Yesterday was Taylor’s birthday, and there is no such thing as a birthday without cake. And rather than allow Taylor to indulge his sweet tooth on the $1 slices of Kroger cake he loves to sneak into the shopping cart from time to time, I decided to put that cake to shame and bake a delicious chocolate cake from scratch. I knew I succeeded by the sigh that came from his mouth after eating the first bite. I used probably the most popular recipe ever to exist on Epicurious, the famous Double Chocolate Layer Cake with the raspberry filling variation a la Smitten Kitchen. However, I know very few people who have a full range of cake pans – 8, 9, and 10 inch. Me, I’ve got three 8-inch pans (purchased to make that beautiful Petit Four cake from a few months back), and one 9-inch pan. So when this recipe called for two 10-inch pans, I knew I had some modifications to make. Little did I know that those modifications would result in a really tall cake. I thought I had found an accurate conversion chart via AllRecipes… which, if it had been accurate, says that two 10-inch cakes are equivalent to five 8-inch round pans. Five? Seriously? Ok, I thought… I’ll just make a few dozen cupcakes in addition to the three layers of cake I’ll get. The chart also states that an 8-inch pan holds 4 cups. So as I divvied the batter into the prepared pans, I got to 3 cups and felt something was wrong. The pans were nearly full at 3 cups, AND I did not have a spec of leftover batter for cupcakes. Obviously the chart is missing some crucial information. Such as, um, how full the cake pans need to be to avoid overflowage (which my overfilled pans threatened to do.) I guess I’ve spent too much time baking cupcakes to know the ins and outs of baking their larger and more complicated counterparts. (Yep, that little itty bitty slice was all we ate. Just a testament to how tall and decadent this cake really is). Another lesson I learned – overfilled cake pans leads to unevenly cooked cake. While my toothpick testers came out clean, I could tell the cakes were slightly on the undercooked side. Which in all honesty, is what probably lead this cake to be so incredibly moist. Happy accident I guess. I told Taylor when taking these out of the oven that he might really end up with that Chocolate Pudding Cake, albeit unintentionally. But this cake. This cake is good. Unbelievably good. And easy to make it dairy free, which makes it even better (because I can actually eat it). We’ve officially declared that a birthday lasts as long as the cake does, so don’t be surprised if Taylor’s birthday cake next year is twice as tall. Silly boy. :)
1 pound fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut 1 cup heavy cream (or soy creamer) 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons light corn syrup 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter (or margarine)
For raspberry filling:
(optional)
2 10-ounce bag frozen raspberries, thawed 1/2 cup sugar 2 tablespoons cornstarch
