Last week, my daughter wanted to make a birthday cake for her boyfriend, so we went searching for recipes. We settled on this one at Taste of Home Magazine:
They had an article by Katie Bandurski about making Ina Garten's Famous Chocolate Cake. What's interesting is that they said it's actually originally a recipe from Hershey's, called Black Magic Cake.
We just followed along at Taste of Home because she shared her take on the recipe. The secret ingredient?
Coffee! A cup of hot brewed coffee in the cake. And a tablespoon of instant coffee powder in the icing. We happened to have instant espresso on hand so used that.
Since you can find the recipe at the link, I thought I'd just share our photos.
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| Action shot! |
See those swirls in that last photo? That wasn't intentional! We messed up and forgot to scrape the bowl while mixing, so had a clump of fudgy dough in the bottom. OOPS! We decided to just swirl it though both pans.
Next, the icing (or do you call it frosting?)...
Chocolate melted over a double boiler.
The instant espresso mixed with a little water.
Whipped in the stand mixer with all that yummy butter (below). By the way, we did what the author of the Taste of Home article did, we did NOT use the egg yolk. I'm weird about raw eggs. I won't use them uncooked in recipes and wash my hands every time I touch raw egg! My poor kids always felt deprived that they never got to eat raw cookie dough. (Ruthy is shaking her head right now. She loves to live dangerously.) :)
Ta-da! Michelle's first ever homemade layer cake that she did mostly by herself. I think she did a great job icing it. And her boyfriend and his friends loved it!
I wish I could have tasted it! That's one drawback to making a cake as a gift. haha I did, however, slice a tiny bit off the bottom to make the cake layer sit flat. That gave me a little nibble. And we had a nice bowl of icing to lick. :)
So the big question of the day: Do you say icing or frosting?
After more than 10 years of pursuing her dream of publication, Missy Tippens, a pastor’s wife and mom of three from near Atlanta, Georgia, made her first sale to Harlequin Love Inspired in 2007. Her books have since been nominated for the Booksellers Best, Holt Medallion, American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award, Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, Maggie Award, Beacon Contest, RT Reviewer’s Choice Award, and the Romance Writers of America RITA® Award. Visit Missy at www.missytippens.com, https://twitter.com/MissyTippens and http://www.facebook.com/missy.tippens.readers.
Frosting is what we call it. Chocolate cake with coffee in it is one of my favorites. An old co-worker would make cupcakes sometimes. If you are in a pinch you can use box cake mix and Hersheys has a chocolate frosting that is AMAZING! I could eat it out of the can and it might have happened before lol I'm with you mostly about the raw egg. However I still have cookie dough now and then!
ReplyDeleteOh, I have to raise my hand and admit I, too, have eaten frosting/icing out of the can! :)
DeleteMissy, tell her it's gorgeous and I am laughing at you about the raw egg... that's so American! :) And not old American, but new American, circa 2000....
ReplyDeleteDid you know that eggs aren't refrigerated throughout most of Europe? And that Caesar dressing and French Silk frosting and Steak Tartar all have raw egg.... a lot of famous recipes get that silkiness from raw egg.
And folks eat raw oysters as if they're GOOD.... Eek! I will bet that more folks get sick from oyster gunk from the bottom of aquaculture farms than from raw egg or egg of any sort.
Remember the Big Scare? We were all doomed, destined to die from over easy eggs and NJ and NY ordered diners to COOK EGGS THOROUGHLY...
Oh mylanta.
People revolted.
Diners refused to comply because who wants unhappy customers?
And the world didn't stop turning. And I'm pretty sure no one has died. :)
A world without cookie dough?
That would be like a world without Santa Claus! :)
We say frosting... but when I'm channeling my inner Sally Field from Steel Magnolias, I say icing like this: "And the whole thing is covered with gray eye-sing. I can't even begin to think how you make gray eye-sing."
And they start quarreling again.
I LOVE THAT MOVIE.
Ruthy, I'm equally against raw eggs and raw oysters!! LOL (I learned in microbiology classes about contamination of oysters by Vibrio.) I'm an equal opportunity germaphobe. :)
DeleteI also don't order French silk pie or caesar dressing (unless I ask about the eggs). haha
You know, for a long time, when the kids were young, I bought pasteurized eggs because they all like their eggs runny. I haven't seen those in stores lately. Now that they're adults, they eat them at their own risk. :)
BTW, I love that movie, too!! Now I'm dying to hear you say those lines with your NY accent. haha
DeleteWe say frosting here--and a chocolate cake with coffee in it? Count me in! Looks absolutely delicious.
ReplyDeleteI am semi-weird about eggs. We have our own chickens, so there's that. I lick the beaters secretly when my kids are not around. I'm protecting them from the dangers of raw egg.
At least that's what I tell myself!
LOL, Laurel! Don't let them catch you! :)
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