Isn't it interesting how so many people can make the same recipe with such different results? Also curious is how a submitted recipe is altered by some cooks and then given a bad review. Having said that, I made this just as written (half recipe) in a mini egg shape pan from Williams Sonoma (eight to the pan). SO good! Fragrant, dark, moist, luscious little dark chocolate cakes. I used "Hard Chocolate Glaze" (also fabulous) to dip them in, then made a bakery style creamy white frosting to decorate them. These were to die for! Tasted like an infinitely better version of Hostess cupcakes! In fact, I could easily see this made in a cupcake tin to duplicate them near exactly. I know I will definitely use this recipe (with the glaze) again--and again--and again. All around, an easy to mix cake that yields perfect results!
I originally gave this 4 stars but after making it again with another modification I am adding another star. Here's the trick: instead of water, heat up 2 c milk, add 2 heaping teaspoons of instant coffee and use that to dissolve the shortening. It makes a big difference by bringing out the chocolate flavor, rather than diluting it. Frosted with Caroline's Fudge Frosting from this site. Yum! Thanks!
Everyone loves this cake. I used this recipe exactly. I've made a variation of this before, where I substituted 1 cup of boiling water with 1 cup of milk and the 1/2 cup butter for 1/2 cup applesauce. I prefer the recipe with applesauce because the applesauce makes it more moist and it doesn't affect the taste at all. Less guilt too.
This cake was absolutely delectable! And black just as the name says. I made a couple of modifications: I used 1/3 a cup of canola oil and 1/3 of a cup of low-fat yogurt to cut back on fat and it was still incredibly moist. I also cut back the sugar to 1 1/2 cups. I made a glaze with 1 cup of chocolate chips 1 cup of whipping cream and 2 tsp of vanilla. There were raves all around when I served it. Thanks for a fantastic recipe that I'm planning to use very often!
I highly recommend this recipe. You can make it ahead and it stays moist. Freezes extremely well too. Much better result when mixed by hand. Big fav with both big and little kids!
Thanks for a great recipe Jeanie! As is my habit I substituted 2 cups strong coffee for the water and added 1t more salt and 2T sugar if you can believe it! I like my cakes a touch sweeter....But even without my modifications this is a wonderful recipe!
I thought this cake was great! It was dense yet very moist and black as the recipe title indicates. It bakes nicely too - quite level. I didn't have to level the cake at all. I used 2-9" round cake pans. As per a couple of readers suggestions I did use 2 cups of boiling water with 2 heaping teaspoons of instant decaf coffee. One problem I did have is that despite greasing and flouring the pans the cakes stuck. One came out nearly perfect and the other one stuck so badly that I couldn't salvage it. I halved the recipe (halves perfectly) and made one more cake. It stuck pretty badly too but I was able to salvage it and use it anyway. For slightly thicker cake layers I would use this recipe plus 1/2 of it. It would be great alone or dusted with cocoa or confectioner's sugar. I iced it with a fabulous chocolate fudge frusting. MMMMMMM!!! I will make this recipe again - definitely.
This is undoubtedly the best and easiest chocolate cake ever after reading reviews I decided to go with the original recipe and not change a thing! It's perfect and my fiance loves it! It's not too sweet despite 2 Cups of sugar and is deliciously moist! Try it you'll love it! Heather
giving this 4 stars for ease of preparation. Used butter flavor crisco had 1 cup of leftover coffee so used that for part of the water and added some espresso powder to boil with the water. I didn't even use my beaters just a wire wisk. I think the espresso powder added to the flavor of the chocolate and although I just used Hershey's powder it tasted like it was a more expensive chocolate. Made this into a bundt cake and baked @55 minutes in my oven. Made a small review 'muffin' and although it did not puff up on top this would be a good cake to make into a layer because it does bake even. Not over the top sweet and drizzled the bundt cake with some leftover cream cheese frosting when it was slightly warm. Used butter cooking spray for the pan and had no trouble with it sticking. It was gone in 8 hours but I found it did crumble a bit although it was moist. I would maybe throw in a tablespoon or two of applesauce. Maybe using oil instead of shortening would help the crumble problem.
I gave this cake one star because it came out looking like a cake. It was easy to prepare and assemble. There are a few problems though. Shortening starts exploding when bringing to a boil. Grease fire hazard: use caution. In addition; the cake comes out very dry and crumbly. Don't let the batter fool you into thinking the cake will be fudgey and gooey. I followed the recipe to the exact measurements and it turned out an extremely dry cake. Either is only meant for low altitude or is a bad recipe.
