Ina Garten’s Beatty’s Chocolate Cake
ADVERTISEMENT
I’d been eyeing this cake for ages, waiting for the right excuse to make it. When a dear chocolate-obsessed friend’s birthday rolled around, I knew it was time. This recipe has had a cult following online for years—first beloved by Ina Garten, who shared it in her 2006 cookbook, passed down from her friend Michael’s grandmother, Beatty. Since then, it’s become the go-to chocolate cake for food lovers everywhere. Including me.
ADVERTISEMENT
I’ve baked a lot of chocolate cakes. But this one? It might just be the best I’ve ever made. So good, I whipped it up again the next weekend for no occasion at all—just because everyone deserves cake on an ordinary Sunday.
ADVERTISEMENT
🧁 Ingredients
| Cake Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 1 ¾ cups |
| Granulated sugar | 2 cups |
| Cocoa powder | ¾ cup |
| Baking soda | 2 teaspoons |
| Baking powder | 1 teaspoon |
| Kosher salt | 1 teaspoon |
| Buttermilk, shaken | 1 cup |
| Vegetable oil | ½ cup |
| Large eggs, room temp | 2 |
| Pure vanilla extract | 1 teaspoon |
| Freshly brewed hot coffee | 1 cup |
| Chocolate Buttercream Frosting | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Semisweet chocolate, chopped | 6 oz |
| Unsalted butter, room temp | 1 cup (2 sticks) |
| Egg yolk, room temp | 1 |
| Pure vanilla extract | 1 teaspoon |
| Powdered sugar, sifted | 1 ½ cups |
| Instant coffee granules (e.g. Nescafe) | 1 tablespoon |
👩🍳 Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch round pans with butter, line bottoms with parchment, butter again, and flour lightly.
- In a stand mixer bowl, sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low with paddle attachment to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
- With mixer on low, slowly pour wet mixture into dry. Add hot coffee and mix just until combined, scraping down as needed.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake 35–40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool in pans for 30 minutes, then invert onto racks to cool completely.
Frosting:
- Melt chocolate over a double boiler; stir until smooth and let cool slightly.
- Beat butter in mixer on medium-high for 3 minutes until pale and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg yolk, and beat another 3 minutes.
- Turn to low speed and slowly add powdered sugar. Once incorporated, beat on medium until silky and smooth.
- Dissolve coffee granules in 2 teaspoons hot water. With mixer on low, add coffee and melted chocolate. Mix until fully blended.
- Frost cooled cakes generously. Slice. Serve. Swoon.
