Chocolate Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I'm quite a horrible procrastinator. I remember almost a year ago, seeing similar entries on Lena, Zoe and Joyce's blogs, and then realizing that they were doing a small bake-along where all three of them would try the same recipe and post them on the same day. This Bake-Along was very useful for people like me, because I am usually hesitant to try new recipes, but with three different opinions from three bakers saying that X recipe is good, I definitely felt more confident in attempting those recipes.

And I'm pretty sure that this was the experience of many other home bakers as well, who have gradually joined in the bake-along. As for me, well, I'm sure that all three hosts are quite sick of seeing my comments saying that 'I hope to join for the next bake-along', but when the next one comes along, I never do join. So....what better time to join than on their first year anniversary? :]

Only one slice was left for the 'photoshoot'

So here's my virgin entry to Bake-Along on their first anniversary and I really hope that I'll be punctual with the upcoming few, because I do love the upcoming ones - crumble and scones, a few of my favorite things to eat! And of course, layered cakes, which is the reason why I'm joining this time. iI love to eat layered cakes, because I love how creative you can get with just mixing and matching the layers and filling, and also because layered cakes are usually celebration cakes, my favorite type of cake to eat :]

So for this chocolate cake, I remember digging it from this treasure trove of chocolate cake recipes I found on the Bon Appétit website, 10 years of chocolate cakes, BUT the problem is that I can't exactly recall which chocolate cake recipe from Bon Appétit actually inspired this recipe, but I'm thinking it should be somewhat similar to this one. In any case, the ingredients and method has been so modified that it doesn't matter. And if you do happen to click on the first link, notice that you will only see ten pictures of chocolate cakes with the year 2000 to 2010 underneath each, but do click on the pictures because that will lead you onto even MORE chocolate cake recipes for that year.

I've been slowly baking my way through the recipes, and the reason why I chose this one below is because it was simple (only one-bowl required) and it didn't require the use of melted chocolate, buttermilk or sour cream, all of which I didn't have. It only requires pantry staples like cocoa powder and milk, which is fantastic for times when you have a chocolate cake craving.

Look at those tight crumbs! YUMMY :]

 

One-bowl Chocolate Cake
Adapted from Bon Appétit
Makes a 6"/15cm cake

For the cake:
120g castor sugar
125g all-purpose flour
35g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
120ml milk
55g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg

120g boiling water
2 tsp espresso or coffee powder

For the cream cheese frosting:
120g cream cheese
55g butter
85g powdered/icing sugar

Method:

1. In a cup or bowl, add the coffee powder into the boiling water. Allow it to steep while preparing the other ingredients.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. To that, add in the salt and sugar. 
3. Then, add in your 'wet ingredients', the melted butter, vanilla, milk, egg and the cup of coffee from step 1. Mix together all the ingredients until no visible lumps remain. Pour the batter into a lined or greased 6-inch pan, or a cupcake pan with 8 cupcake liners.
4. Bake at 160°C for about 30 minutes for the cake, or 20 minutes for the cupcakes. An inserted skewer should come out with almost clean with a few crumbs. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before removing to cool on a cooling rack. You have to wait until the cake is completely cooled before attempting to slice it into two layers.
5. In the meantime, prepare the cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese and butter should be at room temperature, but should not be too soft. I find that a good estimate is to remove them from the fridge for about 15 minutes before making the frosting. In a mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese and butter with a handheld or stand mixer, or with a wooden spoon. The mixture should appear homogenous in color (butter is slightly yellow and cream cheese is off-white, so these colors should be well-combined together) and once it appears light and fluffy, sift in the icing sugar, making sure to cream well, until all the sugar has been incorporated. If the cream cheese frosting is too 'soft', store it in the fridge while preparing the cake layers.
6. Once the cake is completely cooled, slice it into half with a serrated knife. Add a thin layer of cream cheese frosting on one side of the layer, before sandwicing the two layers together. Add another layer of frosting on the top and sides of the cake, and refrigerate until firm. The recipe above gives you enough frosting for the 6" inch, but only for a very thin layer of frosting, so if you're a frosting monster and have a sweet tooth, I'd recommend doubling the frosting recipe for a thicker layer all around. Bon Appétit! 

Janine's jots: 

• Taste: The cocoa powder features very prominently here, so be sure to use good quality cocoa powder, and please don't skimp on the coffee because it does bring the chocolatey-ness up a notch. Trust me.
• Texture: The cake is moist, and doesn't have overly tender crumbs, which is good in a cake which you want to cut into layers.
• Serving size: Enough Since it's only a 6" cake, it can only feed about 8 persons, assuming you have a tiny slice each.
• Modifications: None! Enough have been made!
• Storage: If unfrosted, the cake freezes very well, for almost a month. If frosted, keep in the refrigerator for not more than one to two weeks because the cake will lose its moistness after that.
• Would I make this again?: Maybe...not because it's not a good cake, but there's so many other chocolate cake recipes to try! This will definitely be one to-go-to cake, because it's very simple to make, and you will always have the ingredients handy!

So join in for the bake-along! :]