Friday, August 21, 2009

Bingo!!! THE definitive chocolate cake recipe!




OK, so I have not been doing much blogging in light of the birth of my our little one--five weeks old this past Wednesday! I will say I DID make the banana bundt cake that everyone made a few weeks ago and LOVED it...but did not take photos...so I never made it an official posting!

Long before joining Tuesdays with Dorie baking club--and since joining--I have often lamented that I have not found 'THE' chocolate cake recipe that offers a 'box cake' moistness...
NOTE; this in no way is to offend Dorie Greenspan--my take is I am just not making her recipes for chocolate cake up to her standards! So THIS recipe I have found is super easy, (i.e. "dummy-proof") and gave me the cake texture I've been seeking....so just to be sure I point out that I'm sure if I had the exact technique that Dorie has, I would deem HER chocolate cake recipe the 'one'!)

The search is over (cue Survivor), I found the recipe today and I AM SO EXCITED! Well, actually I did not find it today, I had heard of it for some time..

Fellow TWD blogger, Nancy, of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs, told me in a comment in February to try Martha Stewart's 'One Bowl Chocolate Cake. It's taken me until NOW to do so.

The occasion was Dear Husband's birthday. He LOVES chocolate cake--problem is he does NOT love frosting..therefore, it leaves little room for error when doing scratch cakes. When a cake lacks moistness--I just slather on more frosting and drink more milk. He, on the other hand, has been stuck with many a dry mouthful of chocolate cake, and I'm sure has wished on many an occasion that I just do the 'box cake' and be done with it. And I almost did this year..almost!

Knowing the Birthday Boy does not enjoy frosting on cake-and knowing we were having our friends over for dinner led me to determine that cupcakes would be best--I could frost some, and leave others as they are.

I found Martha's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes, which is basically taking the cake recipe and halving it. It's not only the BEST texture and moistness--it's the simplest recipe! Sift all dry ingredients in the mixer bowl..then add the liquid ingredients, mix until blended and presto! Cake batter! Indeed its simple nature made this a very "baby-friendly" recipe! I stopped and started about 3 times and never worried that I lost my place in the recipe! Plus, if needed I could do some of it with one hand while I held him in the other arm (I actually cracked 2 eggs with one hand with no shrapnel!)

And so now I've got it--THE recipe for a perfect chocolate cake--and in plenty of time for Jason's first birthday!


Next time I think I'll branch out and fill some with whipped cream a la "Hostess" and maybe do some peanut butter frosting/filling a la "Funny Bones." But for now, I'm just thrilled with having a go-to chocolate cake recipe! Thank you, Martha--and thank you Nancy for turning me onto it!


5 comments:

Nancy/n.o.e said...

You're welcome! I'm just excited that you tried it (I haven't baked it myself yet, believe it or not) and thankful that you hubs doesn't care for frosting (glossing over how I totally cannot wrap my head around that one) so that you could assess the cake qua cake and determine that it is indeed worthy!!! Great looking cupcakes.

Anonymous said...

I saw all the talk about this on Twitter. I'm going to have to make it. They look delicious. I love the way you decorated them too.

The Blonde Duck said...

Popped in from Cathy's to say hi!

Cathy said...

OMG! I just made these cupcakes for Caroline's birthday! Okay so we didn't need cupcakes because I was making her a cake and there were only going to be 12 people at her party, but I wanted to use my cupcake tree, which holds 23 (?) cupcakes. So I figured white cake, chocolate cupcakes and "other" cupcakes (I ended up with Martha's snickerdoodles and strawberry in addition to the chocolate). AND THESE CHOCOLATE ONES ARE AMAZING! And so easy! Definitely my keeper chocolate cake recipe too. I'm actually making them tomorrow to send to J's school (they're celebrating the summer birthdays on Friday). I'm so glad that it was a hit with hubs. Your piping is beautiful. And give sweet little Jason a hug from me!

The Food Librarian said...

I agree. I love this recipe. SOOOOO easy and yummy. Your cupcakes looks fantastic!