creamy, dreamy chocolate layer cake

A chocolate layer cake that is impossibly difficult to resist. In fact, that is the original name for this to-die-for cake, but no one really seems to know where the recipe is from. I just have a photocopied magazine page that might be at least twenty years old, perhaps from Woman's Day or Family Circle, which sounds a little peculiar for such a divine cake, but just trust me. I know it looks quite sweet, and while the recipe isn't unsweet, the lovely thing is that it's not excessively sweet. The recipe doesn't call for chocolate, but uses cocoa instead, and I think that helps. Lately, I have tended to ensure that I have plenty of dark chocolate on hand just for baking, but a recipe with cocoa is also more precise in my eyes. There are fewer quirks between brands of cocoa than chocolate, and that's ignoring the measurement of chocolate altogether...sometimes ounces, sometimes grams, it always seems to fluctuate depending on where the recipe originated from. I also added a shot of espresso, to enhance the overall chocolate factor, just in case. Frosting. I LOVE this frosting. It is absolutely fabulous. The best frosting recipe I know. It's essentially whipped cream with whipped cream cheese. Who doesn't love whipped cream? And cream cheese icing is right up there godliness, but I prefer chocolate icing overall, and this frosting recipe over chocolate icing. This just pillows and oozes over the cake; not too sweet, but just right. Last weekend, it was my niece's sixth birthday dinner, so I pounced at the opportunity to make this cake. My mother used to make it for birthdays of her friends, when I was small. Of course I loved the cake, but I liked the beater's too. Perhaps I should say licked. No, it's not the cutest cake for a child, but it's so impossibly chocolatey, and ridiculously rich, that no one can refuse. And besides, how much cake does a child eat? Ok, ok, I'm just joking, but her adult compadre's did devour our fair share. But can you blame us? But check out the hue of the two different cocoa's I used, one was a store-bough dutch-processed cocoa (the light cocoa), and the other was purchased at Calgary's Bernard Callebaut (darker). Curious isn't it? More often than I care to admit, I have added unsoftened butter into the mixer, and expected it to work itself out. Try to pull out the butter soon enough, at least an hour in advance, and slice the butter into little chunks. When I remember to follow this simple step, I breathe a huge sigh of relief, since it saves many attempts at slicing the butter with a knife in the mixing bowl... Never forget to grease a cake pan for a layer cake, unless of course you like fewer layers. But I try to think of greasing the pan as a nice way to moisturize in the dry season. Yes, it is impossible to resist, but it is also impossible to slice a small piece due to the layers. Oh darn! Creamy Dreamy Chocolate Layer Cake Adapted from Diane Mogelever Cake Ingredients: 3/4 boiling water 3/4 cup unsweetend cocoa powder 1 shot espresso 1 cup buttermilk 2 1/2 cups unsifted-all purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks)butter, softened and divided into smaller chunks 2 cups sugar 4 eggs 1 tsp vanilla Frosting Ingredients: 1 container (8 ounces) whipped cream cheese 2 cups whipping cream (heavy cream) 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 1/4 cup icing sugar (confectioners' sugar) chocolate curls for garnish 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (f). Grease and flour 3 9-inch-round layer-cake pans. 2. In an medium-sized bowl, pour boiling water and espresso shot over the cocoa powder to dissolve the cocoa. Whisk out the lumps. Add the buttermilk to cool the mixture. Set aside. 3. In another medium-size bowl, combine with a fork: flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 4. In an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat on medium speed - the softened butter (divided), and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. 5. Beat dry ingredients into butter mixture, alternating with cocoa mixture - beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Pour into the prepared pans, dividing the batter equally. 6. Bake approximately 25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire racks for at least 10 minutes. Then turn cakes out of pans onto the racks to cool completely. 7. Prepare the frosting: In an electric mixer, beat the container of whipped cream cheese on low to soften. Beat in 1/2 cup icing sugar until smooth. Add vanilla. Beat in another 3/4 cup icing sugar until smooth. Add 2 cups whipping cream and slowly increase the speed until high. Beat until stiff. 8. To make the chocolate curls use a vegetable peel on room temperature chocolate. Carefully slide onto the top of the cake. 9. To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread over one-third of the frosting with a spatula. Stack with another cake layer and repeat with another third of frosting. Repeat with the final layer, and the remaining frosting. Sprinkle over the chocolate curls. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
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