I recently got a new stand mixer. Its a raspberry pink Kitchen Aid artisan series with the glass bowl and I absolutely love it. Its dead sexy and I feel like a rock star when I take it out to use it. The day after I got it, I made a carrot cake and that struck a chord. Since that day, I've spent entirely too much time thinking about my next baking adventure. So when I saw a recipe online for chocolate blackout cake, there was no turning back.
The recipe I found was on the King Arthur website. I shared the link on my Facebook page and announced that I was up for the challenge. My friend Lori in New Jersey commented "I'm on it". I followed her progress on a Saturday afternoon with plans to bake this chocolate monster the following day. Based on a famous dessert from Ebinger's in Brooklyn, its a dark chocolate cake with homemade pudding filling and ganache frosting. The cake, filling and frosting are made separately and I thought it would be a great project to give my new mixer a workout and test my baking skills. Its kind of a big undertaking and required some special ingredients that I couldn't find at a single store. As I was running from store to store looking for Dutch process cocoa and instant espresso powder, Lori was posting pictures of the different stages of her chocolate blackout cake. Based on her experience, I decided to try a few variations.
The recipe calls for making the pudding first, giving it ample time to set up in the fridge before it goes in between two layers of cake. I read the King Arthur pudding recipe with skepticism and thought to myself "no way, that will never set up". The author put chocolate, sugar, salt and espresso powder in the food processor, blended it up, added a whole egg, then poured hot heavy cream over it with the processor running. That sounded a little too squirty to me, so I took a more traditional approach.
CHOCOLATE BLACKOUT CAKE:
Filling:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp of instant espresso powder
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup half & half
I put everything in a small saucepan over low heat and as the chocolate melted I whisked the hell out of it to avoid lumps. In about 10 minutes, I had a perfectly thick and creamy pudding, which I strained, covered the surface with plastic wrap and put in the fridge to chill. Next, I turned my attention to the cake. I used the proportions in the recipe.
Cake:
4 large eggs (at room temp)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups hot water
2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional; for enhanced chocolate flavor, by why not?)
I heated the oven to 350 and covering the bottom of two 8 inch cake pans with waxed paper, sprayed them with non-stick spray and floured them thoroughly. Then I measured out all the dry ingredients except the cocoa. I mixed the cocoa and hot water together, added the espresso powder and set that aside to cool. I put the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla in the mixer and mixed them on medium speed until they were well incorporated. Finally, I alternated blending in the flour mixture with the cocoa water mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. The batter was slightly thin but dark and chocolaty. I poured it evenly into the cake pans and put them in the oven to bake. It took about 30 minutes for them to bake completely, but I always use the toothpick test just to be sure. Don't over-bake these cakes! When the toothpick comes out clean, they are done. The cakes need to cool for about 20 minutes before removal from the pans. Run a thin knife around the edge of the cake before you turn it out of the pan. Let the cakes cool completely on a wire rack before the final assembly.
According to the recipe, the cake is bathed in chocolate ganache, which is just very good quality chocolate mixed with hot cream until it melts. Given the richness of cake and pudding, I was concerned that straight ganache would be a little too much. My friend Lori commented that the ganache frosting gave the cake an over the top death-by-chocolate quality and she thought a lighter frosting would do this cake justice. I have a frosting I make for cupcakes that is ganache folded into whipped cream. Its rich and chocolaty but light at the same time. That sounded like just the ticket.
The cakes were still too warm for assembly, but not too warm for a little taste test. The recipe called for cutting the domes off the top of the cakes, crumbling them and using the cake crumbles as decoration. I sliced the top off one of the cakes and tasted it. This cake was without a doubt the best chocolate cake that I've ever eaten. It was dark and mysterious, moist and dense. I was afraid that extra cake wouldn't make it to the decoration stage. I decided to leave one of the cakes in tact to give my final product a little more height.
Once the cakes had cooled, I turned my attention to the frosting and final assembly. Using my new Kitchen Aid with the whisk attachment, I whipped a cup of heavy cream to stiff peaks and made my ganache using a cup of good quality dark chocolate and half cup of hot cream. I let the ganache cool slightly while I started the final cake assembly. The pudding was the perfect consistency. It was thick enough to spread and hold its shape, so I slathered it on surface of the cake I'd cut the dome off of. I places the second cake, bottom side down, on top of the pudding. I figured a thin crumb coat of the straight ganache wouldn't hurt, so I barely glazed the top of the cake with warm ganache and put the whole thing in the fridge to set before frosting it.
The frosting gave me problems. With the cream already whipped, I started to add the ganache with the mixer running. The whole thing just turned to liquid right before my eyes. I should have folded the ganache into the cream, but I was so excited about using my Kitchen Aid that I let it get the better of me. My frosting was ruined, so I had to make a game day decision based on what was already in my fridge.
Frosting:
1 8 oz. block cream cheese
4 tbsp butter at room temperature
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners sugar
Traditional cream cheese frosting recipes call for way more sugar than I think is necessary. The cake and filling are sweet enough, so I cut the sugar proportion in half. I took a block of cream cheese out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature for about 30 minutes. I put it in the mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, added the butter, cocoa, powdered sugar and vanilla and beat the whole thing until it was smooth. By that time, the cake had cooled enough so the ganache glaze was set. It was a small amount of frosting for the size of the cake, but it didn't need much. I finished with the crumbled cake and it looked good enough to eat. After dinner, my husband and I eat had a slice and we were not disappointed. The next day I brought half of it to work and it was gone before lunch. The cake improved as it sat in the fridge and by the time we ate the last slice, we were sorry to see it go. I will make this cake again - and will be smarter about the frosting next time.
 |
| chilled pudding |
The recipe calls for making the pudding first, giving it ample time to set up in the fridge before it goes in between two layers of cake. I read the King Arthur pudding recipe with skepticism and thought to myself "no way, that will never set up". The author put chocolate, sugar, salt and espresso powder in the food processor, blended it up, added a whole egg, then poured hot heavy cream over it with the processor running. That sounded a little too squirty to me, so I took a more traditional approach.
CHOCOLATE BLACKOUT CAKE:
Filling:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp of instant espresso powder
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup half & half
I put everything in a small saucepan over low heat and as the chocolate melted I whisked the hell out of it to avoid lumps. In about 10 minutes, I had a perfectly thick and creamy pudding, which I strained, covered the surface with plastic wrap and put in the fridge to chill. Next, I turned my attention to the cake. I used the proportions in the recipe.
Cake:
4 large eggs (at room temp)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups hot water
2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional; for enhanced chocolate flavor, by why not?)
I heated the oven to 350 and covering the bottom of two 8 inch cake pans with waxed paper, sprayed them with non-stick spray and floured them thoroughly. Then I measured out all the dry ingredients except the cocoa. I mixed the cocoa and hot water together, added the espresso powder and set that aside to cool. I put the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla in the mixer and mixed them on medium speed until they were well incorporated. Finally, I alternated blending in the flour mixture with the cocoa water mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. The batter was slightly thin but dark and chocolaty. I poured it evenly into the cake pans and put them in the oven to bake. It took about 30 minutes for them to bake completely, but I always use the toothpick test just to be sure. Don't over-bake these cakes! When the toothpick comes out clean, they are done. The cakes need to cool for about 20 minutes before removal from the pans. Run a thin knife around the edge of the cake before you turn it out of the pan. Let the cakes cool completely on a wire rack before the final assembly.
According to the recipe, the cake is bathed in chocolate ganache, which is just very good quality chocolate mixed with hot cream until it melts. Given the richness of cake and pudding, I was concerned that straight ganache would be a little too much. My friend Lori commented that the ganache frosting gave the cake an over the top death-by-chocolate quality and she thought a lighter frosting would do this cake justice. I have a frosting I make for cupcakes that is ganache folded into whipped cream. Its rich and chocolaty but light at the same time. That sounded like just the ticket.
The cakes were still too warm for assembly, but not too warm for a little taste test. The recipe called for cutting the domes off the top of the cakes, crumbling them and using the cake crumbles as decoration. I sliced the top off one of the cakes and tasted it. This cake was without a doubt the best chocolate cake that I've ever eaten. It was dark and mysterious, moist and dense. I was afraid that extra cake wouldn't make it to the decoration stage. I decided to leave one of the cakes in tact to give my final product a little more height.
 |
| cake, pudding and ganache ready for assembly |
The frosting gave me problems. With the cream already whipped, I started to add the ganache with the mixer running. The whole thing just turned to liquid right before my eyes. I should have folded the ganache into the cream, but I was so excited about using my Kitchen Aid that I let it get the better of me. My frosting was ruined, so I had to make a game day decision based on what was already in my fridge.
Frosting:
1 8 oz. block cream cheese
4 tbsp butter at room temperature
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners sugar
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