Black Midnight Chocolate Cake
Description
Special occasions call for a special cake. This cake is an old one from a Betty Crocker Cookbook, but has been updated a bit. It's made with cayenne and brewed coffee, which bring out the chocolate flavor and olive oil which makes it lighter and moister.
Ingredients
Cake:
butter, to grease the pans
2 parchment circles, cut the size of the bottom of cake pans
cocoa, to dust the pans
⅔ c. dark cocoa powder (Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa for a deep dark color)
1 c. hot brewed coffee
1 pinch cayenne pepper
⅓ c. shortening
⅓ c. olive oil
1⅔ c. sugar
3 eggs
⅓ c. buttermilk
1 t. vanilla
2 c. cake flour
1 t. salt
1 ¼ t. baking soda
½ t. baking powder
Frosting:
1 ½ sticks butter, softened
1 c. dark cocoa Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa for a deep dark color)
4 ½ c.powdered sugar
½ c. buttermilk
2 t. vanilla extract
Directions
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Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of 2 cake pans; place a round parchment circle in each. Butter the top of the parchment; sprinkle the whole inside of the parchment and pan with cocoa powder, shaking out excess.
In a small bowl, dissolve cocoa powder and cayenne with hot brewed coffee; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream shortening, oil and sugar until well combined. Add eggs; beat until light and creamy, about 1-2 minutes, beating air into the mixture. Scrape paddle and bowl; beat once. Slowly add in coffee/cocoa mixture, buttermilk and vanilla; beat until batter is smooth. Scrape paddle and bowl; beat once.
In a separate bowl, sift flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to wet; beat on low speed to incorporate. Scrape down bowl and beat until all ingredients are well combined.
Pour batter evenly between the 2 prepared pans; place in center of oven.
Bake 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Depending on the oven, the cake pans may need to be rotated halfway through. (Using olive oil in this recipe requires it to cook a few minutes longer than most cakes.)
Cool pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; carefully invert out of pan onto a rack to cool further.
Frosting;
Sift cocoa powder with powdered sugar in a large bowl.
In the bowl of a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream butter until smooth; add sugar and cocoa powder mixture along with buttermilk and vanilla; beat until smooth and creamy. Add additional buttermilk or whole milk if frosting is too thick.
Place a small dollop of frosting on a cake dish/plate to hold the cake from sliding; place one cake on the frosting; frost the top of that layer. Place the second cake on top of the first; frost the entire cake, top and sides.
8-10 servings.