Chocolate Cake I

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Adapted from: Allie Roomberg

Serves: 12-20 (1-double layer cake or 20 cupcakes)

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour (or GF alternative)
1/2 cup cake flour (homemade: 1 tbsp cornstarch/cornflour mixed with 1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour) (if GF, skip this step and just add another 1/2 cup of GF flour)
1.25 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb / baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
227 g (1 cup or 8 oz) unsalted butter, softened
4 large eggs
1 cup plain, full-fat Greek yoghurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Frosting of choice: 

I once made a Mickey cake for my mom's birthday that tasted like an Oreo (pictured below). To this day, I cannot recall where I found the recipe. This is the first chocolate cake I have made since then that brought me back to the "I can't believe it's not Oreo!" days. Also it has so much butter in it. I love butter. 


I will set aside the elusive Mickey cake and refocus on the recipe at hand. I paired this cake with raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream for my residents during quarantine and the cream cheese buttercream from my carrot cupcakes recipe this past week. Both paired phenomenally with the chocolate cake, although I wished the raspberry had a stronger presence in the Swiss meringue. 

This is chocolate cake recipe 1 of 3? 4? Who needs that many chocolate cake recipes? I'm not sure. But I'll tell you why I like this one. This chocolate cake utilises a reverse creaming method (adding wet to dry aka easy one bowl method). The use of yoghurt helps balance out the rich chocolate flavour. And the crumb, as you can see, is delightful. This is an all-around simple and delicious chocolate cake. Even I have come to the dark side with a cake that tastes like Oreos. 

I ran out of cocoa the last time I baked this recipe, but I had a cocoa-cinnamon powder to supplement. If you're feeling fancy, I recommend adding a couple teaspoons of cinnamon to the dry ingredients. I think the cinnamon-cocoa bond is underrated!

Some baking tips:
  • Use room-temperature butter rather than softening butter in the microwave. Butter can be left out overnight if needed. This room-temperature butter tip is true for all baking that requires 'softened butter'. 
  • If making cupcakes, line a cupcake tin, fill 1/2 full, and bake for only 15 minutes (check them at 12-13 minutes).
  • To get the perfect cake, set a timer for 10 minutes less than the stated time and eye it. If the cake jiggles when the pan is moved, it's not done. A knife will come out of the centre clean or with crumbs. It is under-baked if it has streaks of liquid. If a cake is left too long, it will be too dry.
    • When using a tester knife, be sure to wipe it completely clean, wash it, or use a new knife when testing again. Otherwise, the next jab into the cake will cause the cake to hold onto any of the remnant batter and give you a false reading.  
  • This cake tends to make a funky domed top when it is done. Simply allow the cake to cool as-is, and use a bread knife to slice off the excess dome. These now make excellent scraps to taste with the frosting! 
  • Tips for the perfect gluten-free cake (courtesy of a pastry-chef-colleauge)
    • Better to under-fill than over-fill a cake tin - try only adding an inch or inch and a half of batter.
    • Once the cake tins are filled, leave them sitting out on the bench top for 30 minutes or more before baking. 
    • Cover the cake tins with al-foil for the entire baking-in-oven process. 
    • If a recipe calls for cake flour, ignore it and substitute equal parts of your typical gluten-free flour. Gluten-free flour blends already have the light and fluffy starches that make regular all-purpose flour get its flair when transformed into cake flour. 
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour (or GF alternative)
1/2 cup cake flour (homemade: 1 tbsp cornstarch/cornflour mixed with 1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour) (if GF, skip this step and just add another 1/2 cup of GF flour)
1.25 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb / baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
227 g (1 cup or 8 oz) unsalted butter, softened
4 large eggs
1 cup plain, full-fat Greek yoghurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Frosting of choice: 

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 163 C / 325 F. Grease and lay parchment in 2 8"-diameter cake pans and set aside.  

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb / baking soda, and salt. 

3. Cut the butter into small pieces (cubes are easy) and use a mixer to blend it into the dry ingredients until the batter resembles damp sand (about 1 minute, maybe more). 

4. Add eggs in, one at a time, and scrape the bowl down, as needed, to incorporate all the batter.

5. Next, add the yoghurt and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until all the ingredients are evenly blended and to build up the batter's structure. 

6. Divide batter between pans, let rest on the bench top for 30 minutes, cover with aluminium foil, and then bake until a toothpick or knife comes out clean (30-40 minutes). For cupcakes, skip the rest period and aluminium foil and reduce cook time to 13-15 minutes. 

7. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting of choice.

8. Allow the cakes to cool and decorate with frosting. 

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