And on the 8th Day there was Chocolate Cake

So those of you who know me well know I love to cook. I love to dirty every dish in the house, have people over, and spend the few hours after they leave cleaning the kitchen. I know, it's weird. But it is the way I am. And who am I to fight genetics?

I've been on a mission of late. In an effort to use the Internet to my advantage, I have been hunting for the "perfect" chocolate cake recipe. You know, the one that uses normal ingredients (meaning ones I usually have on hand.) I needed a replacement, you see. I have a great chocolate cake recipe--one that uses instant pudding and cake mix. Not all horrible, but I've developed a need to know exactly what is in my food these days. Another way I am just weird. And high maintenance. Just accept it, friends.

Boy have I found it. A Bundt cake recipe that was pretty straight forward, just the right amount of chocolate, and REALLY pretty. It practically fell out of the bundt pan when I turned it over. Now those of you who don't bake often may not been too impressed by this tidbit. I, on the other hand, yelled to my friend A (who was on hand watching me bake said cake) "if this thing is ANY good I'm totally making it again." And it was. Oh so good.

Where did I find this glorious concoction, you ask?

I found the website of http://www.joythebaker.com/ recently when I was needing a substitution for cake flour. I needed a tiny bit of flour and only had regular, all purpose flour and Joy's little hint here www.joythebaker.com/blog/2010/11/how-to-do-things/ saved the day. After following her advice (with great success, I might add) I thought she might know a thing or two. I pulled up a chair, relaxed, and looked through the tons of recipes. And then I saw it. The chocolate gooey goodness below. So try it out. You might just find your new favorite chocolate cake.


For the Cake:
1 and 1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon brewed coffee
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
2 and 1/4 cups sugar
1 and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 and 1/4 cups plus 1 Tablespoon buttermilk
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoon canola oil
1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 and 1/2 cups, plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted

For Glaze:
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup unsalted butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1/4 cup brewed coffee, cooled

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan and set aside (I used baker's joy on this bad boy and it worked great)

To make the cake batter: Put brewed coffee and cocoa powder in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Remove from the heat and let come to room temperature.

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, mix together sugar, salt, baking soda, eggs, and egg yolk on low speed for about a minute. Add the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract and mix on low again for another minute. Add the flour (make sure you sift it!) and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the cooled cocoa mixture and mix on medium speed for 3 minutes. The batter will be very thin (and crazy good. If you are a batter kind of person...) Throw batter into Bundt, put in oven, and cook for 1 hour or until cake tester comes out clean. My oven, which usually cooks true to form, had this cake done in one hour on the nose.

To make the icing:
Chop the chocolate into pieces (I so did not do this) and melt butter in the microwave (I also didn't do this.) I threw it all in a double boiler and melted the chocolate, then added the butter until it melted and both were well mixed together. Sift in half powdered sugar, whisk until fully incorporated. Add sour cream and whisk in to combine. Sift in rest of powdered sugar and mix until smooth. The glaze should be thick and shiny. Lastly add the cooled coffee and whisk to create the finishing touch.

Pour the glaze over the Bundt cake, covering it completely. Leave at room temperature until ready to serve.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you make a Bundt cake. Am I the only one who can't think of Bundt without picturing that woman from My Big Fat Greek Wedding putting a flower in the middle to "fix" it?

So I guess that's it for tonight, people. Try the cake. Trust Joythebaker. She seems like a wise chick.

In my next post, I'll show you pictures of the joyous goodies I got in the mail this week...