardless of how much you try to prevent that.

This is a really moist chocolate cake.

[Aria]

Here's a good chocolate cake recipe, you can't fail. It isn't earth shatteringly amazing but is really fast and tastes delish...it's from Sweden

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/recipe_hdcake.htm

[ruthcooks]

Here's a good chocolate cake recipe, you can't fail. It isn't earth shatteringly amazing but is really fast and tastes delish...it's from Sweden

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/recipe_hdcake.htm

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On the right side of this recipe is a tip:

"For The New Cook

Why do cake recipes tell you to butter and flour the pan? The flour dusting simply shows you any areas of the pan that not been properly coated with butter (or shortening). "

Is this true? I've never heard this given as a reason before.

[ablosh]

I thought that the flour on top of the greasing is what would keep the batter from absorbing even more butter/oil/shortening into the mixture...

I'm a newbie, and I gotta ask if a sheet pan is only about 1" to 1 1/2" high? If it is and it looks like a tray with sides, then I think I have one somewhere in my house.

[Patrick S]

I'm a newbie, and I gotta ask if a sheet pan is only about 1" to 1 1/2" high?

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Yep, that's it.

[Wendy DeBord]

Always on the hunt for perfection, I tried out a recipe from Cookstalk's list of tired and true recipes the last week of 2005 that was darned interesting. It's called the Suzan B recipe (or very similar)...........I'll try to post a link in the next couple days, if anyone is interested?

What's really different is:

it's oil based, no butter

exactly the texture and moisture level of a cake mix

it holds for a LONG time with-out change in texture, refrigeration doesn't change the texture when you eat it right from the fridge

the method is crazy simple........combine all wet, combine all dry...stir the two together by hand (no lumps remain)....if you wanted to, this would be the ideal cake to produce in volume.....you could weigh out your dry ingredients and you wet in huge proportions and mix in whatever size batches you'd need for the week, etc...

............but, yes there is a catch..........it doesn't draw you back for more (regardless of the brand of cocoa powder you use, at least in my trials)...it's darn good......but nothing that compels me to gorge on it

[Dailey]

wendy,

sounds interesting, would love to give it a try! currently, my most favorite chocolate cake is the one that started this thread, scott woolley's. i absolutely love it! that cake definitely does not last long in my house.

[Patrick S]

I tried the Susan B cake back in September, and thought it was ok. But I prefer the similar oil-based Hershey's cake recipe.

[shaloop]

I tried the Susan B cake back in September, and thought it was ok. But I prefer the similar oil-based Hershey's cake recipe.

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I haven't tried the cakes on this thread, but over the last several years, have tried many, MANY different chocolate cakes and always went back to the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate cake on the back of the cocoa can. So, I started just tweaking that recipe to make it even better. One day I came accross the mention of Hershey's Black Magic Cake and looked it up. It's almost exactly my tweaked Perfectly Chocolate cake recipe! (Great minds think alike ). So, I'd have to say that of the probably 20 different chocolate cakes I've tried, the Hershey's Black Magic cake is my favorite.

[CaliPoutine]

I tried the Susan B cake back in September, and thought it was ok. But I prefer the similar oil-based Hershey's cake recipe.

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I haven't tried the cakes on this thread, but over the last several years, have tried many, MANY different chocolate cakes and always went back to the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate cake on the back of the cocoa can. So, I started just tweaking that recipe to make it even better. One day I came accross the mention of Hershey's Black Magic Cake and looked it up. It's almost exactly my tweaked Perfectly Chocolate cake recipe! (Great minds think alike ). So, I'd have to say that of the probably 20 different chocolate cakes I've tried, the Hershey's Black Magic cake is my favorite.

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I happen to agree with you. I love the black magic cake. Everyone who I bake it for raves about it. I have tried to bake it with out Hershey's cocoa's(using a different brand) but its just not the same, ( Hershey's cocoa isnt availble in Ontario) . I usually stock up on Hershey's when I go to the states. I even won first prize with this cake at my town's Fall Fair.

I usually bake it off in a bundt and top it with powdered sugar. If I'm making it for a special occasion, I make the one bowl buttercream icing.

Edited January 11, 2006 by CaliPoutine (log)

[merstar]

I tried the Susan B cake back in September, and thought it was ok. But I prefer the similar oil-based Hershey's cake recipe.

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I haven't tried the cakes on this thread, but over the last several years, have tried many, MANY different chocolate cakes and always went back to the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate cake on the back of the cocoa can. So, I started just tweaking that recipe to make it even better. One day I came accross the mention of Hershey's Black Magic Cake and looked it up. It's almost exactly my tweaked Perfectly Chocolate cake recipe! (Great minds think alike ). So, I'd have to say that of the probably 20 different chocolate cakes I've tried, the Hershey's Black Magic cake is my favorite.

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I happen to agree with you. I love the black magic cake. Everyone who I bake it for raves about it. I have tried to bake it with out cocoa's but its just not the same, ( Hershey's cocoa isnt availble in Ontario) . I usually stock up on Hershey's when I go to the states. I even won first prize with this cake at my town's Fall Fair.

I usually bake it off in a bundt and top it with powdered sugar. If I'm making it for a special occasion, I make the one bowl buttercream icing.

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I love the Black Magic Cake also, especially with a few tweaks. I decrease the sugar significantly (instead of 2 cups, I use 1 1/3), I use half the amount of salt, nonfat plain yogurt instead of buttermilk, and brewed espresso instead of coffee.

Edited January 11, 2006 by merstar (log)

[jgarner53]

Argh! I have the Double Chocolate Cake (the revised version with the unsweetened chocolate and added butter) in the oven (cupcakes and a 6-inch cake) and only AFTER it was in the oven, and I was washing my dishes, did I realize that I only put in 1/2 cup of sour cream, instead of the 1 1/2 cups it called for. The cupcakes are out of the oven, and it's all I can do not to tear into one right now to see if they're OK. The batter tasted oh so yummy.

As a point of comparison, I made the Black Magic Cake yesterday and wasn't blown away. I'd switch to cake flour (instead of AP), but there just wasn't enough chocolate flavor there to make me crave more.

Whereas the Double Chocolate cake - I could have just eaten the batter raw. I expect that the finished product (insufficient sour cream or no) will be make-you-want-to-gorge delicious and will probably become my standard chocolate layer cake.

[Ling]

^I agree. I haven't made the Black Magic cake, but a quick look at the recipe will confirm that the Double chocolate cake has proportionately more chocolate, so it HAS to be better!

[jgarner53]

An update on the inadequate sour cream usage of the Double Chocolate cake. While I might have beaten the eggs a trifle too long, I suspect that the true nature of the problem in this cake (at least my failed iteration at it) was that it had no structural integrity. Bite into a cupcake, and it turns into a thousand crumbs. Tasty crumbs, but crumbs.

so back to the drawing board and my kitchen to try this cake again, with the appropriate amount of sour cream. Oh darn. More chocolate cake. Whatever shall I do?

[Ling]

^well, the cakes that have less sour cream could be made into rum balls!

[miladyinsanity]

Has anybody tried the recipe with only melted butter?

I plan to try halving the recipe, in which case I'll just dump in 2 cartons of sour cream. Just 25ml less won't make that much of a difference, right? Oh and I'd like to use muscovado sugar--I've got quite a lot of the stuff for Christmas fruitcake but never did make any--rather than light brown as well.

Edited January 19, 2006 by miladyinsanity (log)

[middydd]

I love the Black Magic Cake also, especially with a few tweaks. I decrease the sugar significantly (instead of 2 cups, I use 1 1/3), I use half the amount of salt, nonfat plain yogurt instead of buttermilk, and brewed espresso instead of coffee.

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My tweak to the original Black Magic cake recipe is to melt about 2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate in the coffee before adding it to the cake batter. It rounds out and deepens the chocolate flavour.

[merstar]

I love the Black Magic Cake also, especially with a few tweaks. I decrease the sugar significantly (instead of 2 cups, I use 1 1/3), I use half the amount of salt, nonfat plain yogurt instead of buttermilk, and brewed espresso instead of coffee.

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My tweak to the original Black Magic cake recipe is to melt about 2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate in the coffee before adding it to the cake batter. It rounds out and deepens the chocolate flavour.

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Sounds good. Do you use the original sugar and salt amounts? Do you use espresso or strong coffee?