If you love a moist cake that is rich is chocolate, this recipe is for you. Using freshly brewed coffee to enhance the flavor of the chocolate, and oil with buttermilk, instead of butter– Ina Garten shares a very easy cake recipe with a silky chocolate butter cream.
“Beatty’s Cake” (found in Barefoot Contessa at Home) is a rich chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. My husband love chocolate cake, so I made this recipe with him in mind.
I liked the idea of using oil and buttermilk, instead of butter, which I presumed would give the cake a lot of moisture. Besides, the frosting consisted of two sticks of butter! I also like the idea of using coffee to enhance the taste of chocolate. I was going to be a good sport, despite my lukewarm love of chocolate cake and chocolate frosting– so I decided to make Ina’s recipe exactly as is,since this recipe has stellar reviews. Like Ina, I try my best to buy the best quality ingredients:
One of my golden rules in baking is to measure and prepare all of my ingredients. Baking is science, so it can ruin the whole recipe if you discover you’re missing a vital ingredient. I make a point of bringing my eggs and butter to room temp. Depending on the weather, that can take 30 minutes, to an hour.
Sometimes, I’m lazy and I don’t sift my dry ingredients. This time, I made a point of it…
…because Dutch Cocoa can clump up. I was also reminded that kosher salt doesn’t sift well…duh!
Mixing the batter, for this recipe, didn’t even make me break a sweat. I simply mixed in the wet with the dry and the batter was ready in no time at all.
I make a point of checking my cake about 5 minutes sooner than the recipe calls for, to reduce the risk of it being over-baked and dry. Ina’s instructions say to bake this recipe between 30-40 minutes. I used 2 9-inch pans and these were ready in 25 minutes! Heed my warning, because my oven is calibrated to be pretty accurate! I allowed the cakes to cool for 30 minutes, per the instructions, and then put them on a cooling rack.
It’s time to make the frosting– I can finally use the espresso powder that I order from King Arthur. It’s pretty cool stuff. I like how fine the powder is, compared to instant coffee. I’ve never made a buttercream frosting with an egg yolk, so I bravely went ahead–wondering if a raw egg would freak out anyone. I decided not to say anything.
The butter is whipped for about 3 minutes– there’s lots of air going in this!
Ina calls for 6 ounces of “good semi-sweet chocolate”. Well, Ina, Ghirardelli semi-sweet chips is as good as it’s gonna get! I started to do the double boiler thing…then I thought, heck– what are microwaves for? 90 seconds later… perfectly melted chocolate. Easy, eh?
The only reason I’m publishing the photo of the egg yolk that is being added to the frosting is that I love the color. You cannot compare farm fresh free-range egg yolks with the commercial variety. I just love these eggs!
In goes the powdered sugar and then the melted and cooled chocolate. I took a taste. Not bad! I do like chocolate chip cookies, so I do like semi-sweet chocolate.
The beauty of icing is that it’s like putty– you can fill in mistakes and nobody will be the wiser. Except for you, but it’s our little secret. I have to say, this frosting is very silky and very easy to work with.
So, here’s the big “TA DA”. Nothing exciting to look at, its it? I pondered how to jazz it up… more chocolate fru-fru candies? No! Roses from my garden? Nah…. It’s a cake and I made it from scratch! That’s good enough for me.
Craig eagerly waited for a slice of this cake, by eating a smaller portion of dinner. He prompty set aside a slice to take to work, and one for his co-worker who also has a sweet tooth for chocolate.
TASTING NOTES: You can tell me to stop anytime…look away! This is an excellent chocolate cake. You cannot taste the coffee– in fact, the coffee really brings out the chocolate flavor loud and clear. The frosting is very creamy, and delicious. I ate one small slice with vanilla ice cream– to me, that softens the chocolate for my taste buds.I would definitely make this cake for someone who adores chocolate. It’s very easy to make.
HOWEVER… my Chocolate Bliss Cake with a lighter chocolate filling and Fluffy White Frosting is still my favorite cake– and it’s pretty close to Ina’s recipe. . I adore a white frosting anytime of the day. I doubt hypnosis will ever cure me of my love of white cake and white frosting. Ina’s Coconut Cake remains one of my favorite cakes, too!
Beatty’s Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- Butter for greasing the pans; or baking spray such as Baker's Joy
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour plus more for pans
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cups cocoa powder quality, of course!
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk shaken
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup hot coffee freshly brewed
Chocolate Buttercream:
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate recommended: Callebaut
- 2 sticks 2-sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 extra-large egg yolk at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar sifted
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.
- Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
- In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Chocolate Frosting:
- Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.
- Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting.
- Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.
Notes
Nutrition
Your cake turned out beautifully. It was very crumbly for me.
Gorgeous,I love the contrast in browns between the frosting and cake! So you are no longer a chocoholic!? I don't think I would want to give that up, despite my occasional overindulgence. 🙂
Your cake looks delicious! It seems that each of us had a different issue with this cake!
Everybody has loved it so it is a good thing!
Gorgeous cake! I don't think I would ever want to cure my chocolate craving!
Hello,
your cake really look tempting..I am a chocolate addict myself I'm trying to control it but cake like this isn't helping at all, they're so delicious.. and I'm only human 😉
your pictures look great!
Your cake looks better than Ina's in the cookbook! Perfectly beautiful.
I'm not a chocolate person either… not because of hypnosis though. Dang, I really wish I knew what she suggested though. You have me curious!
I just left Penny's Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen where she also made the cake. You gals have me craving chocolate now.
Sam
Looks gorgeous! I'm out of this one because of the Exploding Dishwasher Incident, but it looks like it's a keeper!
I am a pathological chocoholic and can't imagine anything chocolate being too rich. I also can't imagine that anything would help me overcome my cravings for chocolate. I saw Ina make this cake and it did look good (though I prefer mousse-y things). Yours looks wonderful. BTW, when I made Ina's brownie pudding it was WAY overcooked.
OMG! I think I died and went to heaven! That Barefoot Contessa chocolate cake looks stunning!
Thanks for stopping by — it's such a pleasure to meet someone just up the road a piece! Our cakes look nearly identical, too. I thought this was one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever had, moist and flavorful. Enjoy your weekend!
Looks beautiful. A lot of work for a non chocolate lover! I need hypnosis!!
I am a SERIOUS chocoholic! Maybe I should consider hypnosis. This cake looks crave inducing and perfect with vanilla ice cream. I melt my chocolate in the microwave too, it's just so much easier. And, when I use a raw egg in Caesar or for frosting I don't tell anyone either. I think they enjoy it more if they don't know.
Your cake is gorgeous and your blog is so pretty too! I will be back to read more!!
What a perfect chocolate cake! I've been eyeing it on my sidebar and just had to come over and tell you that it looks s-ooooo decadent and divine! And your photos are great!
Have a great weekend!
You told me you were making chocolate cake but I didn't know it was *this* chocolate cake. I made this cake about 3 years ago for my MIL's birthday. We all loved it. But I could definitely taste the coffee flavor, which is fine with me because I'm a coffee-a-holic!
Your slice of cake makes me want to reach through the screen. Yum!
oooh…I'm not much of a chocolate cake fan but I LOVE chocolate. But I think with the coffee flavor….omg…that would do it for me for sure!! all of a sudden I'm craving chocolate cake? go figure. YUM
This is gonna sound dumb but I never knew where to get expresso powder. I have looked in grocery store after grocery store and couldn't find it. I would end up using instant coffee because that was the closest I could find. Thanks!
what a wonderful looking cake
I love the way your cake looks. I baked this for a friend's birthday and everyone loved it though I wasn't happy with the presentation. I like the way you have iced the cake.