This recipe goes back to 1990, when I worked at a place called Cafe Rude in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was printed on the canister of Hershey's cocoa- simple as that. I have since adjusted it for high altitude, as per the instructions of Rose Levy Berenbaum's Cake Bible, and now use Scarfenberger Natural non-alkalized cocoa powder. I figure I've made a little over 2,000 of these cakes in the past 20 years. In the photos below I serve it with my vanilla bean gelato (recipe forthcoming) and subject it to a blizzard of grated Scharfenberger 70% chocolate. Recipe below:
All 'ounce' mesurements are by weight.
10.5 ounces cake flour for best results (or 9 ounces all-purpose flour sifted with 1.5 ounces cornstarch)
13.5 ounces superfine granulated sugar for best results (or regular granulated sugar)
2.5 ounces Scharfenberger cocoa powder or other non-alkalized cocoa (use Valhrona if you wanna go BIG)
1/2 tsp. table grind salt (not kosher or sea)
1.5 tsp baking SODA
sift all dry ingredients together and mix well.
in separate bowl whisk together:
1 large egg
2/3 cup canola oil or other neutral flavored vegetable oil
2 1/4 cup cold water
1 TBSP pure vanilla extract
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
add wet ingredients to dry and whisk well. Divide between 2- 9 inch cake pans, greased and floured, and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees. When done let cool thouroughly.
Frosting:
19 ounces powdered sugar
3 ounces cocoa powder
4 ounces (1 stick) softened butter
3/4 cup room temperature heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Whisk cocoa and sugar together, set aside
Use whisk attachment on Kitchenaid and whip butter until fluffy. Add 1/4 of cocoa mixture on low speed and blend until thouroughly incorporated. add 1/4 of cream and blend until incorporated. Alternate wet and dry until frosting holds semi-firm peaks. FROST.
EAT!
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