Sunday Supper {The Best Chocolate Layer Cake You’ll Ever Make}

I almost never make layer cakes. I’m just not good at them so I lean towards pies and brownies. However, after reading through this Ina Garten cake recipe, I was motivated. I am so glad that I tried it because it baked up beautifully and was the best tasting chocolate cake I’ve ever had.

Beatty’s Chocolate Cake

Barefoot Contessa At Home 

Ingredients

  • Butter, for greasing the pans
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
  • Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, recipe follows

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch x 2-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.
  2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
  3. Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

NOTE: I have 9″ pans so my layers were a little wider and more shallow. I have 8″ pans on my wish list. :-)

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

  • 6 ounces good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Callebaut)
  • 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature – I DID NOT ADD THIS
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

Directions

  1. Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk (if using) and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don’t whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.

Other Favorites: Barefoot Contessa At Home

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

This one is going in my file for birthdays and entertaining. I’ll probably never try another chocolate cake recipe again!

Barefoot Contessa At Home 
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6 thoughts on “Sunday Supper {The Best Chocolate Layer Cake You’ll Ever Make}

  1. Ina is the best! I have never tried this recipe…but its definitely going on my list of things to bake the next few weeks.

  2. Amanda,
    I made this cake a while back from Ina’s recipe and it was delicious! Yours looks like it turned out well also.

  3. Amanda I am always searching for a good chocolate chocolate cake recipe. I have tried a lot but not that measure of to Muddys Cupcakes in Memphis.( They dont call it Prozac for nothing!!) They are so moist and the frosting is delicious. We went to Oxford MS and stopped by Sugarees in New Albany. Oh my goodness. I had a piece of their caramel cake…they did not have a chocolate chocolate that day but I would love to try their version some day. I would not have added an egg yolk either…good decision.

    1. I heard about Muddy’s when we went to Memphis but we didn’t make it there. I’m going to add that to my ongoing “travel notes”!

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