Thursday, April 10, 2014

Chocolate Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting Recipe

There is nothing better then when you have the excuse to bake a chocolate cake and can eat it too. And when it's this deliciously simple devils food cake with milk chocolate frosting, then you're in for a real treat. My sister and I made this for my dad who celebrated his birthday yesterday. The recipe is from Martha Stewart.

It is a bit time consuming, but most cakes are, since you have to wait for certain mixtures and baked goods to cool down before you can proceed to the next step, but it really doesn't take a lot of effort. The results are fabulous. Make sure to have all ingredients at room temperature before you start baking. It's a step most skip, but one that will make or break the cake. Especially the butter for this here. Make sure to take it out until it's completely soft (and that can take a couple of hours if you just leave it there, or use the microwave cautiously).

click on the images for a bigger view

Here is the finished cake, on the cake stand, ready and waiting to be sliced and eaten. But let's back up a couple of hours...


Ingredients are:


For the cake
340 gr (1 1/2 cups or 3 sticks) soft unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pans
100 gr (3/4 cups) cocoa powder, sifted
220 ml (2/3 cups) hot water (i used this amount even though Martha's recipe uses less)
380 gr (3 cups) flower, sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
450 gr (2 1/4 cups) sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the milk chocolate frosting
225 gr (8 ounces) bittersweet chocolate (I used one with 60% cocoa solids)
225 gr (8 ounces) milk chocolate
350 gr (1 1/2 cups) heavy cream
340 gr (1 1/2 cups or 3 sticks) unsalted butter

Make sure to sift the flower and cocoa, before using. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C, or 350 degrees F.


1. Combine the sifted cocoa powder with the water. Martha's original recipe uses 180 ml (3/4 cup) water, but I ended up needing more, since everything clogged up when using less. Cool the mixture!


2. To the cooled cocoa and water mixture, add the sour cream. Set aside.


3. Sift together the flower, salt, baking soda. Set aside.


4. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Then add the vanilla extract, and after that beat in one egg at the time, until everything is combined.


5. Get your chocolate ready too. We'll chop it up later.


6. Grease your pans (you will need two 9 inch (23 cm) pans or bake in two batches if you only have one). Add a piece of baking paper, grease over it, and them dust the pans with cocoa power.


7. We will now beat in the cocoa mixture and the dry ingredients with the butter, sugar and egg mixture.


8. Add the parts alternately and mix until everything is combined.


9. Divide the batter between two pans and bake the cakes for 45 minutes each or until a cake tester (or toothpick) inserted into the center comes out clean.


10. Chop the chocolate.


11. Put the chopped chocolate in a bowl.


12. Bring the heavy cream to a boil and pour it hot over the chocolate.


13. Whisk until it thickens, and leave it to come to room temperature. You will have to wait anyway until the cakes bake.


14. Take the cakes out of the oven. Leave them in the pans for 5-10 minutes. Transfer them to a cooling wrack, and let them cool completely. This step is very important. Don't frost a warm cake, since the frosting will just melt off.


15. Into the cooled chocolate and cream mixture, add the butter for the frosting, a little bit at a time, until everything is creamed up.


The frosting once it's done.


16. Transfer your cake to a cake stand.


17. Ice the cake in the middle.


18. Put the top layer on the frosting, and frost the top and sides. This frosting sets well. Part of the charm are the swirls, so don't beat yourself up over making this look perfect.


It's best tasted once it' has had a night in the fridge. Before serving (if you have left it in the fridge to set) leave it out, to soften a bit, and then slice it.


I hope you enjoyed this post and that you liked the recipe. But seriously, who can resist chocolate in any shape or form?

31 comments:

  1. Ah! My very favorite cake and what a great recipe! I'll have to make this for the weekend! Thanks for sharing, Mersad!! And speaking of weekends -- I hope you have a great!! Enjoy!!

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    1. Please let me know if you do, would love to see how it turned out.

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  2. HI Mersad I only very quickly looked at your post. Chocolate is great in ANY form but the shots make me hungry adn crave that lovely cake. I wish could pop in for a slice.

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    1. Glad you liked it. Thanks for the comment Margaret.

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  3. all of the photos are wonderful and make my mouth water, just the batter does that.. the cake is what my mother used to bake, the icing is different. chocolate and chocolate can't be beat for yum

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    1. I think that the recipe comes from the 70s!

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  4. Oh my goodness - that looks delicious! I love chocolate.

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    1. Then I think you would enjoy this very much.

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  5. Ohh, Gott, ich komme jetzt gerade vom Joggen und bin hungrig, und alle Arten Schokoladekuchen sind absolut meine Favoriten, jetzt läuft schon mein Speichel, echt. :-) Aber es scheint mir ziemlich kompliziert zu sein zu zubereiten, mit dem viel Schokoschmelzerei....Ohh, kannst mir nicht ein Stück schicken? Jetzt, sofort bitte!!! :-) Sieht megalecker aus!!! Liebe Grüße

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    1. Danke Dir vielmals. Vielleicht scheint es Dir kompliziert wegen der vielen Bilder, ist es aber nicht. Man braucht halt nur etwas Zeit dafür. Solche Torten machen wir hier nicht oft, aber diesesmal war mein Vaters Geburtstag der Anlass.

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  6. It looks sinfully delicious. I haven't done a layer cake in decades...not since I discovered the chocolate sheet cake. it's easy, fast, and tasty; and my favorite part is the ratio of cake to frosting. But I certainly wouldn't turn down a piece of the cake you've featured today!

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    1. Three days later and we only have a quarter left. So I guess it was a hit with everyone. The cream is really rich, decadent and very tasty.

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  7. ahhhh that looks so scrumptious! i'll take a cold glass of milk too please :)

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  8. Wonderful photos of the cake baking process. You are an orderly cook. Our family birthday cake is a dark chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I might try your recipe just to see how it compares, but it never occurred to me to photograph the process.

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    1. I only did it for the blog. It takes double the time to make the cake and take photos of the baking process :)

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  9. Thanks for the recipe and the all of the yummy photos. I do love chocolate cake but only make it once a year or so. I love the rich-sounding frosting on this cake; might have to try it.

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    1. I can't even remember the last time before this, that I made a layered cake. We usually make the simple sheet cakes or cupcakes.

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  10. Your images and instructions are so wonderful I can almost taste the cake! Oh, wow....

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  11. Perfect...awesome...yummy!
    Those were the 3 words that came to my head :)

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  12. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog, I will keep visiting this blog very often.

    Asian wedding photography london

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  13. Mmmm, yum. I appreciate the time you took with the photos. It takes baking twice as long to photograph each step.

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    1. That you are right about. :) And you have to make sure not to get cake batter on the camera! :D

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  14. I am salivating... are you sure you're not a professional chef?

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  15. That looks delicious! Yummy!:)

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    1. And it really was. Only one piece left.

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  16. What a wonderful shared endeavor for your father! Looks great!!

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