Name: The Best Chocolate Cake
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour; 2 cups granulated sugar; 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder; 2 tsp baking soda; 1 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp kosher salt; 2 large eggs; 1 cup buttermilk; 1/2 cup vegetable oil; 2 tsp vanilla extract; 1 cup hot brewed coffee; 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (for frosting); 3 cups powdered sugar; 3/4 cup cocoa powder (for frosting); 1/3 cup heavy cream; 1 tsp vanilla extract (for frosting); 1 pinch pinch of salt (for frosting)

The Best Chocolate Cake

Prep

25m

Cook

35m

Total

60m

Bigly says

Folks. FOLKS. We need to talk about chocolate cake. The BEST chocolate cake. The greatest chocolate cake in the history of chocolate cake — and there has been a LOT of chocolate cake. The Aztecs had chocolate. The Mayans had chocolate. They were grinding it on stones and stirring it into hot water before any of us were born. Older than the wheel, some historians say. Older than France. Older than Italy. Older than time itself. And THIS cake, my cake, the one I am about to give you — beats every single chocolate cake that came before it. Every one. It is a slaughter.

Most chocolate cakes out there are a TRAGEDY in cake form. Dry. Crumbly. The kind of cake that disintegrates the moment a fork touches it and requires a full glass of milk just to survive in your mouth. That is not cake. That is a brown sponge. An insult. Embarrassing. The bakery down the street charges you sixty dollars for one and dares you to complain. Sad. We do not do tragedy here. We do TRIUMPH. We do a cake so moist it could survive a week on the counter and still taste like the day it came out of the oven.

The secret — and most chefs are afraid to do this, they think it sounds weird, they want to play it safe, cowards — is hot coffee in the batter. HOT coffee. Not warm. Not 'it was hot earlier.' The coffee blooms the cocoa, it deepens the chocolate, it makes the cake taste more like chocolate than chocolate itself. Food chemists agree. I had a guy with a PhD explain it to me. Took him ninety minutes. Worth it.

Ingredients

2 cupsall-purpose flour
2 cupsgranulated sugar
3/4 cupunsweetened cocoa powder(Dutch-process if you have it, natural works fine)
2 tspbaking soda
1 tspbaking powder
1 tspkosher salt
2large eggs
1 cupbuttermilk
1/2 cupvegetable oil
2 tspvanilla extract
1 cuphot brewed coffee(actually hot, not warm, not 'it was hot earlier')
1 cupunsalted butter, softened (for frosting)
3 cupspowdered sugar
3/4 cupcocoa powder (for frosting)
1/3 cupheavy cream
1 tspvanilla extract (for frosting)
1 pinchpinch of salt (for frosting)

Steps

1
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment, and grease the parchment.
2
Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
3
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla until smooth.
4
Pour the wet into the dry and whisk until just combined.
5
Stream in the hot coffee while whisking. The batter will be thin — this is correct. Do not panic.
6
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
7
Cool the cakes in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely before frosting. Do not rush this.
8
Make the frosting: beat the softened butter on medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Sift in the powdered sugar and cocoa, then beat on low until incorporated.
9
Add the heavy cream, vanilla, and pinch of salt. Beat on medium-high for 2-3 minutes until silky and spreadable.
10
Place one cake layer on a plate or cake stand. Spread about 1 cup of frosting over the top. Stack the second layer on top.
11
Frost the top and sides with the remaining frosting. Slice with a clean, warm knife (wipe between cuts) and serve.

One more thing

Two layers, one bowl of batter, and you have made a cake that actual, professional, license-having bakeries would put in their front window and charge SIXTY dollars for. Sixty. For a cake you made with a whisk, an oven, and a cup of hot coffee. People take a bite and they go quiet. The room goes quiet. The cake silences the room. The cake does the talking, even though the cake is not technically capable of speech. Believe me. Beautiful.