After studying abroad at the University of Exeter in the Fall, going back to William and Mary’s campus at the start of 2020 from January to early March, and then transitioning to online classes for the rest of the semester, I have finally finished my strange junior year of college. I completed my last final exam in Environmental Geology for the Spring semester this past Wednesday morning. I was not exactly happy to have to wake up early to take it at 9:00 a.m., after waking up around 10:00 a.m. at the earliest for the past couple months. Luckily, that last exam in Geology and the rest of my final exams and papers went well, so to celebrate, I made a cake. It’s a cake that combines two of my family’s favorite things: chocolate and coffee. The chocolate cake portion of this dessert is made from a recipe that I found online last year, after struggling to make a good cake by following a recipe from my Mary Berry cookbook, but the coffee frosting comes from the “British Queen of Baking’s” recipe for coffee cupcakes. The cake mixture is VERY liquidy, and it makes A LOT of cake. I put the mixture into two round 9 inch pans and baked them at 350°F for 35 minutes, and oh boy did they rise.
A few notes that I have for this recipe:
Sift in your dry ingredients when adding them to a bowl to get rid of chunks. This is something you should always do when baking because it helps to evenly combine the dry ingredients.
Since the mixture is mostly liquid, be careful when pouring it into pans, whether you are using cake pans or making cupcakes, and when moving the pans into the oven.
Double the frosting recipe that I’ve included below in order to have enough for the large chocolate cake.
Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour, or (plain flour), (8 oz | 227 g)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, (2.6 oz | 75 g) or regular Hershey's cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, (or bi-carb soda)
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups white granulated sugar, (14 oz | 410 g)
2 large eggs
1 cup milk, (250 ml)
1/2 cup vegetable oil, (125 ml)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water (250 ml)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C) standard or 320°F (160°C) fan/convection.
Lightly grease 2 x 9-inch (22cm) round cake pans with butter. Line base with parchment paper.
Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Whisk in sugar, then add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Whisk well to combine until lump free, about 30 seconds.
Pour boiling water into batter, mixing well. Cake batter is thin in consistency.
Pour batter into cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely before frosting.
Coffee Frosting
Ingredients:
2 tsp instant coffee granules
2 tsp boiling water
7 tbsp butter, at room temperature
1 ¾ cups confectioners’ sugar
Method:
Put the coffee granules and boiling water into a large bowl and stir until smooth. Add the butter, sift in the confectioners’ sugar, and stir until smooth and free of streaks.
Let me know if you try this chocolate cake with coffee frosting, or if there are any specific recipes that you think I should try next!
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