Chocolate Me
November 16, 2020 7:14 AM Subscribe
A friend's birthday is coming up, and they love chocolate cake that is both sweet and uses dark chocolate. But...
...that sounds simple, except that all my cake recipes tend to be less sweet (my preference). I am looking for a chocolate cake recipe that uses dark chocolate but also is satisfyingly sweet, without being so sweet that the sugar overpowers everything else. I have the usual selections available from cookbooks like Betty Crocker, but I know so many people make fantastic, wonderful cakes, that I would love to see if one of those recipes would work for me. So if you have one, share away!
...that sounds simple, except that all my cake recipes tend to be less sweet (my preference). I am looking for a chocolate cake recipe that uses dark chocolate but also is satisfyingly sweet, without being so sweet that the sugar overpowers everything else. I have the usual selections available from cookbooks like Betty Crocker, but I know so many people make fantastic, wonderful cakes, that I would love to see if one of those recipes would work for me. So if you have one, share away!
Best answer: This recipe comes as close as I've ever found to a cake I had once in a restaurant and couldn't stop thinking about, and it has instructions for various modifications.
Note that they mention offhand using some Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa powder, as if it is optional and you only need a bit to get the frosting nice and dark. Honestly, that stuff is so good I keep it on hand all the time now, and I have swapped it in for half of the cake cocoa as well. Would I go full swap? It might be too much, it is kind of a black hole of sweetness.
Now, the cake I originally had and loved I'm pretty sure had a pour-over ganache, which I think texturally makes a cake seem denser and more chocolate-y and is quite sweet. I have only made this with the buttercream and layers and it was fine - I'm not a tremendous fan of buttercream anyway, if I was making this again I'd probably do jam on the layers (I'm torn between sweet orange marmalade or my usual go-to raspberry) and ganache over the top.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:03 AM on November 16, 2020 [4 favorites]
Note that they mention offhand using some Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa powder, as if it is optional and you only need a bit to get the frosting nice and dark. Honestly, that stuff is so good I keep it on hand all the time now, and I have swapped it in for half of the cake cocoa as well. Would I go full swap? It might be too much, it is kind of a black hole of sweetness.
Now, the cake I originally had and loved I'm pretty sure had a pour-over ganache, which I think texturally makes a cake seem denser and more chocolate-y and is quite sweet. I have only made this with the buttercream and layers and it was fine - I'm not a tremendous fan of buttercream anyway, if I was making this again I'd probably do jam on the layers (I'm torn between sweet orange marmalade or my usual go-to raspberry) and ganache over the top.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:03 AM on November 16, 2020 [4 favorites]
This (vegan) chocolate cake [self link] my wife makes is very chocolatey and a nice balance of sweet vs dark chocolate bitter.
posted by terrapin at 8:06 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by terrapin at 8:06 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Organic fair trade cocoa is going to be better than Hershey's. Try is, you'll like it!
Find a recipe that calls for coffee. It will help it taste more chocolatey. This is a thing.
Sub fresh fruit for some or all of the sugar. It will add sweetness without being overpowering.
posted by aniola at 8:12 AM on November 16, 2020
Find a recipe that calls for coffee. It will help it taste more chocolatey. This is a thing.
Sub fresh fruit for some or all of the sugar. It will add sweetness without being overpowering.
posted by aniola at 8:12 AM on November 16, 2020
Just yesterday I made this recipe and used some 70% chocolate. It turned out pretty nice.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/ultimate-chocolate-cake
posted by alchemist at 8:58 AM on November 16, 2020
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/ultimate-chocolate-cake
posted by alchemist at 8:58 AM on November 16, 2020
The Cooks Illustrated Dark Chocolate cupcake is my favorite deep chocolate flavor without being overly sweet. What you frost it with will really modulate the sweetness up or down. Not sure if it is translatable to cake form, but cupcakes are more pandemic-friendly.
posted by mcgsa at 9:11 AM on November 16, 2020
posted by mcgsa at 9:11 AM on November 16, 2020
Please note that dark chocolate means different things in bar and powder form. Solid dark chocolate means that it hasn't been diluted with dairy. It tastes stronger and more chocolatey than lighter-colored chocolate. Dark cocoa powder, on the other hand, means it has been dutched (alkalinized) and tends to be milder in flavor than lighter-colored (and more common in the US) neutral cocoa powder. It also reacts differently chemically, so you should be careful subsituting one for the other.
posted by rikschell at 10:50 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by rikschell at 10:50 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Bravetart's devil's food cake is intensely rich and chocolatey, and sweet in a balanced way.
posted by esoterrica at 11:25 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by esoterrica at 11:25 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I love all your answers... they're really pointing me in the right direction!
posted by Armed Only With Hubris at 12:07 PM on November 16, 2020
posted by Armed Only With Hubris at 12:07 PM on November 16, 2020
Did somebody say ganache? Here are a couple pseudo self-links (I am the author of the book these were published in).
Chocolate Midnight Cake by Rebecca August & Aquafaba Cashew Ganache & Frosting by Goose Wohlt
posted by aniola at 1:21 PM on November 16, 2020
Chocolate Midnight Cake by Rebecca August & Aquafaba Cashew Ganache & Frosting by Goose Wohlt
posted by aniola at 1:21 PM on November 16, 2020
I have to put in a good word for this recipe, from the Preppy Kitchen. The cake part is not super sweet (that's the role of the frosting), and due to the sour cream, buttermilk, and coffee, it's probably the moistest you can make a cake and still maintain structural integrity.
posted by oxisos at 7:12 PM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by oxisos at 7:12 PM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Lyn Never, I made this cake and looking at the final result, I heard in my head chants of "Bruce... Bruce... Bruce!" from Matilda ... It is that chocolaty. No kidding.
For anyone who is curious, I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa because that was most readily available to me and I decided to go with alkalized.
posted by Armed Only With Hubris at 4:01 PM on November 21, 2020
For anyone who is curious, I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa because that was most readily available to me and I decided to go with alkalized.
posted by Armed Only With Hubris at 4:01 PM on November 21, 2020
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posted by apparently at 7:27 AM on November 16, 2020