| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 2 hr |
| Prep: | 25 min |
| Cook: | 1 hr 35 min |
| Yield: | 8 to 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups good cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/3 cups light brown sugar, packed
- 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
- 4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup brewed coffee
- Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, recipe follows
- 1 pound bittersweet chocolate
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
- 3/4 cup egg whites (4 to 5 extra-large eggs), at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 pounds unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 teaspoons instant espresso powder, dissolved in 1 1/2 teaspoons water
- 3 tablespoons dark rum, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Butter 1 (4 by 3-inch) cake pan, 1 (6 by 3-inch) cake pan and 1 (8 by 3-inch) cake pan. Line the bottoms with parchment paper, and butter and flour the pans.
- Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars on high speed until light, approximately 5 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Combine the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee. On low speed, add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture alternately in thirds, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix the batter only until blended.
- Divide the batter between the 3 pans and smooth the tops with a spatula. Bake on the middle rack of the oven as follows: for the 4-inch pan 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean; for the 6-inch pan 70 to 75 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean; and for the 8-inch pan 85 to 90 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans for 10 minutes each on a cooling rack, carefully remove from the pans and allow to finish cooling.
- Place the 8-inch cake on a serving plate, flat side up. Frost the top of that layer with buttercream. Place the 6-inch cake in the center of the top of the 8-inch cake, flat-side up, and frost the top and sides. Place the 4-inch cake in the center of the top of the 6-inch cake, flat side down. Frost the top and sides of that layer with buttercream. Spread any remaining buttercream over the cake evenly.
- Chop the chocolates and place them in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan simmering water. Stir until melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.
- Mix the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Place the bowl of egg whites over the pan of simmering water and heat the egg whites until they are warm to the touch, about 5 minutes. Return the bowl to the electric mixer and whisk on high speed for 5 minutes, or until the meringue is cool and holds a stiff peak.
- Add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, while beating on medium speed. Scrape down the bowl, add the melted chocolate, vanilla, espresso, and rum, if using, and mix for 1 minute or until the chocolate is completely blended in. If the buttercream seems very soft, allow it to cool, and beat it again.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 10 servings |
| Calories | 1767 |
| Total Fat | 117 g |
| Saturated Fat | 70 g |
| Carbohydrates | 184 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 12 g |
| Sugar | 133 g |
| Protein | 19 g |
| Cholesterol | 318 mg |
| Sodium | 789 mg |
Reviews
does anybody know the weight measurement for the 3 1/2 cups of flour?
I think the cake is excellent but I wouldn’t bother with the buttercream. It’s very good but I don’t think it’s worth the cost or time to make it unless you’re going to add WAY more liqueur or only use best quality cocoa.
Is it ok if I use salted butter for the cake?
This is an awesome cake! Made it as a three layer cake, had plenty of batter with just a little left over. The buttercream frosting was excellent! Did not put the espresso into the icing. Had a lot of icing left over so next time I will halve the recipe, but the icing is also good on graham crackers
I baked this cake and loved it. Really great chocolate flavor. The icing is good but next time I might cut down the coffee in the icing. It kind of overpowered the chocolate flavor. But this is my new favorite chocolate cake… yum….
It’s the best chocolate cake ever! I have made it a few times already. I think it’s a great recipe for a large gathering. However, if you want to make it for a small crowd, you’d probably want to cut down the recipe in half or instead try Ina’s Beatty’s Chocolate Cake recipe for the cake and use this recipe for the frosting. I make a few changes to the Beatty’s Chocolate Cake’s recipe. First, I cut down the amount of freshly brewed coffee from 1 cup to only 1/4 cup and replace it with 3/4 cup of reduced fat sour cream. Adding less coffee makes the cake less bitter and the sour cream makes it really moist & delicious. I would recommend using the Dutch cocoa powder in this recipe. I know it’s about 3 times the cost of the regular cocoa powder, but it’s a good investment and well worth it. I love the chocolate buttercream frosting. It’s divine, but I also cut it down in half since it makes a lot of frosting.
This cake and icing is very good. The cake can get dry but is an easy fix with some coffee simple syrup. Overall 5 STARS!!!!!!!!!! icing is probably my favorite a must try
This cake was good. I followed the recipe exactly and it was moist. It makes a huge cake(i think it weighed 10lbs, so you really need lots of people around to eat it. It’s very filling. My daughter requests it for her birthday.
I have made this cake almost a dozen times. I actually made it for a friend’s wedding. People ask me to make it for them all the time! They absolutely love it. It is not dry and it’s not overkill on the chocolate either. I used the frosting recipe for the wedding cake and used milk chocolate instead of semi-sweet. But if I make it for my kids or a home gathering, I use homemade whipped cream frosting. YUM! I love everything Ina makes!
This is a very good cake. However, because I didnt want to do the tiered cake, I used two standard 8 inch rounds. I made the mistake of overfilling them, it was a mess. Just so you will know ahead do not fill over 2/3 or 3/4 full if using the standard round cake pans. There will be left over batter.
The cake is dense and moist, very chocolatety.
The cake is dense and moist, very chocolatety.