Finding the Best Chocolate Cake Recipe (Part 1)

[merstar]

Based on skyflyer and merstar's recommendations, I tried the CI Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake again. I used Callebaut bittersweet, which despite the name is actually a fairly sweet chocolate, and Hershey's cocoa (one of the few "natural" cocoas I find palatable). I baked to moist crumb stage. I had a little batter left over which I baked in a 4" pan. I tried a few bites of the 4" about an hour out of the oven, and my first impression is very favorable. Sweeter than I remember, moist, very chocolatey. I certainly like this better than the CI Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake I tried, and the Wooley cake as well. I'll try to post pictures and further commentary after I try the cake tomorrow, but right now I'll go ahead and say this cake is very good and definitely worth a look.

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Glad you decided to try it again, Patrick. Looking forward to your pictures and full review tomorrow.

[WhiteTruffleGirl]

Sounds like a very successful tweakery, WhiteTruffleGirl! By the way, did you see my post to you on page 15 regarding the Cuban instant espresso?

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Merstar,

Yes, I should have mentioned, I did see your post and I went to one of my local grocers that has a fairly decent ethnic food aisle and they had it. So I used it in my cake yesterday. Thanks again for the recommendation. Yes, I would say it was a very successful tweakery, but the true test will be once the cake has some age on it.

I think I've got the Godzilla proportion thing worked out, so here's the formula I used to make the cake yesterday.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this cake tastes tonight. As well, I have a full complement of built-in tasters (notwithstanding my BIL ‘snarfers’) so I'll ask them to compare it to the CI cake.

I've been thinking a little bit more about what I might do differently next time I make this cake (pending tonight's tasting). In addition to trying it with all cake flour next time, I think I'm going to go with a hotter oven, particularly now that I've increased the number of eggs. I think it will create an even lighter cake with even better rise. I'm not sure about any other modifications yet. I've got to wait and see.

I'll report back tomorrow.

[middydd]

Sounds like a very successful tweakery, WhiteTruffleGirl! By the way, did you see my post to you on page 15 regarding the Cuban instant espresso?

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In addition to trying it with all cake flour next time, I think I'm going to go with a hotter oven, particularly now that I've increased the number of eggs. I think it will create an even lighter cake with even better rise. I'm not sure about any other modifications yet. I've got to wait and see.

I'll report back tomorrow.

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Does anybody know the reason why the Double Chocolate cake from Epicurious bakes at 300 instead of 325 or 350 like most cakes?

[merstar]

Sounds like a very successful tweakery, WhiteTruffleGirl! By the way, did you see my post to you on page 15 regarding the Cuban instant espresso?

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Merstar,

Yes, I should have mentioned, I did see your post and I went to one of my local grocers that has a fairly decent ethnic food aisle and they had it. So I used it in my cake yesterday. Thanks again for the recommendation. Yes, I would say it was a very successful tweakery, but the true test will be once the cake has some age on it.

I think I've got the Godzilla proportion thing worked out, so here's the formula I used to make the cake yesterday.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this cake tastes tonight. As well, I have a full complement of built-in tasters (notwithstanding my BIL ‘snarfers’) so I'll ask them to compare it to the CI cake.

I've been thinking a little bit more about what I might do differently next time I make this cake (pending tonight's tasting). In addition to trying it with all cake flour next time, I think I'm going to go with a hotter oven, particularly now that I've increased the number of eggs. I think it will create an even lighter cake with even better rise. I'm not sure about any other modifications yet. I've got to wait and see.

I'll report back tomorrow.

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At this point, it's obviously not the Double Chocolate Layer Cake anymore. It's something else entirely, between several egullet members' combined tweaks and your individual tweaks. So you're actually not testing the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake against the Double Chocolate Layer Cake - you're testing it against something entirely different!

Edited March 11, 2006 by merstar (log)

[Patrick S]

Based on skyflyer and merstar's recommendations, I tried the CI Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake again. I used Callebaut bittersweet, which despite the name is actually a fairly sweet chocolate, and Hershey's cocoa (one of the few "natural" cocoas I find palatable). I baked to moist crumb stage. I had a little batter left over which I baked in a 4" pan. I tried a few bites of the 4" about an hour out of the oven, and my first impression is very favorable. Sweeter than I remember, moist, very chocolatey. I certainly like this better than the CI Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake I tried, and the Wooley cake as well. I'll try to post pictures and further commentary after I try the cake tomorrow, but right now I'll go ahead and say this cake is very good and definitely worth a look.

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Okay, I tried a slice after dinner. The texture is very good. Its heavy and sturdy enough that it cuts and plates well. The chocolate flavor is nice and strong. I don't really like the subtle tang from the sour cream, but its not really a major turn-off. This cake has a lot going for it, but flavor-wise I would still prefer the Double Chocolate cake. I think this cake will appeal most to those of us who prefer a less sweet cake.

[merstar]

Patrick,

When you refer to the Double Chocolate Layer Cake, you are talking about the orginal, not tweaked version, yes?

Beautiful photo!

[Patrick S]

Patrick,

When you refer to the Double Chocolate Layer Cake, you are talking about the orginal, not tweaked version, yes?

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That's right. I haven't tried the "tweaks" yet.

[Ling]

I tried the CI sour cream chocolate bundt cake today. It was great...moist, and not very sweet (which is surprising b/c I found the batter very sweet). The crumb on my cake looks more coarse compared to Patrick's cake...(mine was baked by the students in my baking class, but I was supervising so nothing should have gone terribly wrong.) I think I still prefer the Double Chocolate cake in terms of flavour, as that cake seems more chocolatey. I didn't have any espresso powder for the CI cake.

I would give the CI cake a 4/5 and the Double Chocolate cake a 4.5/5. I really enjoyed both cakes. The leftover CI cake batter made four wonderful cupcakes with a smoother texture, tighter crumb, and perfect slightly domed rise than the bundt cake, for some reason.

Here's a slice I saved (the cake was baked in my rose-shaped Nordicware bundt, hence the wavy edges)

An enthusiastic baker

Edited March 12, 2006 by Ling (log)

[WhiteTruffleGirl]

At this point, it's obviously not the Double Chocolate Layer Cake anymore. It's something else entirely, between several egullet members' combined tweaks and your individual tweaks. So you're actually not testing the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake against the Double Chocolate Layer Cake - you're testing it against something entirely different!

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Merstar,

I can agree with you and disagree with you, but does it even really matter? The basis of the recipe I used was the eGullet tweaked Double Chocolate cake recipe. All of the changes I made to it were solely based on my attempts to improve what I felt was a suboptimal texture. I did not change any of the chocolate or sugar measurements; only those things that I felt would have the greatest impact on improving the crumb and texture. And yes, in changing those, there naturally will be some change to the overall flavor profile of the cake, …that cannot be helped, but my goal was to maintain the integrity of what I think is a great flavored cake, while improving what I perceived to be a less than great crumb. No one has to agree with me, no one has to try my version of the recipe…I did this for myself, and simply wanted to share my experiences.

The tasting went somewhat as I expected. Chocolate cake—being a very subjective thing—meant that there was not any agreement in the room amongst approximately 15 “testers” as to which cake they preferred. And, it was fairly well evenly split as to which cake they liked. Nothing earth shattering or profound here…their comments pretty much mirror everything that’s already been said by everyone here. Those that liked the CI cake did so because the crumb was more delicate and it was slightly sweeter. Those that liked the Double Chocolate preferred it because it was moister and had a slightly more intense chocolate flavor.

For myself, I think I generally liked many of the changes I had made to the Double Chocolate cake recipe, but the next time I make it I will do a couple of things differently. I will make it with all cake flour and I will increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees. I think both of these will help. Pending those results, I may also try backing off by one egg and re-upping the coffee slightly, but I’m not sure yet. I want to see how the combo of flour and oven temp works first.

[prasantrin]

I made the CI Sour Cream Bundt cake tonight. I had some problems. Firstly, even though I used the melted butter/cocoa powder combination to grease my pan, it stuck and came out in pieces. So much for giving the cake to my students as a thank you present! (It's White Day in Japan tomorrow, and I owe a lot of students who gave me Valentine's presents!)

Secondly, I thought I had a regular-sized bundt pan (which is what was required) but either my pan is smaller or I somehow managed to end up with much more cake batter, because although the cake didn't overflow, it rose past the top of the pan, especially around the middle where it almost overflowed.

It took about 60 minutes to bake. I think that was related to the almost overflowing batter, but I don't know much about these things...

From what I could tell, though, it was moist and flavourful. The batter was very, very good but I haven't tried the cake yet (except some bits that fell off, and they were good).

[Patrick S]

Secondly, I thought I had a regular-sized bundt pan (which is what was required) but either my pan is smaller or I somehow managed to end up with much more cake batter, because although the cake didn't overflow, it rose past the top of the pan, especially around the middle where it almost overflowed.

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Same here. I knew I had too much batter when I was filling the bundt, so I left out about 10% of the batter. It still rose a little above the pan in the middle, but wasn't a problem. I'm sure my pan is 12 cup capacity, as the recipe specifies. It might have something to do with the shape of our pans -- even though my pan has 12C capacity, I think it is deeper and has a smaller diameter than a traditional bundt pan.

[merstar]

At this point, it's obviously not the Double Chocolate Layer Cake anymore. It's something else entirely, between several egullet members' combined tweaks and your individual tweaks. So you're actually not testing the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake against the Double Chocolate Layer Cake - you're testing it against something entirely different!

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Merstar,

I can agree with you and disagree with you, but does it even really matter? The basis of the recipe I used was the eGullet tweaked Double Chocolate cake recipe. All of the changes I made to it were solely based on my attempts to improve what I felt was a suboptimal texture. I did not change any of the chocolate or sugar measurements; only those things that I felt would have the greatest impact on improving the crumb and texture. And yes, in changing those, there naturally will be some change to the overall flavor profile of the cake, …that cannot be helped, but my goal was to maintain the integrity of what I think is a great flavored cake, while improving what I perceived to be a less than great crumb. No one has to agree with me, no one has to try my version of the recipe…I did this for myself, and simply wanted to share my experiences.

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I certainly didn't intend my post as a criticism, merely as an observation for the sake of clarity - it was mainly for those who are late coming into this thread, and may not be aware of the differences between the original and the tweaked.

[skyflyer3]

I've been thinking a little bit more about what I might do differently next time I make this cake (pending tonight's tasting).  In addition to trying it with all cake flour next time, I think I'm going to go with a hotter oven, particularly now that I've increased the number of eggs.  I think it will create an even lighter cake with even better rise.  I'm not sure about any other modifications yet.  I've got to wait and see.

I'll report back tomorrow.

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WhiteTruffleGirl - From your posts I understand that you like the texture of the CI Sour Cream Bundt Cake over the Double Chocolate Cake, but because you prefer the taste of the Double Chocolate Cake, you are trying to tweak the texture of it to become more ideal. May I ask, why not tweak the taste of the CI Sour Cream Bundt Cake? Wouldn't the flavor profile of one cake be easier to tweak over the texture of another cake? Just wondering.

[prasantrin]

Same here. I knew I had too much batter when I was filling the bundt, so I left out about 10% of the batter. It still rose a little above the pan in the middle, but wasn't a problem.

If only I were so smart. I had a feeling it was too much, but I have a very bad habit of taking recipes as gospel so I thought if the recipe said it would be fine, then of course it would be fine! I was also wary of what I used to grease the pan, and thought I should stick to my own method, but again, I followed the recipe and the cake stuck!

I'm sure my pan is 12 cup capacity, as the recipe specifies. It might have something to do with the shape of our pans -- even though my pan has 12C capacity, I think it is deeper and has a smaller diameter than a traditional bundt pan.

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The odd thing is, I made the sour cream and lemon pound cake from epicurious using the same bundt pan. That recipe calls for a 16-cup tube pan, and the sour cream chocolate cake only calls for a 12-cups pan.

Luckily, I have very kind friends and they offered to eat the cake even if it was a) ugly and b) slightly overbaked!

[WhiteTruffleGirl]

I've been thinking a little bit more about what I might do differently next time I make this cake (pending tonight's tasting).  In addition to trying it with all cake flour next time, I think I'm going to go with a hotter oven, particularly now that I've increased the number of eggs.  I think it will create an even lighter cake with even better rise.  I'm not sure about any other modifications yet.  I've got to wait and see.

I'll report back tomorrow.

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WhiteTruffleGirl - From your posts I understand that you like the texture of the CI Sour Cream Bundt Cake over the Double Chocolate Cake, but because you prefer the taste of the Double Chocolate Cake, you are trying to tweak the texture of it to become more ideal. May I ask, why not tweak the taste of the CI Sour Cream Bundt Cake? Wouldn't the flavor profile of one cake be easier to tweak over the texture of another cake? Just wondering.

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Partly it's because I made the Double Chocolate cake first, and in it found a cake with great flavor that (in my opinion) had some serious texture problems stemming first from way too much leavening. Once I get started down that track, there was kind of no looking back for me.

It was only then I felt compelled to try it against the CI cake. And since the CI cake is already very good on its own I didn't want to mess with it. As well, it can be more difficult to tweak the flavor profile of a chocolate cake because once you start increasing/changing the amount of chocolate, you have to take into account the change in the amount of cocoa butter and sugar from the chocolate and adjust your butter and sugar amounts accordingly in your recipe. It's not that I would be adverse to doing that, it's just that I didn't feel like I needed to change CI's recipe.

So, ultimately I think texture CAN be easier to maniplulate than taste in chocolate cakes, but maybe the real answer is I just like a challenge.

[middydd]

Secondly, I thought I had a regular-sized bundt pan (which is what was required) but either my pan is smaller or I somehow managed to end up with much more cake batter, because although the cake didn't overflow, it rose past the top of the pan, especially around the middle where it almost overflowed.

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Same here. I knew I had too much batter when I was filling the bundt, so I left out about 10% of the batter. It still rose a little above the pan in the middle, but wasn't a problem. I'm sure my pan is 12 cup capacity, as the recipe specifies. It might have something to do with the shape of our pans -- even though my pan has 12C capacity, I think it is deeper and has a smaller diameter than a traditional bundt pan.

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I made the CI Sour Cream Chocolate Bundt Cake last night in the traditional 12 cup NordicWare Bundt pan, when baked it filled the pan exactly, rising maybe an eighth of an inch over the level of the middle tube but exactly level with the sides of the pan.

I find the crumb of this cake very fine but dense and prefer the texture of the Double Chocolate Cake.

Edited March 14, 2006 by middydd (log)

[Patrick S]

middydd or anyone else with a "normal" bundt pan -- if you're in the kitchen in the near future and have a ruler or tape measure handy, would you mind measuring the diameter and depth of your pan? I'm just curious is the difference we had in rise was due to different shape of the pans.

[middydd]

middydd or anyone else with a "normal" bundt pan -- if you're in the kitchen in the near future and have a ruler or tape measure handy, would you mind measuring the diameter and depth of your pan? I'm just curious is the difference we had in rise was due to different shape of the pans.

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The 12 cup NordicWare Bundt pan is 10 inches interior diameter and 3 1/2 inches deep.

Incidentally, I have one Bundt pan that is 8 inches diameter and 4 inches deep and one that is 9 inches diameter and 3 inches deep. I've made the same recipe (not the CI Chocolate Cake but other favourites) in the deeper pan and the rise is much better than in the shallower pan. The texture of the cake even seems lighter and fluffier in the deeper pan.

[merstar]

I finally tried the Double Chocolate Layer Cake again. (I had tried it years ago with the sugar amount exactly as written, and had found it too sweet). This time I reduced the sugar, (as I usually do with baked goods), and used 2 cups sugar instead of the listed 3 cups. I also used brewed espresso instead of brewed coffee, plus I added 1 1/2 tsp Cuban instant espresso. In addition, I used bittersweet chocolate instead of semisweet. I substituted nonfat plain yogurt for the buttermilk, as I always do in recipes that call for buttermilk. Other than that, I used the ingredients as listed in the original, not egullet-tweaked recipe.

The flavor was very good, not great. I found it be a little lacking in chocolate depth, and much prefer the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake, which I find to be much more deep chocolatey with an overall full, rounded taste. Not only that, the Bundt Cake needs no tweaks whatsoever, to achieve that beautiful, full, deep chocolate taste. My only "tweak" there is to use 1 Tbsp espresso powder instead of the optional 1 tsp. (Edit: I forgot to add that this time around I used nonfat yogurt instead of the listed sour cream - the other two times I'd made this cake, I used the sour cream. I noticed no major differences in taste or texture).

For the Double Chocolate Layer Cake, I applied a different mixing method than written in the original. I basically followed the simple one used in the Hershey's Black Magic Cake, ie, after melting the chocolate with the brewed espresso, I poured the wet ingredients into the dry, and beat about 2 or 3 minutes until well blended. (I beat by hand with a wire whisk). The cake layers rose perfectly with no doming and no cracking. The texture and crumb were excellent, although this cake is much harder to slice than the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake, which slices easily and cleanly.

To summarize:

Even with all my tweaks to enhance the chocolate taste, I found the Double Chocolate Layer Cake a little lacking in chocolate flavor, and the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake to have a more well-rounded, deeper chocolate flavor. Overall, I find the Bundt Cake to be a richer tasting, more luscious, more satisfying cake. I would rate the Layer Cake a 3 1/2 - 4 for taste, and the Bundt Cake a 5. (Note: These were tested side by side without frosting/icing or adornments).

I liked both textures, the Bundt Cake's crumb being finer and little denser then the Layer Cake, which turned out a medium crumb with a bit lighter texture. It's really a toss-up, depending on what mood I'm in, so I'd give both a 5 for texture.

As far as ease in slicing, assembling, plating, etc., the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake wins hands down.

The Double Chocolate Layer Cake is more of a comforting old fashioned cake and the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake is more sophisticated. Both have their place.

As a side note, I found the Double Chocolate Layer Cake to be very close in taste to the Hershey's Black Magic Cake, as someone else had noted awhile back (they're very similar in their ingredients). Surprisingly, even with the proportionately extra cocoa powder and added chocolate in the Double Layer Cake, the taste wasn't much different from the Black Magic Cake, which I do with my usual tweaks of lowering the sugar, using brewed espresso instead of coffee, etc. The textures are also similar, but the Chocolate Layer Cake is a little denser than the Black Magic Cake, probably due to the extra cocoa powder and chocolate.

Edited March 16, 2006 by merstar (log)

[Ling]

I finally tried the Double Chocolate Layer Cake again.

<snip> I substituted nonfat plain yogurt for the buttermilk, as I always do in recipes that call for buttermilk.

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Is there a reason for using nonfat plain yogurt? How does it affect the taste/texture?

(Thanks for the comparison, btw!)

[merstar]

I finally tried the Double Chocolate Layer Cake again.

<snip> I substituted nonfat plain yogurt for the buttermilk, as I always do in recipes that call for buttermilk.

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Is there a reason for using nonfat plain yogurt? How does it affect the taste/texture?

(Thanks for the comparison, btw!)

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Hi Ling,

The main reason for using yogurt is that I always have it on hand - I never have buttermilk around. I also like the fact that it has less sodium than buttermilk.

Since buttermilk, yogurt, and sour cream are usually interchangeable, I mostly use yogurt. As far as specific differences between the buttermilk and yogurt, I'd have to do some side by side tests to find out. Some people prefer yogurt, while others prefer buttermilk for the same reasons!

Oh yeah, I totally forgot to add in my reviews (will do so after I post this), that I used nonfat plain yogurt this time in the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake. It was the first time I used it in this particular cake - the other two times, I had used the listed sour cream. I noticed no major differences in taste or texture.

Edited March 17, 2006 by merstar (log)

[shaloop]

We keep comparing the Epicurious Double Chocolate Cake to the Hershey's Black Magic cake so I decided to get both original recipes straight from their respective websites and compare the two. The first difference was that the DCC recipe is for two 10" pans and the BMC is for two 9" pans. I used mastercook to scale down the DCC recipe for two 9" pans (scaled down by 1/3) and here are the two ingredient lists:

Black Magic Cake

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup coffee

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE

2 ounces semisweet chocolate

1 cup coffee

2 cups sugar

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/3 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

7/8 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup well-shaken buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

They are indeed very similar. The DCC has the addition of two ounces chocolate, 1/4 c more cocoa (a few grams less flour) and slightly less leavening. The two do use different mixing methods, however, and bake at different temps.

[merstar]

Shaloop,

Great idea to scale down the Double Chocolate Layer Cake for easy comparison. Thanks for posting this!

[Dailey]

i want to try the chocolate sour cream bundt cake recipe but i couldn't find the book yesterday at the book store. is this recipe listed in the egullet recipe section by any chance? thanks

[merstar]

i want to try the chocolate sour cream bundt cake recipe but i couldn't find the book yesterday at the book store.  is this recipe listed in the egullet recipe section by any chance?  thanks

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Hi Dailey,

You can find it at http://www.americastestkitchen.com. You have to register to access the recipes, but it's free.