Cake Bakers: Anyone have a great chocolate cake recipe to share?

[MNmomtobe]

Just finished my Wilton's cake decorating class, which I used all box mixes for, and would love to find a good chocolate cake recipe from scratch. I bought some Swan's Down cake flour since I heard that yields better results.

Looking for a dense cake that is very chocolately. Doesn't have to be overly sweet.
Looking for a good buttercream icing too that can be used for anything from icing, to piping words (I would thin of course) and for flowers.
If you add cocoa or Baker's chocolate to the frosting, how much to add? Is there a preference for which one? My Wilton's instructor prefers Bakers over cocoa powder because it blends better in her opinions but I wonder if it would thin the frosting.

TIA!

[larig]

This is my go-to chocolate cake recipe. It's from cooking light, and really good. I usually replace the instant coffee and the 1 cup boiling water with a cup of freshly brewed espresso, and I use dark cocoa, like Hershey's special dark or other dutch processed-type cocoa. It doesn't call for cake flour. This cake is heavy and moist, and always a big hit when I make it (I usually make a chocolate mousse frosting, but it's great with any frosting.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000222981


I've eaten this Ina Garten cake before at a friend's party--I liked it enough to ask for the recipe. It was really good. Probably a toss-up between the two as to which is better.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/double-chocolate-layer-cake

[SnuggleBuggles]

This recipe from the Hershey's cookbook for "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake is one that always makes me wonder why you would use a mix when you can make this cake. It comes together so quickly and tastes delicious. I should note that it is very moist and on occasion that has caused me trouble when I tried to do a delicate frosting job on it. On that note, I highly recommend the frosting recipe that goes with the cake. It is so fast and it tastes wonderful!

2c sugar
1 and 3/4c all purpose flour
3/4c Hershey's cocoa [or your favorite unsweetened cocoa powder]
1 and 1/2t baking powder
1 and 1/2t baking soda
1t salt
2 eggs
1c milk
1/2c vegetable oil
2t vanilla
1c boiling water

Preheat to 350. Grease [and line with parchment paper] 2- 9" pans.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large mixing bowl.

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Stir in water (batter will be thin).

Pour into pans. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan before removing.


Frosting:
1 stick butter
2/3c cocoa
3c powdered sugar
1/3c milk
1t vanilla

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.

Add a small amount of additional milk if necessary. Stir in vanilla.

[m448]

Agreed that the perfectly chocolate cake is delicious. There's a similar one called amazon cake that has doesn't use eggs and is deliciously chocolatey.

http://wordstoeatby.blogspot.com/2006/04/chocolatiest-quickest-most-rewarding.html

For fronting I like the hershey's one too. For a different version I underbeat it then add a few spoonful of sour cream. Makes a creamy shiny frosting.

[Edensmum]

Never did this icing, but the cake rocks.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/?s=chocolate+sheet+cake&submit=

[MNmomtobe]

This is my go-to chocolate cake recipe. It's from cooking light, and really good. I usually replace the instant coffee and the 1 cup boiling water with a cup of freshly brewed espresso, and I use dark cocoa, like Hershey's special dark or other dutch processed-type cocoa. It doesn't call for cake flour. This cake is heavy and moist, and always a big hit when I make it (I usually make a chocolate mousse frosting, but it's great with any frosting.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000222981


I've eaten this Ina Garten cake before at a friend's party--I liked it enough to ask for the recipe. It was really good. Probably a toss-up between the two as to which is better.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/double-chocolate-layer-cake


Those sound delicious! The picture of the 2nd cake looks just like what I had in mind. A really dark chocolate cake. I was thinking of a cake for children so don't know if the coffee would go over well. I noticed that a lot of the highly rated choc. cake recipes online had coffee in it. However, *I* would love it and will be trying this out. :)
Thank you!

[MNmomtobe]

This recipe from the Hershey's cookbook for "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake is one that always makes me wonder why you would use a mix when you can make this cake. It comes together so quickly and tastes delicious. I should note that it is very moist and on occasion that has caused me trouble when I tried to do a delicate frosting job on it. On that note, I highly recommend the frosting recipe that goes with the cake. It is so fast and it tastes wonderful!

2c sugar
1 and 3/4c all purpose flour
3/4c Hershey's cocoa [or your favorite unsweetened cocoa powder]
1 and 1/2t baking powder
1 and 1/2t baking soda
1t salt
2 eggs
1c milk
1/2c vegetable oil
2t vanilla
1c boiling water

Preheat to 350. Grease [and line with parchment paper] 2- 9" pans.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large mixing bowl.

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Stir in water (batter will be thin).

Pour into pans. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan before removing.


Frosting:
1 stick butter
2/3c cocoa
3c powdered sugar
1/3c milk
1t vanilla

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.

Add a small amount of additional milk if necessary. Stir in vanilla.

This sounds great. The frosting too! Do you think it would pipe well for decorations? I am thinking now that a great true "butter"cream frosting would be good for the cake, and a frosting with a mix of shortening for more stability for decorations would be the way to go.

Cake sounds really good. Since you say it is really moist, maybe I will freeze it before decorating to see if that helps keep it together.

Thank you! :)

[MNmomtobe]

Agreed that the perfectly chocolate cake is delicious. There's a similar one called amazon cake that has doesn't use eggs and is deliciously chocolatey.

http://wordstoeatby.blogspot.com/2006/04/chocolatiest-quickest-most-rewarding.html

For fronting I like the hershey's one too. For a different version I underbeat it then add a few spoonful of sour cream. Makes a creamy shiny frosting.


Love that dark chocolate color! I'm sure the lack of eggs would make it dense, which is what I am looking for.

2 votes for Hershey's frosting! I will have to try this. The sour cream idea sounds good too. BTW, do you use the double-dutch cocoa that was listed in the recipe? Where can you buy it?

Thanks!

[MNmomtobe]

Never did this icing, but the cake rocks.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/?s=chocolate+sheet+cake&submit=

Yum! That looks good. I made the mistake of scrolling down the page at the pictures of the other goodies. Need...chocolate...now...

Thanks for your reply! :)

[MommyAllison]

This recipe from the Hershey's cookbook for "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake is one that always makes me wonder why you would use a mix when you can make this cake. It comes together so quickly and tastes delicious. I should note that it is very moist and on occasion that has caused me trouble when I tried to do a delicate frosting job on it. On that note, I highly recommend the frosting recipe that goes with the cake. It is so fast and it tastes wonderful!

2c sugar
1 and 3/4c all purpose flour
3/4c Hershey's cocoa [or your favorite unsweetened cocoa powder]
1 and 1/2t baking powder
1 and 1/2t baking soda
1t salt
2 eggs
1c milk
1/2c vegetable oil
2t vanilla
1c boiling water

Preheat to 350. Grease [and line with parchment paper] 2- 9" pans.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large mixing bowl.

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Stir in water (batter will be thin).

Pour into pans. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan before removing.


Frosting:
1 stick butter
2/3c cocoa
3c powdered sugar
1/3c milk
1t vanilla

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.

Add a small amount of additional milk if necessary. Stir in vanilla.

Thank you for this recommendation! I made it tonight, and it was super fast and easy, and very good. I made it into cupcakes, baked at 350 for 20 minutes. The frosting was great too. Thanks!