Ina Garten's Chocolate Cake
Ina Garten’s Chocolate Cake is the kind of dessert that never goes out of style. Rich, ultra-moist, and deeply chocolatey, this classic cake is made with simple ingredients but delivers bakery-worthy results every single time. Whether you’re baking for birthdays, holidays, or just because you need a dependable chocolate cake recipe, this one is always a crowd favorite.
Equipment
- 2 9 inch cake pans
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- ¾ cup good cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 extra large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- 6 oz semisweet chocolate
- 1 cup (2 sticks) room temperature butter
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups sifted powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder ( I like Delallo)
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans.
- Line with parchment paper (optional, but works really well), 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 the 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 ones. 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 evenly 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.
- Make the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting: Chop the chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl over a pan over simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.
- Beat the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment 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 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.
Notes
I use Valrhona Le Noir 56% Cacao Semisweet Chocolate. You can use also use any good bittersweet chocolate but don’t use chocolate chips because they have stabilizers in them.