Chocolate Cake + Cream Cheese Frosting
Get a free recipe from Carrian Cheney’s new cookbook, Raised in the Kitchen! Gather your little ones to help you make this decadent chocolate cake.
Chocolate Cake
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Cool time: 2 hours
Total time: 2 hours 55 minutes
Yield: 16 slices
ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature (see note)
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (see note)
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below)
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine eggs, buttermilk, warm water, oil, and vanilla and mix on medium speed until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
3. Divide batter evenly between the three prepared pans. (Each pan will hold 3 heaping cups batter.) Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Cool in pans on wire racks 20 minutes, then turn out to cool completely.
5. If one cake is more rounded, use a serrated knife to level it flat. Put the crumb side down when frosting. Separate the frosting into 3 parts, leaving the third part bigger than the others as you need it to cover the whole cake.
6. Place a cake layer on a stand and top with chocolate frosting, spreading with an offset spatula; do not worry about the sides yet. Add another layer and do the same. Add the final layer and the rest of the frosting and smooth it down the sides and over the top, making whatever design you prefer.
Note: This recipe turns out best when all ingredients are the same temperature, hence the directions for eggs and buttermilk to be at room temperature. Ideally, set them out on the counter 30 to 40 minutes before prepping the recipe. If you forget, 10 minutes should be sufficient.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Time: 10 min Yield: about 6 cups
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 12 ounces cream cheese, softened
- Pinch of salt
- 1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 7 to 8 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 to 2 tablespoons whole milk, plus more if needed
Instructions
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer), beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Add pinch of salt, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and vanilla and mix on low until combined.
3. Once combined, increase speed and beat until smooth, adding milk a tablespoon at a time until mixture is spreadable.
Get more recipes from Carrian Cheney!
From the time her children were toddlers, family cooking blogger Carrian Cheney found creative ways to get her children interested in cooking, partly to teach them basic kitchen skills so they could be part of the solution when they were hungry and partly to instill in them a joy of creating and presenting delicious meals, as her own mother had taught her.
From food prep to clean-up, this unique cookbook guides the way through every step, including meal lists and easy-to-follow recipes, and features dollops of heartwarming family stories, insights, and kid-friendly food activities to keep young chefs focused on fun in the kitchen.
Raised in the Kitchen is a cookbook for parents and kids about much more than learning to love to cook. It's about bringing families together with cooking memories that will last a lifetime.