The Best Chocolate Cake Ever!

A little dramatic? Maybe, but I do not lie about chocolate. Like ever. This is a recipe I came across about 5 year's ago on MSNBC and have tinkered with the recipe over time.

The ingredient's in the recipe are pretty standard. However, two of them I purchase specifically from local vendor's in the Lakeview neighborhood.

1st up? Coffee!  I turn to Coffee Tree & Trea Leaves at 3752 North Broadway. The owner, Sam has been so amazing with suggestions over the year's and when I began to cook with Espresso with meat or in my baked goods I always use Sam's Dark Roast Espresso.  The taste really enhances the deep chocolate in this recipe. You have to try Sam's blend. Insanely delicious that Sam himself creates with spices.

2nd Chocolate. Yeppers, I am very specific about chocolate after my travels in Europe.  Chocolate here in the US can have large amount's of paraffin wax in it to stop it from aging. When I need chocolate to cook with in large quantities I go to Treasure Island on the corner of Broadway and Wellington. Callebuat Belgium Chocolate is the only way to go for this recipe. It blends beautifully with the butter cream frosting. :)

Ingredients:

• Butter, for greasing the pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups good Dark cocoa powder
  
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon

Chocolate frosting:

• 9 ounces good semisweet chocolate (Callebaut) 56%
• 1/2 pound of butter at room temperature 2 sticks
• 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant ground espresso

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Butter two 8x2 cake pans.

Mix the dry ingredient's together first and blend well on a low setting. Then combine together the following ingredient's in a separate bowl.  Buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.  Mix well and then add these ingredient's slowly to the dry bowl. Poor the cake batter into the cake pans and cook for 30 to 40 minutes. I found that 35 minute's was perfect and I used two 9 inch pans instead of the 8x2.  I also gently tapped the pans on the counter top to ensure I had the majority of the bubble's out of the batter.

Frosting, melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler, whichever you are most comfortable with and then I blend the butter for 2 minutes with the chocolate and then gradually add in the other ingredient's slowly and at a consistent speed. I usually add in the powdered sugar gradually as it can be pretty messy but to also ensure a consistent mix. If the frosting seems to lump up a bit, add in 3 tablespoon's of whole milk and continue to mix, this will help smooth out the frosting for you.

*When I melt the chocolate for the frosting I add in the espresso to the mix and then add to the remaining ingredients. The combination makes the chocolate richer in taste. Also, I have a friend that switched out the buttermilk with sour cream. Play around with the ingredients. Let me know what you think.

When frosting the cake, wait till the cake has cooled and then frost your cake. Be careful when frosting, if you are not careful you can tear the cake. I wish I had thought to take a photo of the cake I made this past weekend, however, this is the photo that came with the original recipe years ago. Enjoy!