Ina Garten’s Beatty’s Chocolate Cake

Oh, you are in for a total treat with this one. Ina Garten’s Beatty’s Chocolate Cake is legendary for a reason—it is hands-down one of the most moist, rich, and deeply chocolatey cakes you will ever bake. If you’ve never put hot coffee in a chocolate cake before, don’t worry, it won’t make the cake taste like a latte. Instead, the hot liquid blooms the cocoa powder, drawing out a massive amount of deep chocolate flavor while making the batter incredibly thin, which is the secret to that melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Ina Garten’s Beatty’s Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

Step-by-Step Directions

Step 1: Prep Your Pans Flawlessly: Preheat your oven to 350°F. Butter two 8 / inch round cake pans generously. Line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper, butter the top of the paper, and then dust the inside of the pans with flour. Tap and shake the pans upside down over the sink to get rid of any excess flour.

Step 2: Spin the Dry Ingredients: Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt straight into the bowl of your stand mixer. Pop the paddle attachment on and give it a quick spin on low speed just to get everything completely combined.

Step 3: Build the Batter: In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Keep your mixer on low speed and slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Once that’s in, pour in the hot coffee and mix just until it’s combined. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl so no dry pockets are hiding.

A Friendly Kitchen Note: Don’t panic when you look into the bowl! This batter is going to be incredibly thin and watery. That is completely normal and exactly how it’s supposed to look to get that ultra-moist crumb.

Step 4: The Big Bake and Cool: Divide the liquid batter evenly between your two prepared pans. Bake for 35 / to 40 / minutes, or until a toothpick poked right into the dead center comes out clean. Let the cakes rest and cool inside their pans for 30 / minutes, then carefully flip them out onto a wire cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

Step 5: Melt the Frosting Base: When the cakes are almost completely cool, it’s time for the buttercream. Chop up your semisweet chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water (or use a double boiler). Stir it occasionally until it’s completely melted, then take it off the heat and set it aside to cool down a bit.

Step 6: Whip the Butter: In your clean stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the 2 sticks of room-temperature butter on medium-high speed for a full 3 / minutes until it changes color to a light yellow and looks beautifully fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and egg yolk, and beat it for another 3 / minutes.

Step 7: Add the Sugar: Turn the mixer down to low speed and gradually add the sifted powdered sugar. Once it’s mostly mixed in and won’t fly everywhere, bump the speed up to medium and beat the mixture until it is perfectly smooth and creamy. Scrape down the bowl with your spatula a couple of times.

Step 8: Bring on the Flavor Inversion: In a tiny cup, dissolve your instant coffee granules in 2 / teaspoons of very hot tap water. Turn the mixer back to low speed and slowly stream in the dissolved coffee and the melted, cooled chocolate. Mix just until everything is completely blended, then frost your cooled cake layers immediately!