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Sunday, December 7, 2008

Chocolate Cake, Marry Me!



Yes, I'll be Mrs. Chocolate Cake, ok? Think my husband will mind? He can be Mr.- Mrs. Chocolate Cake.

This cake. This cake....oh my goodness. Anyone that knows me, knows that my favorite kind of cake is chocolate.
So for my son's birthday, I asked him what kind of cake he wanted. Is it wrong that I totally steered him toward chocolate cake with chocolate frosting? (Don't worry. He loved. This. Cake.) We had the idea of making a giant sort of Ring Ding cake. I know, some of you might not know what a Ring Ding is. Poor souls, hehe.



Anyway, I had the killer cake recipe, and I had the killer frosting recipe, but I needed a filling recipe. I was in a hurry, and looking back, wish I took more time to find a good recipe for that, too. Don't get me wrong, the one I used is delicious, but not great for layering between two big cake layers. I used a whoopie pie filling that I'd used before...for whoopie pies, of course. It didn't hold up well to the cake layers, and before I knew it, I had a cake slide going on. Damn.

But I kept on. I poked a couple of chopsticks through the top and stuck it in the fridge to try and set it more. After 20 minutes or so, I frosted the sides with the chocolate frosting and set it back in the fridge. When I frosted the top a little later, it was still sliding, so the chopsticks went back into the top.

And you know? When it was time to serve it, it was a little lopsided, but it was for family, and they don't really care. Thank goodness, right? lol!

The cake recipe is from Epicurious. I can't even say enough good things about the cake. It's easy to make, it's dense and chocolaty, it's moist, and most important, the taste is out of this world! It's my new official chocolate cake recipe. It's my new best friend.



The filling is also from Epicurious.
I've made these whoopie pies before and they're another great recipe. Unfortunately, the filling just doesn't hold up to heavy cake layers. Whoopie pies? Yes! Cake filling? No!



And you can't have cake without frosting, can you? I don't make frosting very often, but when we do have frosting, it's this one. It's perfect, like the recipe title says. I got this recipe from a friend a few years ago, and haven't made another one since. It's incredibly simple, but homemade--so it tastes great. It's dark and chocolaty, and nice and creamy--good for spreading on cake. Please don't skip the sifting the sugar step--you don't want to have lumpy frosting, do you?



Perfect Chocolate Frosting

6 oz. semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup butter, cut into tablespoon sizes

2-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted


Place a large bowl, filled halfway with ice, in the sink (a bowl that is large enough to hold the pot that you will cook the frosting in).
In a medium size pot over med low heat; melt chocolate, cream, and butter.
Stirring constantly, cook the mixture until all of the butter and chocolate melts and thickens, about 5-6 minutes.
Do not boil.
Remove pot from heat.

Whisk in the sifted confectioners' sugar until mixture becomes smooth (approximately 1 minute).
Put the pot on top of the bowl of ice. (Be careful to not allow any ice from the larger bowl to get into pot with the chocolate mixture.)
Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 4-5 minutes until frosting becomes smooth, thick, and fudgy.
Remove from ice.
Spread onto cooled cake layers.
The frosting will thicken as it sets up.
If the frosting gets too hard to spread, put back on low heat and stir constantly until you get the spreading consistency desired.



So even with the leaky filling, this cake was awesome. My son kept thanking me for making him such a great cake for his birthday, and my other son has requested the same one for his birthday. Hopefully I'll find a sturdier filling by then!

That's it. No more talking. I'll show you how good this cake was.


**Warning! The following images may not be suitable for those of you with good table manners. Notice that one kid isn't even bothering with the formality of a utensil.




I think if I'd tried to get a bite of that slice, I'd have lost a limb. That was the last slice of cake, by the way. I had a flock of vultures hounding me the entire time I was taking photos, one even had a fork at the ready! That last series of pictures happened over a period of about 45 seconds. Piggies.

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24 comments:

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Oh Yummm! I love cake. Any type of cake and this would do very well!!!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

FOOD PORN!! :-)

The Peanut Butter Boy said...

Great cake Elle, the frosting looks truly deadly. And runny filling is fine, there's something satisfying about a gooey mess of a dessert. The messier the better I say.

RecipeGirl said...

What a delicious looking cake you made there. I'd have eaten it w/ my hands too and stuffed it right in my face... and yes, you'd have been slapped if you tried to dig in to mine!

Carol said...

Oh yes...my kind of cake for sure! Who doesn't love Ring Dings or Ding Dongs??????
Elle, I'd have been lapping the plate CLEAN!!!!
Good thing you had the camera at the ready huh? And you didn't even lose a limb in the process of photographing-I'd call that a success all around!!! :)

Karen @ Mignardise said...

Dear Mrs. Chocolate Cake,
That's one beautiful cake. How can a birthday cake be any other flavor? My daughter is about to turn 9 too. Maybe I'll make her this one.

Stef said...

I love your make all gone photos. Very cute.

Bunny said...

Beautiful cake Elle, It looks like it was finger lickin good!! I really like that frosting recipe, gonna try that one soon!

Bob said...

That looks so f*&%ing good. I wouldn't have wanted to try to stand in the way of those kids getting to the cake. Heh.

Mrs Ergül said...

What a sweet mommy you are! There must be too many 'vultures' staring at you. Thus, no photo of the completed cake! hehe

Anonymous said...

honey, that looks divine. i'll take some please!

Michele said...

Elle, it is perfectly acceptable to eat cake with you fingers. :-) Especially when it is a divine chocolate cake. I must try this recipe out on Phil. He's the chocolate lover in our house.

Patti said...

I know a whoopie pie and that's the first thing I would have tried . . . cause now you've reminded me about missing ring dings. So thanks for the recipe and the heads up not to try whoopie pie filling for the middle.

I can't wait to try the frosting.

vanillasugarblog said...

lol! oh yeah this is food porn!
And, yes that is the perfect frosting, I use it too. Sweet cake!
Is it freezing where you're at today? I friggin cold!

Anonymous said...

The photos, oh the photos! I want some now :-)

Anonymous said...

smittenkitchen.com has a great ring ding cake recipe!

kat said...

What a tasty looking cake!

LyB said...

I need to find an excuse to make this cake... NOW! :)

Fran Z said...

Oh Yeah! I've made this cake and it is a great one! Awesome!

Unknown said...

YES! a million times yes!!! i meant...i wanna marry a choco cake too ^_^

grace said...

no time for silverware...must use hands. :)
this cake is full of win, elle. for once i'm glad i'm not yet married--it can be all mine! :)

Deborah said...

With that cake I'll gladly call you Mrs. Chocolate Cake!! This sounds delicious!

Peter M said...

Straight up chocolate cake like this will have other men courting you for your....kind disposition (and cake baking skills). ;)

Anonymous said...

Oh god, that looks so amazing! I want to fight over that cake along with the rest of those hands! :p

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