I’ve simply had chocolate cake on my mind for a while and I wanted one that felt a bit more festive or birthdaylike (frostings and cake decor makes things fancier). Here’s my thought on birthday cakes, a birthday cake can be any cake you love, it should be whatever cake that will make you happy on your day. Maybe next year on my actual birthday, I’ll skip chocolate entirely and make myself a fresh fruit cake with lots of ripe and sweet slices of mangoes or colorful berries. Today, it’s all about chocolate. It is always good to look for shortcuts and if I can find a way to use fewer dishes (less dishwashing), it’s a bonus. And this is where the blender steps in and why the admittedly unattractive name “Blender Cake” sits atop of this newsletter today. A few years ago, when I started to play around with oil-based cake batters (See sponge cake in Season), I noticed that if the liquid part of the cake batter is first emulsified in a high-performance blender (one of those blenders with a bit of extra horsepower), the cake develops a much nicer crumb texture. The extra bonus here is “one appliance to rule them all”. Don’t attempt to blitz the dry ingredients with the liquid ingredients in the blender, speaking from experience, it won’t work well. Now, if only I could make good buttercream in a blender quickly! As for the buttercream frosting that accompanies this cake, it’s got a hint of bourbon to go along with the dark rich notes of chocolate. To keep the frosting smooth, I like to add a little bit of honey or Lyle’s Golden Syrup, both of these contain fructose that will prevent sugar from crystallizing in the frosting, keep it silky, and avoid that gritty texture that can sometimes form. And for the final part, I like a little shimmer on cakes, gold sugar pearls get the job done here. If you like funfetti, use it. Make it YOUR cake! No reviews 2 ½ cups/350 g all-purpose flour ½ cup/50 g unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa 1 Tbsp baking powder ½ tsp fine sea salt 3 Tbsp+ 1 tsp/50 ml boiling water 3 ½ oz/100 g semisweet chocolate chips (70% cacao or greater) 1 ½ cups/300 g packed light or dark brown sugar 4 large eggs, at room temperature ½ cup/120 g sour cream 2 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder 2 tsp vanilla extract No reviews 1 ½ cups/180 g confectioner’s sugar 2 Tbsp runny honey or golden syrup ½ cup/50 g unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa ¼ cup/60 ml boiling water 8oz/255 g semisweet chocolate chips (70% cacao or greater) ¼ cup/60 g sour cream 1 Tbsp bourbon (optional) 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract 1 Tbsp gold sugar pearls (optional) Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
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