Simple Chocolate Cake with Ganache Frosting
Making a good cake is not only fun, but can be very rewarding. Ditch the boxes of chemical-laden cake mixes and conquer the simplicity of a homemade cake.
Trust me, once you get the hang of making your own cakes from scratch, the box cake will be a minor blip in your culinary history.
A few hints to make this process easier: First gather all of your ingredients. Measure everything and make sure that all your supplies and tools are near. Secondly, prepare your pans and heat your oven. I think you will find that a fresh cake, made with love with ingredients from your kitchen will taste far superior to anything that comes out of a box, and will be just as simple.
Enjoy!
Print This RecipeSimple Chocolate Cake With Ganache Frosting
1 3/4 cups flour 1 cup cocoa powder (Dutch processed) 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup (one and a half sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 1 1/3 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 cup buttermilk 1/2 cup sour creamPrepare two 8-inch round cake pans by lining with parchment paper and lightly buttering, then dusting with flour. Tap out excess flour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a mixing bowl sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In another bowl combine the buttermilk and sour cream.
Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. You can do this by using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or a hand mixer. Add eggs one at a time, making sure to incorporate each egg before adding the next. Stop mixing and scrape down the bowl.
With the mixer on LOW add half of the flour mixture, when slightly combined add half of the buttermilk mixture. Add the remaining flour, following with the buttermilk. Mix until just combined. Before pouring batter into prepared pans, mix by hand to assure that all ingredients are incorporated.
Pour batter into prepared pans and smooth the tops with off-set spatula. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool cake prior to frosting.
Ganache Frosting
2 cups heavy cream 2 cups chopped chocolateIn a heavy saucepan, boil heavy cream. Turn off the heat. Add chopped chocolate pieces and let it rest until melted. Use a rubber spatula to stir the mixture until all the pieces are melted. Strain chocolate mixture into a clean dry bowl through a mesh strainer to assure that ganache will be smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.
When you are ready to frost your cake whip ganache until it becomes fluffy. Frost your cake and ENJOY!!!
Andrea Charroin was a trained baker and pastry chef in San Francisco before she and her family moved to Redding nine years ago. After falling in love with Redding’s downtown, Andrea and husband Westley opened a little pastry shop, Rene-Joule Patisserie, across from the Cascade Theatre. For the three years Rene-Joule was in business, it was renowned for making everything from scratch, using the best ingredients and keeping with a seasonal menu. To this day, Andrea is asked about her Marathon Bars, Orange Twists and sourdough bread.
Copyright 2008 Andrea R. Charroin. Visit my blog at bakerslove.typepad.com
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What kind of chocolate in the ganache? Semi-sweet? Milk?
Yeah! A real cake... I can't wait to try this. Now for a silly question: The "dutch processed cocoa" is the kind we all buy in the can with the multi-national corporation's name on the front? Or are you willing to name the brand you use?
Until Andrea - one of the world's busiest women - has a chance to answer, I'll take a swing at both questions:
1. regarding what kind of chocolate, I'm guessing that either semisweet or bittersweet would be best. (And fyi, the higher the cocoa butter content, the more firm the ganache, which, for frosting, is what you want.) Milk chocolate is pretty soft and - well, milky - and might not produce the best results.
2. regarding the Dutch processed cocoa powder, knowing what an ingredient purist Andrea is, I'm guessing she uses REAL Dutch processed cocoa. It comes in many brands. For example, I have a box (think I found it for a song at Grocery Outlet or Ross' Dress for Less or TJ Maxx even) of Rademaker Dutch processed cocoa, produced in - yep - Holland. But you know what? Don't tell Andrea I told you this, but if you happen to have, say, a brown can of Hershey's Cocoa powder hanging around, I'd see no shame in using it.
Thanks to both you and Andrea for answering. Since I am just not a shopper, I would never have thought of any of the three stores you suggested for the D-P cocoa. I thought Ross and TJ Maxx were clothing stores and nothing more and have never been in either one. I keep promising myself that I'll hit the Grocery Outlet when I'm in Redding, but so far have never made it. Mayber next time . . . We lived in Alaska for many years, and I became so accustomed to ordering from catalogues that I am completely out of the habit of shopping in stores. We buy D-P cocoa from King Arthur Flour Bakers catalogue for the most part. I'll have to mend my ways.
I'm not totally sure, but this doesn't entirely make sense.
All I know is that a higher cocoa butter percentage lowers the viscosity of the chocolate. Couverture, which is used to coat candies, has a very high cocoa butter content which allows the coating to go on thinly. Chocolate chips, on the other hand, have a very low cocoa butter content, which is what allows them to hold their shape during baking and not melt all over your cookies.
So if the chocolate is thinner with more cocoa butter, wouldn't it follow that the ganache would be thinner, too? I don't really know how cocoa butter works in emulsion with other ingredients, so I'm not sure if it's the same as pure chocolate, but if it is then you would want a lower cocoa butter content for a thicker ganache.
it appears that you left out the time to incorporate the vanilla extract. I have this cake cooling now, and hope it still tastes good with out the vanilla...
Thanks for the great questions Stacia and ESC, and Doni for giving such perfect advice.
As for the chocolate in the ganache, Doni hit it.
With the cocoa powder, I will add to Donis sugguestion, which is spot on. I prefer Dutch-processed. Dutch-processed cocoa powder is treated to neutralize the natural occuring acids that are present in cocoa. D-P cocoa has a lighter, more delicate flavor. The traditional brown box has more of a bitter flavor. It really boils down to a personal choice, I find that the D-P cocoa powder gives my baked goodies more of a traditional European flavor, which I favor. Both cocoas will work fine. Use what you have, and next time when you are shopping for cocoa, try something different.
Good luck baking!
Does the frosted cake need to be refrigerated to keep the frosting from melting, or can it be left out for a few hours? By the way, I made the cherry almond scones and they were fantastic.
This sounds really good, will have to try it soon!
Oh, Andrea! This looks so good!
Chocolate Ganache Cake!!!...thank you thank you thank you....
mouth is watering
I'm going to have to try that one this weekend i think!
Andrea: You are the best, so I am going to pick your brain a bit more. Do you use "cake flour" for this, or just regular AP flour? I have never purchased cake flour, but have wondered if it really makes a difference. Inquiring minds want to know! (btw: I bought buttermilk and sour cream today so I can make this cake for a birthday this weekend.) You are one in a million - thanks so much!
Andrea: I made the chocolate cake the other night for company. It was dry
even though I baked it for only 20 min.
The recipe listed just brown sugar, but the instructions say to cream the
butter and sugars.....
Does it have granulated sugar also???
I made homemade vanilla bean ice cream with it, so it was still good
Your recipes are great. My favorite gift now is your nut bar recipe baked in a
new half sheet pan, uncut, covered with saran and tied with a ribbon. Better than
jewelry!
MM
I am so glad you are enjoying the recipes! You are right, nut bars are better than jewelry! Love it!
Yes, you should only be using brown sugar in my cake recipie, sorry for the oversight in my editing. Not to sure why your cake turned out dry, many factors to consider such as could your oven be running hot? What type of pan did you use? I am glad that the vanilla bean ice cream saved the day, that sounds fantastic!
Dear Ms. Charroin,
You are busy with two boys...wow! Your recipe looked do-able, so I started about 11 p.m. At about 11:15, after having studied, preheated the oven (I am at a house that has unpredictable oven temperatures, no rubber spatula (and certainly no off-set spatula for the frosting...one will make do) and an electric mixer that ONLY runs at high speed.
So covered with cocoa powder, I read, add "sugars..."
Sugars?
There was only one kind of sugar in the recipe. Ok, so I leave one out whatever the other was and hope for the best...
Another ingredient listed is vanilla. Hmm. But it is never mentioned in the recipe directions and one doesn't necessarily re-read the ingredient list, but realized at the end, after all the VERY thick batter (would a half teaspoon of vanilla have made it a pourable batter? I think not) was in my 60-year old cake pans (that had not been used, in, I bet 25 years) , that my sous chef and I realized we'd forgotten completely about the vanilla. Life is short, we left out the vanilla, so I added it to my own ganache concoction.
It's frosted -- 12 hours later and looks good if the ganache doesn't drip down the sides before we get to eat it later.
I guess because you are a trained pastry chef, the vanilla instruction doesn't really NEED to be in a recipe, but for those of us who follow recipes to the letter, it would have been helpful. Maybe ALL your readers know how to do this. Next time...
Anyway, thanks for the fun.
PSmith
Pat, thank you for the nice note. I did notice that I wrote, sugars in the recipe. Not sure why I added the plural other than so many of my recipes use both white and brown sugar. As for the vanilla. My goodness what an oversight! I am sorry for that! I must have had vanilla on my brain, but failed to include it on the ingredient list. I wrote this recipe a few years ago, and hope that my proof reading skills have improved! Thanks again and I hope your cake was delicious!