Happy Birthday Mama ~ Claire’s Dark Chocolate Cake

Recipe adapted from Basic to Brilliant, Y'all

  

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for sprinkling the pans
  
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 3 cups sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
  
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
  
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  
• 3 large eggs
  
• 1 ½ cups warm water
  
• 1 ½ cups buttermilk
  
• ¾ cup canola oil
  
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  
• Chocolate Ganache frosting
  
  • 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
    
  • 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
    
  • 2 cups heavy cream
    
  • ¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    
  • 1/6 teaspoon kosher salt
    

Directions

1. For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 – 9 inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Spray with butter flavored cooking spray and dust lightly with cocoa powder.
   
2. In a heavy duty mixer, stir together the cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, kosher salt, and ginger until just combined. Then, with the mixer on the lowest setting, add the eggs, water, buttermilk, canola oil, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed until the batter is smooth. Divide the batter among the prepared cake pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool in pans about 15 minutes. Then move to wire racks and cool completely. Wrap each individual cake layer in saran wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight.
   
3. For the frosting: Pour the semisweet and bittersweet chocolate chips in a medium sized, heatproof bowl. Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once bubbles begin to form on the side of the pan, off the heat. Stir in the vanilla and salt. Pour the cream mixture on top of the chocolate chips. Let mixture sit for 3 minutes. Then stir the cream and chocolate together until the frosting is completely smooth. Place the frosting in the refrigerator to cool, stirring every 20 minutes, until it reaches a spreadable consistency, about 1 ½ hours.
   
4. Frosting the cake: Unwrap each chilled cake layer. For the bottom cake layers, use 1 cup of frosting per layer. The top layer and sides will require the remaining frosting. Decorate with additional sprinkles or colorful icing if desired. Yields 3 – 9 inch cake layers.

Print this post