Beatty's Chocolate Cake

If you didn't know that we love Food Network already you will after these next few posts. We have some favorites and Ina Garten, aka the Barefoot Contessa, is one of mine. Specially I love her desserts and this one is no exception. I love and appreciate that Ina makes her desserts using quality ingredients and cooks from scratch.

I was watching her show a couple weeks ago and ran across this cake and just had to make it. It uses some amazing ingredients including a cup of hot brewed coffee in the cake batter and some espresso (or instant coffee) powder in the frosting. It sounded so much like my Espresso Brownies, that I couldn't pass it up.

It's not as wow as the espresso brownies but it certainly holds its own. Everything is extremely chocolate because the coffee really inhances the chocolate in both the cake and the frosting. The cake is very similar to a devils food cake and is super moist. The frosting is a light butter cream. I actually misread the directions and added a whole egg to the frosting instead of just the yoke so that might have a baring on the texture of my frosting. Regardless this was delicious! The Other Williams also loved it. So two big thumbs up from us!


Ingredients

Cake
* Butter, for greasing the pans
* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
* 2 cups sugar
* 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Chocolate Frosting:
* 6 ounces good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Callebaut)
* 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
* 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder


Cake Directions

Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, 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 a 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. 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 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.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Frosting Directions

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter 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 powder 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.

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