Moist Chocolate Cake (Baked)

This cocoa-based cake is deeply chocolaty and incredibly moist. It surprises me every single time with how good it is for something so easy. It is a great emergency cake to have in your repertoire for forgotten birthdays, last-minute visitors, or urgent Friday night chocolate cravings. I have used this recipe to make sheet cakes, layer cakes, cupcakes, mini cupcakes… really, you can’t go wrong. Everything gets tossed in the standing mixer (no creaming of butter and sugar, or alternating between dry and liquid as in typical cake recipes), poured into cake pans, and popped in the oven, easy as 1-2-3. 

Ingredients for cake:

11/2 cup Cake Flour or Plain Flour

2 cups Caster Sugar

3/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (I use Hershey's cocoa powder)

11/2 tsp Baking Powder

11/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

2 Large Eggs

1 cup Buttermilk (If you don't have buttermilk, substitute by putting 1 tbsp white vinegar then filling the rest up with milk, let stand 5 minutes until thickened)

1/2 cup Butter, melted

1 tbsp Vanilla Extract

1 cup Freshly brewed hot coffee (or 2 tsp instant coffee in 1 cup boiling water)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch baking pans (or line with parchment paper circles) and set aside.

2. In the large bowl of a standing mixer, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes on medium speed. Stir in hot coffee.

3. Pour batter evenly between the two pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Allow to cool 5 minutes in pans; run a butter knife around the edges of each cake. Place a wire cooling rack over top of each pan. Wearing oven glove, use both hands to hold the racks in place while flipping the cakes over onto the racks. Set the racks down and thump on the bottom of the pans until the cakes release. Cool completely before frosting.

Glossy Chocolate Frosting Recipe:

1/2 cup Castor Sugar

1/2 cup Baking Cocoa (I use Hershey's baking chocolate)

3 tbsp Cornstarch

1 cup Cold Water

4-1/2 tsp Butter

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method:

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, sugar, baking cocoa and cornstarch. Add water and stir until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in butter and vanilla until smooth. Spread over cupcakes or cake while frosting is still warm. Yield: 1-1/4 cups. 

Note: Recipe makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes or the top of a 13-inch x 9-inch cake.