Yesterday, Jack and I baked a chocolate cake to use up some of the buttermilk I bought for the chicken we made. But the sour cream was expired, so we couldn't make our usual chocolate sour cream frosting and I'm not crazy about the overly-sugary taste of buttercream, so I looked for a new recipe and found this: Chocolate Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting. Yum!
Ingredients
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temperature
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted (I only had 3 ounces, so I supplemented by adding 1 ounce of bittersweet chocolate)
1/4 cup extra-strong coffee (I didn't cool the coffee, but stirred it into the chocolate to help it melt faster)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar (the recipe called for 3 c., but I liked the taste with just 2 c.)
Directions
Beat the butter and cream cheese together. Drizzle the melted chocolate (I microwaved it for 30 seconds, stirred, microwaved another 30 seconds, stirred, and then stirred the hot coffee in to it, a couple tablespoons at a time) and coffee over the butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla. Mix well. Mix in the powdered sugar one cup at a time. You can do up to 3 c., but taste it to see how sweet you want it.
Jack and I loved licking the beaters, and neither he nor Brian seemed to be bothered by the faint coffee taste, which I felt added an extra richness to the frosting. Delicious!
Showing posts with label frosting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frosting. Show all posts
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Grandma's Chocolate Cake: A Birthday Tradition
I'm a baking snob. I'll admit it. I think box cakes are cheating and I brag that I can spot a box cake a mile away. I think in part my need to bake from scratch has to do with love: I know how good a homemade cake tastes, so why would I make something that is not as good for my family, especially for special occasions, like birthdays. It's an act of service to those I love to make something from scratch, a way of demonstrating my affection.
But my snobbery has another legitimate source: my grandma. I learned from the best, and that genius with pastries and batter would never have considered making a box cake. And after eating her homemade concoctions, neither would anyone else.
My grandma makes the best chocolate cake EVER. Even the Barefoot Contessa's famous chocolate cake is essentially my grandma's recipe with a little bit of coffee stirred into the boiling water at the end for good measure. While I confess to liking the coffee addition, my little family has no need for added caffeine, so we stick to Grandma's version. Brian always requests it with chocolate frosting; my mom always liked it with peppermint candies crushed on top, too; Jack prefers his with sprinkles.
Grandma's Chocolate Cake
2 c. sugar
3/4 c. cocoa powder (we've tried the extra dark kind, but regular is better)
1/2 c. shortening (I like Butter Crisco in the stick form)
2 eggs
3/4 c. buttermilk (or in a pinch, make sour milk by adding 1 Tbsp. lemon juice to regular milk)
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. boiling water
I recommend a stand-mixer for this, since there is a lot of beating. I'm usually pretty resistant to using the stand-mixer because I'm a traditionalist, but it does make it so much easier.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two round cake pans or fill 2 muffin tins with paper cups.
Cream together the sugar, cocoa and shortening. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add buttermilk with soda stirred in; beat well, scraping the sides of the bowl. Add dry ingredients and vanilla; beat for 2 minutes while boiling the water in the microwave. Add boiling water and slowly mix in to avoid spattering.
Pour prepared batter into the two cake pans or into the muffin tins. Bake for 35 minutes for layer cakes or 20 minutes for cupcakes.
Once cooled, frost with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
6 oz. chocolate chips (I prefer Ghiradelli bittersweet chips over the semi-sweet variety for a richer flavor)
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. sour cream
2 1/2 c. sifted powdered sugar (I frequently skip the sifting in favor of mixing it all together by hand -- remember, I'm a traditionalist -- in the double boiler, so I only put in 2 1/4-ish c. of powdered sugar)
Melt the chips and butter in a double boiler over medium heat, stirring frequently until completely melted. Cool 5-10 minutes. Stir in the sour cream until blended. Stir in the powdered sugar 1/2 c. at a time. (As I said, I usually just stir it all in by hand with a spoon until it gets a smooth sheen to it and there are no chunks of sugar left, but it would probably be easier to put it all in a separate bowl and use a hand-mixer. On the other hand, you'd dirty more dishes, which is why I always do it by hand.)
Frost cake and store in refrigerator.
Jack demonstrates the delicious messiness of taste-testing a chocolate cake.
But my snobbery has another legitimate source: my grandma. I learned from the best, and that genius with pastries and batter would never have considered making a box cake. And after eating her homemade concoctions, neither would anyone else.
My grandma makes the best chocolate cake EVER. Even the Barefoot Contessa's famous chocolate cake is essentially my grandma's recipe with a little bit of coffee stirred into the boiling water at the end for good measure. While I confess to liking the coffee addition, my little family has no need for added caffeine, so we stick to Grandma's version. Brian always requests it with chocolate frosting; my mom always liked it with peppermint candies crushed on top, too; Jack prefers his with sprinkles.
Grandma's Chocolate Cake
2 c. sugar
3/4 c. cocoa powder (we've tried the extra dark kind, but regular is better)
1/2 c. shortening (I like Butter Crisco in the stick form)
2 eggs
3/4 c. buttermilk (or in a pinch, make sour milk by adding 1 Tbsp. lemon juice to regular milk)
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. boiling water
I recommend a stand-mixer for this, since there is a lot of beating. I'm usually pretty resistant to using the stand-mixer because I'm a traditionalist, but it does make it so much easier.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two round cake pans or fill 2 muffin tins with paper cups.
Cream together the sugar, cocoa and shortening. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add buttermilk with soda stirred in; beat well, scraping the sides of the bowl. Add dry ingredients and vanilla; beat for 2 minutes while boiling the water in the microwave. Add boiling water and slowly mix in to avoid spattering.
Pour prepared batter into the two cake pans or into the muffin tins. Bake for 35 minutes for layer cakes or 20 minutes for cupcakes.
Once cooled, frost with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
6 oz. chocolate chips (I prefer Ghiradelli bittersweet chips over the semi-sweet variety for a richer flavor)
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. sour cream
2 1/2 c. sifted powdered sugar (I frequently skip the sifting in favor of mixing it all together by hand -- remember, I'm a traditionalist -- in the double boiler, so I only put in 2 1/4-ish c. of powdered sugar)
Melt the chips and butter in a double boiler over medium heat, stirring frequently until completely melted. Cool 5-10 minutes. Stir in the sour cream until blended. Stir in the powdered sugar 1/2 c. at a time. (As I said, I usually just stir it all in by hand with a spoon until it gets a smooth sheen to it and there are no chunks of sugar left, but it would probably be easier to put it all in a separate bowl and use a hand-mixer. On the other hand, you'd dirty more dishes, which is why I always do it by hand.)
Frost cake and store in refrigerator.
Jack demonstrates the delicious messiness of taste-testing a chocolate cake.
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