For a couple of years, I would always joke to my fiancé (now wife) that all I really wanted was to come home to a cake in a cloche. I mean, what’s not to love about that? Picture it: after a long day at work you come home. As you open the door you look onto a clean, empty kitchen. Right smack dab in the middle of your empty kitchen counter is a monument to deliciousness. You drop everything and run straight to the cake and remove the cloche and slice an abnormally large piece from the cake and take a big first bite as you grab a glass and pour yourself a cold glass of milk. This is the thing dreams are made of for me! But, someone purchased us a cloche for a wedding and I got to create a nearly identical scene with this moist chocolate cake. Hope you enjoy!
Chocolate Layer Cake
from Saveur.com, Robbin Gourley
Cake
1 cup milk
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
2 cups flour
1⁄2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable shortening
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Icing
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
2 cups sugar
1⁄2 cup milk
1⁄4 cup light corn syrup
8 tbsp. unsalted butter
1⁄4 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
For the cake, bring milk just to a boil in a medium sized pot. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate, and cover, setting aside for 5 minutes. Then, stir until smooth.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350° and grease and flour three 9″ cake pans. Then, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour and reserve. Dissolve baking soda in 1⁄3 cup hot water and reserve.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat both sugars and shortening until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, fully incorporating each egg before adding the next, until smooth. Add flour and chocolate-milk mixtures alternately, beginning and ending with flour mixture, and beat until smooth. Beat in soda water and vanilla.
Divide the batter evenly among pans, lightly tapping the pans on the counter to remove air bubbles and smoothing the tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out nearly clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, then, carefully invert the cakes onto a wire rack to cool completely.
For the icing, heat everything, except for the vanilla, in a saucepan over medium-high heat and cook until mixture thickens and reaches 220°.
Pour the icing into a mixing bowl and, using a hand mixer, beat on medium speed until slightly cooled. Add the vanilla, increasing the speed to high, and beat until its consistency resembles frosting.
Working quickly, place 1 cake on a cake stand; spread about 1⁄2 cup of icing on top. Cover with the second cake and spread another 1⁄2 cup of the icing. Cover with the last cake, and spread the remaining icing over top and sides of cakes.
Let cool to set icing before cutting and serving. ______________________________ Copyright 2022, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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