This is a wonderful, old fashioned chocolate cake with a rich, luscious frosting.
Serves 12-16
Cake:
Serves 12-16
Cake:
- 3 oz good quality unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups sifted cake flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
- 24 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 3 Tbsp. sugar
- 3 Tbsp. light corn syrup
- 6 Tbsp. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
Preparation
For Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350o F.
- Butter and flour three 9-inch round cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides.
- Place water, chocolate, and coffee powder in a small, heavy bottomed saucepan and place over low heat, stirring occasionally until chocolate melts and espresso powder is dissolved.
- Remove from heat and let cool.
- While the chocolate cools, beat the sugar and butter together until well blended.
- Beat in the eggs and vanilla and then beat in the cooled chocolate mixture.
- In a medium bowl, mix flour and baking soda with a whisk.
- Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat just until combined.
- Beat in sour cream.
- Divide batter among prepared pans.
- Bake cakes for 25-30 minutes until they begin to pull away from sides of pans and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. You should gently rotate the pans half way through baking to ensure that they all bake evenly.
- Transfer pans to racks and cool for 10 minutes.
- Turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely before frosting.
For Frosting:
- Place chocolate in a large bowl.
- Place cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a heavy bottomed pot and bring to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved.
- Remove pan from heat and pour over chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted.
- Add butter to frosting, whisking until smooth.
- Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable.
