Chocolate Cake...simple and delicious..

So I mentioned to Chantal the other day that I really would like to have a KitchenAid Stand Mixer for Xmas and could she possibly lay some hints to my family to get me one. And then two days later I saw the Canadian Tire flyer with the exact one I wanted on the front page and it was 40% off. Did I cut out the flyer and tape it to the fridge with a big blinking arrow on it for Terry to go buy... for me.. for Xmas..... no.

I went out and bought it myself and un boxed it the minute I got home! I will be hinting for slippers for Xmas instead...

Terry laughed at me and said the first thing I need to bake is a chocolate cake. I have sort of been looking for a good chocolate cake recipe for a while since it happens to be Terry's favorite cake. I am not a fan of cake which sort of takes the fun out of baking one. This summer I found a recipe I thought I would like but it was too dense, too wet, too fussy. So, off to my favorite recipe site and searched the cakes.

I found this recipe called "That" chocolate cake and it was on a funny blog (found here). Sounded simple enough and away I went (after Terry made a run to the grocery store (twice) for ingredients.).

Not thinking it was "blog" worthy quite yet, I didn't take any pictures of the making of this cake.. but it was painfully simple.

That Chocolate Cake
3 cups (600 grams) sugar
scant 3 cups (425 grams) flour
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (135 grams) cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350F. I used a very large Bundt pan, but the original recipe (found here) was made using three 8" round cake pans. What ever you use, grease and flour your pan.
In a mixer bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk to combine.
In a separate bowl, combine the beaten eggs, vegetable oil, and milk. Stir to mix. Then, with the mixer on low, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix on low until evenly distributed. Pour the hot coffee into the batter and mix on medium low until smooth. The batter will be soupy.


Pour your batter in to your prepared pan (or pans). Bake for 35-50 minutes (depending on what size pan you used) When the cakes spring back when pressed lightly with a finger, or when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out cleanly, the cakes are done. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then invert the cake onto cooling racks to cool completely.


Frosting
1 3/4 cups (350 gr) sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
7 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a saucepan, bring the sugar and heavy cream to a boil over medium heat. Immediately reduce the heat to low and simmer the cream and sugar for six minutes. Be careful not to let the saucepan overflow.
Remove from heat and whisk in the chocolate and butter until they have completely melted. (At first, I just stirred it, but the chocolate refused to incorporate until I used a whisk, and then it took about two seconds.) Stir in the vanilla extract.


Let the frosting cool completely, whisking every now and then during cooling. (You can do this step in the refrigerator to speed up the process) Once completely cool at room temperature, the frosting will thicken to a spreadable consistency. Now, my frosting didn't turn out as well as the original post and I think it was because I used "Blend (10% cream) instead of heavy cream (35%). I sort of poured and spread my icing on the cake and then refrigerated it. It is still super delicious.

Enjoy