This cake is to die for.  Well, not really. I do not advocate death for chocolate, but it is seriously scrumptious.  I made it for church last week, and it was gone in about 2 minutes.  The kids got mad because I only gave them half slices — we needed to save some for the adults too!  haha.  If you want to impress, I highly recommend making this cake.  It may win you a husband… or end a fight between friends…  or promote world peace.  Okay, so that is a little bit much, but seriously, just make this cake.  Even if it looks messy (like mine), people will forgive you once they taste it!

And in case you wanted to know where I found it… Dell’s Blog.  That’s right, Dell, from Private Practice.  Way back in season 1 he kept making these cakes for Naomi, and then the put the recipes in his “blog” on the ABC website.  Random, but amazing cakes.  And read his instructions, they are pretty funny, if you follow the show.

Holy Mother of Chocolate Cake

Cake:

• 3 ounces semisweet Chocolate
• 1 1/2 cups hot brewed Coffee
• 3 cups Sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 3/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons Salt
• 3 large Eggs
• 3/4 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 1/2 cups Buttermilk
• 3/4 teaspoon Vanilla

Frosting:

• 1 pound semisweet Chocolate
• 1 cup heavy Cream
• 2 tablespoons Sugar
• 2 tablespoons light Corn Syrup
• 1/4 cup unsalted Butter

Supplies:

• Two 10″ by 2″ round cake pans (9″ x 2″ worked)
• Wax paper
• Mixer

For the layers:

Preheat oven to 300°F.  Grease those pans, line with wax paper, grease again, and put in a bit of cocoa powder (so it doesn’t stick).  Finely chop the chocolate.  Then mix the chocolate with the hot coffee. Stir until smooth.

In a large bowl, sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt (if you do not sift, you may end up with clumps of baking soda, and that’s nasty). In another large bowl (I used my stand mixer for this part, and then added everything else to the mixer bowl as necessary), beat the eggs for about 3 minutes.  Then, slowly add the oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to the eggs, beating until it’s all combined really well. Add the sugar mixture and beat (on medium speed). Finally, divide the batter between your pans and bake them in the middle of your oven for about 65 minutes.

Cool the layers completely in their pans.  Run a thin knife around the edges of pans and invert the layers (mine were so moist that they just came right out, no knife necessary).  Carefully remove the wax paper and cool the layers completely.  I placed them on foil covered (to make flat) drying racks in the freezer.  This sped up the process, and made the frosting really easy!

For the frosting:

Finely chop the chocolate.   In a saucepan, bring the cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until the sugar is dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate, whisking it until it’s all melted.  Now would be the time to whisk in that butter until smooth.  Put the frosting in a bowl and allow to cool, stirring occasionally.  Spread the frosting between your cake layers, over the top and around the sides.  Add little sprinkles if you so desire.  We used “chocolate paradise crunch,” as chosen & sprinkled on by my Matt!

Final Notes:  The icing is incredibly runny.  I just realized that I only used half of the requested amount of chocolate (8 oz) for the frosting…. that may be why it was so runny.  One pound of chocolate is 2 boxes of baking chocolate — at like $5 each, that gets expensive! Oh well, my runny frosting was still chocolately and delicious!