I love chocolate cake. I don’t care if it’s store-bought, from a box, or lovingly homemade…there’s just something about chocolate cake that gets me. Every year on my birthday growing up, I requested a Duncan Hines fudge cake with fudge frosting. Now that I’m the resident cake-baker, I love to try new recipes. I’m constantly experimenting, trying to find the perfect chocolate cake for any and every occasion. Here’s the current favourite – a triple chocolate monster with a little bit of vanilla frosting to even things out.

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The Every-Occasion Chocolate Cake

1 3/4 c all purpose flour
2 c sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 c oil
1 c milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp finely ground espresso
2 eggs
1 c brewed coffee

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease two nine-inch cake pans, 24 muffin cups, or a 9×12 pan.

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, espresso, baking powder, baking soda and a large pinch of salt. In measuring cup, add lemon juice to milk and let stand for approximately 5 minutes. Mixture will curdle – that’s okay! Whisk together eggs and oil, and stir into the dry ingredients. Add curdled milk and coffee, and mix to combine, just until ingredients are uniform. Batter will be thin, and may bubble a fair amount.

Divide batter evenly between pans, and bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean

Frosting:
1 cup butter
5 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
about 4 tablespoons milk
2/3 cup chocolate chips for middle layer

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, and mix well. Add the icing sugar about 1/2 cup at a time, and scrape down the bowl every cup or so. Add the milk a teaspoon at a time, until its smooth. Add more milk for thinner frosting, more icing sugar for thicker frosting.

Ganache:
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup butter
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a saucepan, heat the cream and butter until fully melted and just bubbling around the edges (not a full boil). Put the chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl, and pour the hot cream over top, whisking until the chocolate is fully melted. Let this cool until it thickens up a fair amount.

Assembly:
Trim the cake layers so the tops are flat (eat the excess). Spread a thick layer of frosting between the layers, sprinkle with chocolate chips. Set the second layer on top, and frost the whole thing with the remaining frosting. Put in the fridge to set.

Once the frosting has chilled, pour the ganache over the top of the cake. To get ‘artsy’ dribbles down the sides, pour into the centre of the cake, and keep pouring until the ganache cascades.