I've made quite a few chocolate cakes from scratch and this rates up there as one of the best(flourless chocolate cake is the best-I am a HUGE chocolate lover!)
I took others advice and used more unsweetened chocolate-more like 6 ounces(I used Ghirardelli-spend a little extra on a better quality chocolate-it makes a difference) and I only used 2 cups brown sugar- and also I used 1/2 cup sourcream and a 1/2 cup heavy cream instead of one full cup of sourcream. I baked in two 9inch pans for 43 minutes. I used buttercream fudge frosting from this site and it was soo yummy. Always make chocolate cake a day or two in advance because chocolate cake taste better with age-the great chocolate flavors come out.
I own my own bakery and I am always looking for a great chocolate cake recipe. I made this cake just to try it out to see if it was something that I would use for my customers in the bakery. The cake was too bitter, too dense and I found that it didn't have a good taste. The taste testers (my employees) have tasted good and bad cake and we were all in agreement that while it wasn't the worst cake, it wasn't good either. Sorry...I will try again, but I am not holding out hope.
This cake was excellent. I used triple the amount of chocolate as recommended. I didn't have unsweetened chocolate so I reduced the amount of sugar. I also used coffee instead of the boiling water which added a nice taste. I split the recipe in half and made one 9" cake and had enough batter left over to make 6 cupcakes. The cake was very fudgey and yet was not too heavy. It was also very moist. I served it with white chocolate mousse and strawberries and everyone loved it. I would definetly recommend this recipe.
Okay I think I've finally found the BEST chocolate cake recipe EVERRRR!! I increased the chocolate to 10 oz and reduced the sugar to 2 cups. This cake came out soooo thick and moist and fluffy. Don't be afraid of the caramel frosting--I was hesitant about it at first but I'm glad I made it because it tastes so so good (I did decrease the powdered sugar to 1 cup because we don't like overly sweet things). Try this cake!!!
This is a good dependable chocolate cake that doesn't require a lot of monkeying around with to make it so. I did use 4 ounces of chocolate rather than 3 but only because I used a Ghirardelli 4 ounce bar - since it was unsweetened I couldn't exactly eat the remaining ounce! It's kind of middle of the road in color; not too milk chocolatey light but neither is it deep dark blackish brown - it's just a nice chocolate brown with plenty of good chocolate taste perhaps in part because I used hot coffee rather than the boiling water which makes the chocolate bloom. It's very moist with a more sturdy compact crumb - in other words it's a little heavier than what you might contrast with that of a boxed cake mix. I was quite happy it. I baked it in two 9" layers filled it with chocolate ganache and frosted it with a marshmallow buttercream. Dare I say it almost tasted like a Hostess Cupcake? (Four stars rather than five only because there are a couple of other chocolate cake recipes on this site that would trump ANY other chocolate cake recipe)
AWESOME sums it up! It is a heavier textured cake with the best flavor! I am not normally a chocolate cake lover I made it for my husband. I can't leave it alone! I took the advice of putting in five squares of chocolate I wouldn't go any less. I didn't have all unsweetened chocolate so I used three semi-sweet and two unsweetened which worked perfect. I also used the Buttercream frosting found here instead of the Caramel Icing. I wouldn't change anything else! SPECTACULAR!!! Looks like no more cake mixes for me this is WELL worth the little bit of effort it took to make.:) Enjoy!
A)Instead of 3 eggs I used just 1 (it made the cake denser less cake-like and more brownie-like). B)I replaced 1 cup of the white flour with whole wheat pastry flour. C)I used fat free sour cream. D)I increased the chocolate to 5 squares. E)I used a bundt pan Also instead of the caramel frosting I made a cream cheese frosting. The cake is outstanding.
Absolutely FABULOUS chocolate cake recipe. I had been using the Hershey's chocolate cake recipe for a couple of years now but this one beat it out hands down. From now on this is the only chocolate cake recipe I'll use. I had 6 different people taste it and they were all amazed at how rich moist and delicious it was. It is also to be noted that I made this cake without eggs and it was STILL great. I replace the eggs with Ener-G Egg Replacer and it worked out perfect. Thanks so much for a great recipe.:)
I used this cake recipe for a large Groom's cake -it was completely gone while 1/3 of the white wedding cake remained. 100 taste testers can't be wrong!
