Author: Chocolate Covered Weekly

A cake without frosting is like spaghetti without sauce or a hot dog without a bun. You can separate them, sure. But why would you want to? So try this recipe for your chocolate cake.

TOTAL TIME: 35 minutes
MAKES: About 2½ cups, or enough frosting for 1 (10-inch) round cake or 18 cupcakes.

Ingredients:

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3 egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa, sifted

Directions:

Cut butter into tablespoons. Fill a medium saucepan with 1½ inches water, bring to a boil, and lower heat to maintain a gentle simmer.
Place egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt in a metal mixing bowl. (Use the bowl of a stand mixer if you have one.) Place bowl on saucepan, making sure bottom doesn’t touch water. Whisk constantly until sugar dissolves and mixture is opaque and bubbly and reads 160-165 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 4 minutes. Remove bowl from saucepan.
Use an electric mixer with whisk attachment to beat mixture on high speed until it is white and fluffy with stand-up peaks and bowl is no longer warm, 4 minutes. With mixer running, add butter a tablespoon at a time, scraping down sides with a spatula. Beat in vanilla and cocoa until fully incorporated. If buttercream looks soupy, ingredients are too hot. Set bowl in refrigerator to cool and beat again. If it looks dense or curdled, ingredients are too cold. Put bowl back over simmering water until it starts to melt at edges. Beat until it comes back together. Frosting can be frozen in an airtight container. Bring to room temperature and beat until smooth.
—Adapted from “Simple Cake” by Odette Williams, as published in The Wall Street Journal.

 

 

This Chocolate Cake Recipe Is So Good, It Needs No Frosting!

TOTAL TIME: 50 minutes
MAKES: 1 (10-inch) round cake or (12-by-4-by-3-inch) loaf cake.

Ingredients:

Butter, for greasing pan
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup whole milk
½ cup grapeseed oil or neutral oil
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-by-3-inch round pan (not springform) or a 12-by-4-by-3-inch loaf pan with butter, line bottom and sides with parchment paper and grease paper.
Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt together into a mixing bowl. Whisk in sugar.
In another large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Gradually add wet ingredients and whisk until smooth, with no lumps. Stir in boiling water to combine.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in center of oven until a wooden skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean and cake bounces back when lightly pressed, about 50 minutes for round pan, 35 minutes for loaf pan.
Remove cake from oven and let stand 10 minutes. Run a butter knife around cake to gently release. Peel parchment from sides. Invert cake onto a wire rack and peel off bottom piece of parchment.
—Adapted from “Simple Cake” by Odette Williams, as published in The Wall Street Journal.

 

 

Makes Two 10” Pies, One for your hostess, One for your holiday hangover breakfast.

INGREDIENTS:

2 prepared, unbaked and frozen pie shells (see Lisa’s Pie Dough Recipe)

12 Medium or Large Eggs

6 cups Sugar

2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder

8 oz Butter

4 oz Finely Chopped Bittersweet Chocolate

1/2 Vanilla Bean

3 cups Buttermilk

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean and place in a medium saucepan with the butter and chocolate. Over low heat, melt the chocolate mixture until the chocolate is completely melted and combined with the butter. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Whisk all the dry ingredients together, breaking up all lumps.

Whisk eggs and buttermilk together and combine with the dry ingredients, whisking until well combined.

Slowly whisk in the butter/chocolate mixture until well combined.

Pour the batter into a frozen pie shell. Place in oven bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 375 degrees. Bake until set, about 40 minutes.

As published in The Splendid Table.

This chocolate cake is made with mayo. And it comes to us via the brand new Duke’s Mayonnaise Cookbook, created by author, recipe developer and food stylist Ashley Strickland Freeman. This recipe is a bit more detailed and takes a little more time than most recipes, but the extra effort is absolutely worth it. Y’all are going to love it! Ganache frosting can be used as-is or whipped with a mixer to make it lighter. (Stacey Little/Southern Bite)

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

Prep time: 1 hour

Cook time: 24 minutes

Serves: 10

Ingredients

For the cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sifted cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
1-1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup Duke’s Mayonnaise
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the ganache frosting

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream
1-1/2 tablespoons corn syrup

For the chocolate mousse filling

1-1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
1 tablespoon cold water
1 tablespoon boiling water
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1-1/2 cups heavy cream, divided
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Instructions

For the cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two (8-inch) round cake pans (I use vegetable shortening) and dust with cocoa powder.
Stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
Beat the mayonnaise and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, until combined. Add the flour mixture alternately with the water, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat at medium-low speed for 1 minute. (Batter will be thin.) Stir in the vanilla.
Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans. Bake the cakes at 350 degrees for 21 to 24 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove to wire racks. Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edges and turn out onto wire racks to cool completely. Once cooled, split each layer in half.
Make the ganache frosting and the chocolate mousse filling.
Place one cake layer on a cake plate or stand. Top with one-third of the chocolate mousse filling; repeat the process twice. Place the remaining layer on top. Spread the ganache frosting on the top and sides of the cake before slicing.

For the ganache frosting

Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat the cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan until the cream is hot. Pour over the chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute, then stir until smooth.
For a shiny look, let stand until spreadable (20 to 30 minutes), stirring occasionally. For fluffy chocolate frosting, beat the mixture with an electric mixer until fluffy.

For the chocolate mousse filling

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a small bowl. Let stand until the gelatin softens. Stir in the boiling water to dissolve the gelatin.
Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat 1/2 cup of the cream and the sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the cream is steaming. Pour over the chopped chocolate; add the gelatin and stir until smooth.
Beat the remaining 1 cup of cream with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Fold a small amount of the whipped cream into the chocolate; gently fold in the remaining whipped cream until combined. Use immediately. (The mixture will firm up as it stands.)

This cake is for the true chocoholic who loves a dark, rich chocolate flavor. Those who might want a little more sweetness should consider using semisweet or milk chocolate rather than the bittersweet called for in the recipe.

This recipe originally appeared on SouthernBite.com. For more great recipes, visit the website or check out ”The Southern Bite Cookbook.” You can find this post at AlabamaNewsCenter.com.