Love Them Apples

Life has become celebration upon joyful celebration…. and then, before I have time to catch my breath, it’s Memorial Day weekend and more celebrations are planned. What’s the occasion? O, anything really. This particular post comes on the heals of Bad*ss Bassman’s birthday party, which was only days after the littlest one’s birthday celebration (not so little now… 2nd grade!), and now only steps away from a weekend of parties.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a pie lover. Right now the farmers market tables here in SoCal are buckling with berries, and in the morning I think I’ll hit the local one to snag some sweet filling for tomorrow’s pies before heading off to teach yoga. But I digress… clearly this post is not about pie. This post is about cake - a deliciously chocolately birthday cake that has become my staple for chocolately birthday cake needs.

I made this cake last May for Bassman’s birthday. It was so delicious, but my notes - or lack thereof - were horrendous. I had scratched out the recipe on a scrap of paper, included no title, no notes at all on the outcome, and then stuck it where I would be sure never to find it again, between pages of other recipes and cookbooks. This spring I tore my kitchen apart looking for the darn paper. Despite my usual photographic memory, I had no recollection of where I had scribbled this darn recipe of yumminess. When I finally found it, since there were no notes or labels, I wasn’t even sure it was IT. I crossed my fingers and hoped this was the delicious recipe I thought it was…. success! Bad*ss Bassman and the littlest one are chocolate fiends, and this scrumdiddlyumptious cake with raspberry filling and chocolate ganache icing brought big smiles and happiest birthday wishes all around. Read on, dear baker.

Scrumdiddlyumptious Chocolate Cake

Makes 1 cake layer or 12 cupcakes. I made 1 batch for the little one’s cupcakes (considering there were just 4 of us plus two happy-to-indulge neighbors, this was plenty), but tripled this recipe for Bad*ss Bassman’s 50-some-odd people birthday party cake.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup cake flour

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup cocoa (the better the cocoa, the better the cake)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon white vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your cupcake tins or grease and flour your cake pans. In a large bowl, thoroughly combine the cake flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the water, vanilla, oil and vinegar. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix until completely incorporated. Pour into pans or tins.

Cake: bake for about 30 minutes or until the cake begins to pull away from the edges.

Cupcakes: bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate Ganache Icing

I generally wing ganache, using approximately the same volume of liquid as of chocolate. Here’s the gist, for 1 Bad*ss Birthday Cake:

16 oz (1 carton) soy creamer - I use the Trader Joe’s brand which is deliciously vanilla-flavored. If you can’t find this, add 1 teaspoon vanilla to the recipe.

17 oz dark chocolate - the Trader Joe’s pound plus. I don’t use the 72% for this as I pour the ganache pretty thick and think this is too rich.

2 Tablespoons corn syrup - for shine.

Heat the soy creamer in a double boiler or in a bowl over a pot of water till the creamer *almost* boils. Meanwhile, chop the chocolate into small chunks. When the creamer is ready, pour over the chocolate. Stir the creamer into the chocolate gently so as to not incorporate any air into the ganache. Add corn syrup and mix completely.

The ganache will thicken as it cools. I let it sit for about 30 or 45 minutes before icing the cake.

Here’s hoping you have a scrumdiddlyumptious (and safe!) Memorial Day weekend!

xoxo! arielle.