Classic Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting
My friend Rita wrote me with a sense of urgency about a couple of year ago, asking me for a chocolate cake recipe and sadly I never got around to giving her my go-to recipe. It’s not the sort of thing that I normally blog about, as I try to fancify things up here, mixing it around, adding new flavor combinations and generally making them as unique as possible. After all, does the blog-o-sphere (a term I really hate, I need to stop using it) need another chocolate cake recipe? But sometimes you just want a basic chocolate cake. Sometimes you need a slice of cake, nostalgic and rich, without the fancy contemporary frills of blood oranges, sumac or grains of paradise. This is that cake.
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
Counts 11 of 13 ingredients — the other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume — 11 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Chocolate | 1 oz (28g) semisweet | 155 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Canola | 1 tbsp (14g) | 124 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Corn | 1/2 cup kernels (82g) | 77 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Vanilla | 1 tsp extract (4ml) | 12 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Coffee | not in our table | 0 |
| Teff | not in our table | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- 3 oz (85 g) chopped dark chocolate (something you like to eat by itself)
- 1 1/2 cups freshly brewed strong hot coffee
- 2 cups (280 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (45 g) mesquite flour (see headnote above)
- 1/4 cup (45 g) teff flour (see headnote above)
- 1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated white sugar
- 1 1/2 cups (330 g) dark brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups (120 g) natural cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup neutral flavored vegetable oil (canola, corn or grapeseed works)
- 1 1/2 cup buttermilk, well shaken
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 egg whites
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoon (225 g) granulated white sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 16 oz (1 lbs or 455 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 1/2 oz (130 g) melted dark chocolate (something you like to eat by itself)
- 3 – 4 tablespoons roasted cacao nibs
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon flaked finish salt (I used Cypress Black Flake salt, but you can use Maldon, Fleur de Del or another finishing salt of your choice, just don’t use plain table salt as it’s way too harsh)