Chocolate snack cake

Sometimes, all you need is chocolate.  At least, all you want is chocolate!  Once again, it's time to celebrate chocolate - one of my greatest loves - in this month of February and ahead of Valentine's day in a few days.  

So for no more necessary reason beyond my love of chocolate and for making, eating, and sharing chocolate cake, I'd like to present this simple chocolate snack cake that's good for any occasion or for just any ordinary day.

I have certainly baked many a chocolate cake and generally enjoy them all.  For an excuse to keep making chocolate cake throughout the year(s), I'm always happy to try a new twist.  In this case, I was captivated (and immediately motivated) by Now, Forager's chocolate sprinkle snack cake; her photographer is stunning and one look at her gorgeous cake had me itching to make one of my own!  It's simple, classic and just a happy cake to bake - and eat - any time of year. 

This cake is familiar in its lineup of ingredients - cocoa powder and coffee for chocolate flavor, sour cream and oil for moisture.  An interesting note on the frosting - this dark chocolate frosting has a relatively small amount of powdered sugar in it relative to most buttercream frosting recipes.  I actually worried it might be a bit too little but it works, which opened my eyes to new possibilities.  The smaller amount of powdered sugar makes for a creamier, silkier frosting where you can really taste the chocolate.  That is definitely a good thing. 

Sprinkles are optional, or maybe not.  I know that colorful sprinkles always makes me smile - the hard part is deciding which sprinkles to use!  My family and I are also partial to chocolate sprinkles on our chocolate cake.  But whether you like it plain or bespeckled with sprinkle confetti, you won't regret this chocolate interlude!

Chocolate Heaven in a cupcake

I realize it's not exactly a novelty for me to be here, ranting and raving about chocolate cake.  I mean, it was just a few months ago when I was swooning over those amazing ultimate chocolate cupcakes.  I can only assure you that I'm always sincere!

While I do like to "play the field" when it comes to chocolate cakes/cupcakes (and chocolate desserts in general), I have a lot of room in my heart to love a lot of recipes!  This gets proven again and again as I eat and discover all the wonderful chocolate cake renditions out there.  It's all about diversity and mixing things up.

So today, let me add another chocolate cupcake love affair to my list.  In a roundabout way, these cupcakes come by way of Savannah, Georgia.  You see...my family and I went to Charleston, S.C., recently on vacation.  During that trip, we drove to Savannah one day.  Aside from wanting to see the lovely city, I really wanted to visit Back in the Day Bakery.  I am so happy we made the pilgrimage (particularly as I learned that they would be closed the following week for summer vacation)!  The place was as charming as I expected and the people might well have been sweeter than the treats.

While we were there, we tasted these mind-blowing Chocolate Heaven cupcakes.  We tried one and went right back for another!  They were amazingly moist, with a super fluffy, tender crumb.  The cupcakes packed some wonderful chocolate flavor and somehow the cap of chocolate sprinkles on top of the creamy frosting was just right. I fell hard for these chocolate cupcakes.

The amazing Chocolate Heaven cupcake at Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah, Georgia

We didn't make it to the bakery that day until early afternoon.  By then, and given the fact that August is a slow month for Savannah, there wasn't a ton to choose from and I can only say that I'm so grateful there were still some of these chocolate cupcakes in the case!  Chocolate Heaven, indeed!  I wish we'd had time and space to try more of their treats but we'd just eaten lunch in Hilton Head, had plans to visit Leopold's next for ice cream, and had dinner reservations.  To say that I'd want to go back to Savannah just to have more food from Back in the Day Bakery is not an exaggeration. Hopefully, someday...

In the meantime, you know what I love to do...try to recreate something wonderful I ate on vacation, back home!  Since one of the lovely women working at the bakery told me these cupcakes were a relatively new addition, I didn't have high hopes of finding the recipe...until I looked and realized there is a Chocolate Heaven cake recipe in the first cookbook!!  Bingo!  I realized this would take me pretty close to what we enjoyed in Savannah so I took the cake recipe, reduced it down from a 3-layer cake, and turned out some cupcakes!

So how did my homemade version compare to the ones at the bakery?  The good news is they taste very much alike.  I realized that to make a good old-fashioned bake, it takes good-quality ingredients, time and love in the way of patience in the process.  Here specifically, I also think sour cream is one of the "secrets" as well as really good chocolate in the form of Scharffen Berger, and coffee.  

Not surprisingly, the ones at the bakery were superior.  While the home version were moist, the bakery cupcake was fluffier, with more of an open crumb.  My cupcakes baked up with slightly rounded tops while the bakery's were flat, making a great base for an even and generous layer of frosting.  I skimped in comparison when it came to frosting on my cupcakes but for all that, these cupcakes still transport you to heaven for a few moments while you're devouring them.  I would surely love to eat them again and again!

Don't skip the chocolate sprinkles on top of these cupcakes because for some reason, they are just so right here!  They somehow reinforce the whole chocolate experience. 

Vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting

Whenever I make cupcakes, I realize why they've remained so popular. Like donuts, they are such cheerful little things!  They conjure up bake sales and children's birthday parties. They're a forum for colorful sprinkles and other fun embellishments and decorations.  It's a personal mini cake just for you, and you can have more than one if you want to - it's hard not to love all that!

So maybe I should make cupcakes more often.  Right now, I'm "auditioning" this latest batch of vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting for my son's birthday next month.  He's turning 12!  That's amazing because it seems like only yesterday when I was carrying him around in a baby carrier and tucking a blanket around him in his car seat.  Now, that baby is growing more and more independent and I can almost see clues of the adult he's going to become.  

Everyone's birthday is special, and I think that's especially the case when it comes to kids.  We're always trying to find some extra little ways to show our love, especially on their big day.  For me, food is a part of that.  Now, to be honest, my son would likely choose pizza and a classic store-bought ice cream cake for his day. I'm totally okay with that (those being things I love best as a kid, too)...but that doesn't stop me from making a little something extra - it might be a cake or cupcakes, something that I can put my imprint on and personalize.

So while I've got a lot of things in the archives I can make already, I thought it was a good time to audition another cupcake recipe.  This is a recipe from Jessica Seinfeld's new book, Food Swings; the cupcakes sounded easy to make and lovely to eat. Verdict: they passed their audition with flying colors!  

The vanilla cupcakes are rich in flavor, moist and tender, yet firm enough that you can eat with your hands without them falling apart.  The frosting is smooth and creamy, full of chocolate flavor.  I used to say I'm not a big frosting person but I've had to re-evaluate that claim because I'm not so sure it's true anymore - at least not when it comes to chocolate frosting! 

My son is certainly a frosting person and he was readily licking this frosting off! These cupcakes go down easy.  I know I often say that about desserts I like but it's really true and the best way I can think of to describe it sometimes.  So the upcoming birthday boy was a fan and so was everyone else eating it.  If you have a birthday coming up and you're looking for a good cupcake recipe to make - one that's great tasting and uncomplicated, I can say these are an excellent choice.

As my son was devouring the last of these cupcakes, he asked me if I'd make them again soon.  You know what?  He just might see them again next month!

Celebrating with Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes

These cupcakes!  Oh boy...I could say so much about them but basically, they are just ridiculously good!  Cooks Illustrated calls them "ultimate chocolate cupcakes with ganache filling" and I have to agree...they deserve "ultimate" status.  They are really something else!

Because take a look inside...these intensely-chocolate cupcakes not only feature a sturdy, dark, chocolate cupcake base, they have a dollop of chocolate ganache filling baked within them!  Finished with a top-hat of rich chocolate frosting, it is an ultimate chocolate cupcake experience.  

There are not many things I love more than chocolate and I'm pretty picky when it comes to chocolate treats, and I can tell you I was highly impressed and totally smitten with these.  They also brought back a good personal memory, of chocolate cupcakes my husband used to get for us at a bakery in Tribeca called, Umanoff & Parsons, that's been closed now for over 10 years.  Those chocolate cupcakes, which we still think about, live in my mind as the "ultimate" and this version comes very close (because it's hard to dethrone a memory that can no longer be tested)!

Talk about 'better late than never'...it took years for me to finally make these cupcakes!  I remember first seeing them in the magazine and then a post from Brown Eyed Baker cemented them in my mind.  But I have to confess that making cupcakes is not my favorite thing to do.  These cupcakes were a bit of a commitment but you'll be happy and thankful you made the effort when you taste it!

Recently, I finally grabbed a good opportunity to make them...in celebration of this blog's 6th anniversary!  Yes - hard enough as it is to believe - I'm still trying recipes, taking photos, and writing about some of them here in this little corner.  It's been a rewarding hobby and a creative outlet, a happy place where I indulge and make delicious discoveries such as these chocolate cupcakes!  

So let's pop a candle on top of one of these ultimate chocolate cupcakes and celebrate!  To those of you who take the time to visit, leave a comment when you can, I really appreciate your encouragement and kind words!  I don't know how much longer or at what pace this little blog will continue for but I hope I'll stay busy and make tasty discoveries for many years to come.  I can't believe the little treasure trove of recipes I've amassed here that my family and I truly love and enjoy over and over again.  It has been a real treat!

To all my fellow chocoholics out there, roll up your sleeves and tackle these cupcakes. You'll wonder if it's worth the effort and when you're done and finally sit down and take a bite of these deep, dark, rich (not particularly sweet), unabashedly indulgent cupcakes, you will think that "yes, they were totally worth it!"

Soft chocolate frosted cookies

We've come to February (already)!  I can't seem to let the second month of the year slip away without taking advantage of upcoming Valentine's Day to present a chocolate treat here on the blog.  Truth be told, we're still working our way through our stash of chocolates and biscuits from Christmas.  On top of that, we have treats from Chinese New Year so there is really very little need for making chocolate cookies except it's certainly not about need...

A batch of soft chocolate cookies, frosted with creamy chocolate frosting, and decorated with a few Valentine's Day sprinkles is an easy way to say "Happy Valentine's Day".  I think it's particularly cute for kids so I made them with my son and his cousins in mind.  I also had my husband in mind; he's a big kid at heart, with a bigger sweet tooth than most children, so he got a fair share of these.

You might know I'm always looking for an excuse to try a different chocolate recipe of some kind!  This one came my way via Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  When I saw "super soft" chocolate cookies, with chocolate frosting, I thought my family would enjoy them and I wanted to give it a try.  Apparently, these cookies are a homemade rendition of "Swig" cookies.  I have no personal knowledge but it seems Swig is a sweet shop in Utah and their signature Swig soft sugar cookies have a big following.  

I just saw super-soft chocolate sugar cookies and thought my husband, who prefers thick, soft cookies above all else in terms of texture, would really dig them.  And true to the description, as long as you make sure not to over-bake them, you end up with a chocolate sugar cookie that has a wonderfully unique soft texture.  The cookies might lean on the sweet side but there's also plenty of deep chocolate flavor to balance it out.  My fellas and I enjoyed them very much.  Though I've never heard of or had a Swig cookie before, there is a familiar flavor to these cookies that my husband and I had to smile at.  

You can leave your frosted chocolate cookies unadorned (the way my husband likes it) or I think it's great how you can essentially dress them up/customize them for any holiday with some sprinkles!  So make these cookies for no particular reason or for a holiday like Valentine's Day, Easter, or Halloween by simply mixing up the decorations you place on top.  How fun and versatile is that! 

I packed a few of the cookie individually in small clear cellophane bags, sealed with a heart-shaped sticker, to give to my nephews and niece as a little early Valentine's Day treat.  It's a fun little gesture - I think it's always nice to spread the love with cookies. I also think if there's any group of people who deserve love and sweetness on Valentine's Day (and any other day), it's got to be kids!  

Mint chocolate chip cake

Fall officially arrives in a couple of days and we've definitely been making the transition from summer to our more typical routine.  The school year started almost two weeks ago and it's kind of momentous for us because our "little" guy started middle school!!  It's time to celebrate - time for cake!

It's become a little bit of a tradition for me to make a back-to-school cake; last year, I made Baked Alaska.  This year, I tried this mint chocolate chip cake you see here. Frankly, it's just fun to have an excuse to celebrate and a reason to try one of the cake recipes I've bookmarked.  

This was a recipe I bookmarked from America's Test Kitchen.  I scaled things down and made this 6-inch, two-layer, version.  It was an interesting experience because I have hardly any familiarity with making a white cake, which this one is.  I felt a little uncertain along the way but gave it my best shot since mint chocolate chip really sounded like a cake my son would enjoy.  

Aside from the chocolate chips settling to the bottom of my cake layers instead of being nicely interspersed throughout the cake, I think this endeavor worked out pretty well. The cake was moist and fluffy, with a cool mint flavor from peppermint extract. The frosting is chocolaty, smooth, and rich.  Studded with more mini chocolate chips on the outside, you have plenty of chocolate represented here, which is how we like our cakes!  Mostly importantly, my newly "minted" middle schooler thought it was "really good" and we all enjoyed digging into it.  

It's nice to stop and enjoy simple things like a piece of cake with my family.  These are crazy times and on a micro level, the last couple of weeks have been very busy, as we try to navigate the new structures of middle school.  My son just returned from a night of sleep-away camp with his fellow 6th graders and it felt so good to be back together at the dining table again (even if he was only gone for a day and a half). There are certainly changes happening and things yet to figure out but change is usually good and so far, so good (I say, with fingers-crossed).  Here's to a smooth school year ahead!

Hershey's (vs. Beatty's) chocolate cake

I'll begin this post by saying that I love chocolate.  I may have mentioned it once - or a million times - already.  So obviously, I love chocolate cake.  Years ago (before starting this blog), I discovered what I consider the ultimate classic chocolate layer cake: Beatty's chocolate cake, or what I also think of as "Ina's cake" because it was brought to us by Ina Garten.  I have made that cake many times.  My extended family loves it - even those who are not big cake or dessert lovers.  I could very happily just eat that cake all by itself (it is so moist and chocolaty) but the chocolate buttercream that goes with it is an ideal pairing.  I'm not a big fan of buttercream frosting usually but it just works perfectly with that cake, and I've tried other pairings.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

Aside from Beatty's/Ina's cake, I have also heard plenty of raves about Hershey's chocolate cake. Many people say that is the ultimate chocolate layer cake (this testimonial, for example) and I've long wanted to compare the two but never wanted to take on the opportunity cost.  Apologies to Hershey's but I've been reluctant to try their recipe because I was pretty sure Beatty's cake would be the better version.  

Compare the ingredient list between the two cakes and Beatty's just seems to be the evolved - dare I say, "improved", - version of the Hershey cake.  The two recipes are very similar but whereas Hershey's uses milk and water, Beatty's cake uses buttermilk and coffee.  I was betting on buttermilk and coffee for the win.  But how can you be sure without actually trying both?

Beatty's Chocolate Cake, via Ina Garten (I've made it many times)

Which is better?

So now...let me try to get to the point before I lose you completely.  I finally made Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" chocolate cake so I can give you an informed opinion.  Taste is subjective so this is purely our opinion   We didn't do a simultaneous comparison of the two cakes but believe me, we have eaten many slices of Beatty's chocolate cake for it to be indelible in our minds.

And after tasting the Hershey's cake, I can tell you, definitively...that my family and I do, in fact, prefer...Beatty's chocolate cake!  The Hershey's cake is good - it's really good - but it lacks the depth of chocolate flavor and fluffiness of Beatty's cake.  The Hershey cake, particularly the frosting made with cocoa powder and a generous amount of confectioners' sugar, was pronounced "too sweet" by my taste-testers. We happen to have 3 family birthdays just a few weeks apart so this Hershey cake became the vehicle for a 3-way birthday celebration, resulting in plenty of taste-testers.  

The frosting on the Hershey's cake is easy to make and goes on smoothly.  The surface does dry out/crust given the generous amount of confectioners' sugar in it.

In particular, the kids (my son and his eldest cousin, in particular) kept saying the other cake is better because this one is too sweet.  Kids complaining about something being "too sweet" took me by surprise.  I mean, this coming from children who devour neon icing on cupcakes at birthday parties!  When did children become so critical, I thought!  In all fairness, maybe they wouldn't have been so vocal about this if they hadn't had Beatty's cake often in the past and were doing a direct comparison.  Everything is relative.

Speaking for myself now, I might have liked Hershey's cake more than the kids did.  Yes, it is sweeter than Beatty's cake.  Three cups of confectioners' sugar in the chocolate icing can't help but leave an aftertaste of sugar in your throat.  But I didn't find it too overbearing.  I thought it was a very good chocolate layer cake, reminding me of the kind I ate and loved as a child (apparently, children's tastes have evolved).  If there's a cake you'd eat with a tall glass of milk, this is the one.  It's just got that old-fashioned flavor to it, and I mean that in a good way.  Interestingly enough, it reminded me of Brooklyn Blackout Cake, which I really like and attempted once.  This cake is far simpler to make than that one.

The inside of the Hershey cake.  It's very moist but not quite as fluffy as Beatty's cake.

And one important point going for the Hershey cake is how easy it is to make! There's no fresh coffee to brew or chocolate to melt.  It is most definitely the easier of the two cakes to make by far.  And to its credit, the Hershey cake is very moist though heavier and denser than Beatty's cake, which is not only really moist but also delicate - airy, almost.  The buttercream in Beatty's cake uses melted chocolate instead of cocoa, and with more fat than confectioners' sugar, it stays soft and creamy instead of crusting on the surface like the Hershey's cake does.

Making this cake and frosting, much like making those cocoa brownies, gave me a renewed appreciation for cocoa powder.  It's the driving force behind this cake and created far more chocolate flavor in itself than I would've thought possible.  I think the cake really could use a boost of coffee to heighten that chocolate flavor even more.  That, alas, brings me right back to Beatty's cake. You know which I'll be making in my house whenever we get the craving for a chocolate layer cake.  

If anyone has tried both these cakes, I'd be very interested in your take on it!