I feel like I haven’t addressed something very important that’s happened this week. Do you know what I’m talking about? The fall of Condé Nast’s Gourmet Magazine has been the talk of the social networking world since it’s abrupt announcement on Monday morning. As a self professed food whore, I am saddened by this great magazine’s sudden decline. Gourmet magazine has been around since 1941, and has held the attention of food enthusiasts ever since. More recently, Gourmet has been dubbed too “upper class” and gearing itself towards a more bourgeois audience. There was a recent article on how food critics could spend $1000 in their own home town. There has been a lot of talk this week on who’s fault it really is. Is it us food bloggers? Are we bringing the recipes you could find in Gourmet straight to people’s inbox for free instead of the inflated $5.00 newsstand price? Is it the Rachel Rays and Sandra Lees of the world? The 30 minute meals and Semi-Homemade recipes that everyone “really wants” that has driven such an iconic magazine into the ground? We’ll never really know. What we do know is that Bon Appetit, Gourmet’s sister Magazine and well matched competition, is still around, as are many well rounded food publications such as Saveur and Home & Garden. Is it sad? Indeed, it is sad to lose a magazine of such outstanding pedigree, as well as the many talented writers and photographers who are now jobless, and perhaps will become my competition. Don’t lose hope though, there are food blogs out there that provide equally gourmet recipes and outstanding photography. We may have lost some inspiration, but maybe now we can make our own.
What does all that have to do with today’s recipe? Absolutely nothing! In fact, today’s recipe is from a few weeks ago. I made this cake as requested by my dear husband for his birthday. A favourite amongst his family, is mocha. I love mocha too, so bring on the dark chocolate and coffee! Actually, this cake was made in record time and in doing so I made a few mistakes. Mistakes that eventually turned out to have bettered the cake enormously. You couldn’t even tell I had made it in less than 3 hours, cooling time included. Freezers are wonderful for speedy cooling.
Dark Chocolate Mocha Cake
For the cake:
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
1 3/4 cups pastry flour
3/4 cup good quality Dutch Process Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup hot strong coffee (or 1 Tbsp instant coffee with 1 cup hot water)1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange racks in middle of oven. Grease 2 9″ round pans and line bottoms with parchment paper (Makes removal of this ultra-moist cake easier).
2. Stir dry ingredients together.
3. Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla to dry mix. Mix for 2 minutes with a whisk.
4. Pour in hot coffee and mix thoroughly.
5. Pour into pans and bake for 35-40 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and cool in pans for 20 minutes or more before turning onto wire rack to completely cool.
For the Ganache:
1/2 cup dark chocolate (70% solids)
1/2 cup butter1. Melt chocolate and butter in microwave at 30 second intervals. Stir between, and do not overheat!
2. Arrange first layer of (cooled) cake on cake plate. Pour half of chocolate over first layer. Place second layer of cake on top of first. Pour remaining chocolate over second layer.
3. Set cake in fridge or freezer to harden.
Mocha Frosting
500 mL Heavy Cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa
1 Tbsp very finely ground coffee beans (or instant coffee granules)1. In bowl of electric stand mixer, pour cream, sugar and vanilla.
2. Beat on medium high until soft peaks begin to form.
3. Add cocoa and coffee and whip until stiff.
4. Frost cooled cake completely on all sides. You may want to begin with a crumb coat, but it doesn’t matter too much as the frosting is already speckled with coffee.
Just a note: This cake does need to be refrigerated when you are not devouring it.
Yup, it’s THAT good.
That’s awesome – go little man go! A lick to the plate is the highest form of praise IMHO!
Hello niece, it’s great to see Cohen appreciate his Mom’s cooking. Lucky little fellow!
Excelent pics! especialy the last one!
.-= bucatar maniac´s last blog ..Ingredientul meu secret- semintele de marar =-.
Your son is adorable.
We LOVE a good cake around here and if it is mocha, even better! This one looks stellar.
So sad about Gourmet. I suppose I shall switch to Bon Appetit.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!!
.-= Aimee´s last blog ..Poppy-Seed Lemon Layer Cake =-.
Licking the plate – that’s exactly what I’d do with this delicious-looking cake (though I’d be certain there weren’t any cameras around – not so cute when a 30-something woman does it).
.-= Cookin’ Canuck´s last blog ..Spiced Pear Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar & Oat Streusel Recipe =-.
This cake looks delicious. Who needs dishwashers?
.-= Anna´s last blog ..Lamb Tagine =-.
oh, that licking the plate picture totally convinced me how delicious the cake was !!!!!
.-= lululu´s last blog ..Challah (Braided Bread) =-.
I think your closing pictures says it all! Thanks for sharing this great recipe and your adventure making it.
.-= The Chocolate Priestess´s last blog ..Halloween Treats: Taraluna =-.
wonderful cake!and the last photo is fantastic!i have awards for you in my last blog post!
.-= alison´s last blog ..premii de la ivy =-.
Thank you so much Alison!
wow – this cake makes me want chocolate right now! I love the picture of your son too! 🙂
.-= Nicole´s last blog ..New Baby! =-.
Oh wow, I know my daughter would LOVE this cake. Love that last pic. 🙂
.-= Alta´s last blog ..Chipotle Orange-Herb Chicken =-.
The only thing I can think of saying is mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…
yum yum!
Now I have a chocolate craving!
I love mocha, this cake looks excellent. Can you talk my husband into making this for my birthday – you have about 5 months?
.-= DianaHayes´s last blog ..Mini-Peppers stuffed with Bulgur and Mini-Yellow Squash =-.
Love that last photo – and this is a gorgeous looking cake – yum!
.-= Donalyn´s last blog ..Braised Pork Steaks with Sauerkraut =-.
WOOW! Love mocha stuff looks amazing!
im sure it tasted BRILL!
Save me a slice?
I really need to get a decent camera!
The Ganache looks amazing as the way it tasted I’m sure, the little guy seems to have loved the cake!
I made this cake two weekends ago for my mother’s birthday and everyone raved about it! It’s so moist and yummy!
I made it again for Easter dinner… except that I put 14 cadbury creme eggs in it! DEADLY! I also didn’t make it mocha.. just added 1 cup of hot water w/o the coffee. Still was great,
This is my new favourite chocolate cake recipe! Thanks so much!
Syd
Halifax, NS
Awesome, so glad it worked for you and that’s it’s your new recipe! Thanks for letting me know!
Looks taaasty!
thank you for sharing.
and chocolate lover,
check my mars coffee recipe,
you’ll LOVE it!
*.*
can this recipe be covered with fondant?
Lyle, I would think this recipe could easily be covered in fondant, as long as you added a thin layer of buttercream to the outside first. It would be absolutely delicious!
Hi! Can I substitute pastry flour to cake flour? We don’t have any pastry flour here. :/ Thanks!
It depends on the brand, but in most cases yes. My flour is actually labelled cake & pastry flour.
Just baked and served this cake– everybody loved it! They said it was “restaurant quality”. I used 1/2 cup cream instead of butter for the ganache, but that’s just a matter of preference. Also used slightly less dark chocolate, 53% cacao instead of 70%. But anyway, great recipe, not at all hard to make. Thanks!
Awesome! This is my all time favourite cake. I have even served it at a wedding…:) Always a hit, though some have said it is “too chocolaty”…I say there is no such thing!
My sis and I made this for my mother’s birthday today and we all were knocked flat! Definitely will make this again. Thank you very much!
Ps. We cut the brown sugar in half and some of the butter down and it turned out just fine. Wonders-full!
For the frosting, what type of sugar is it? Standard sugar or confectioner’s sugar? Thanks!
Regular granulated sugar.
I happen to have a chocolate buttermilk coffee cake in my freezer and was looking for frosting ideas when I found this. I’m thinking of reducing the mocha frosting and putting it between the layers and on top and then spreading ganche over the whole thing. Do you think the ganche would work over this type of frosting or should I just go with a mocha buttercream?
I think the ganache over the whipped cream frosting will deflate the whipped cream, better to pour it over a buttercream frosting or put it under the whipped cream frosting.
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