Flo Braker's Dark Chocolate Cake Recipe

[UPDATE 9/21/09: I got permission from the wonderful Flo Braker to post the correct and complete version of the Dark Chocolate Cake Recipe from Baking for All Occasions. The recipe at the bottom of this post, but the correction is to add the melted chocolate to the batter just after the eggs.]

Back in March, I was a lucky enough duck to not only have baking legend Flo Braker sign my copy of Baking for All Occasions at Omnivore Books (the only all cookbook store in San Francisco), but also?

 Flo brought baked goods from her very own kitchen. And not only did she sign my book, but much to my delight, actually hand wrote a correction to the dark chocolate cake recipe! Part of my delight was seeing how much it irritated her that there was an error. I can relate. Especially given the ridiculously hard time I had updating this post. 

But re-typing the recipe (ahem) more than once did allow me to reflect. While no Flo recipe would fit on the back of an index card (even in 1 point font), her explanations are worth it. Anyone who wants to start baking from scratch should feel absolutely confident starting with a Flo Braker recipe. If you are more experienced, you will enjoy the writing and breeze through. If you are a beginner, you will appreciate that she hasn't left things out and made assumptions that leave you in the dark (all too common with recipes) and the recipes will teach you valuable techniques you can apply to other recipes. Flo is especially organized with the mise en place, so that when I follow her "before baking" instructions for this dark chocolate cake, before I turn on the mixer my counter looks like this.

This is the slam dunk of chocolate cakes, with warm and nutty notes coming from coffee and brown sugar, and tenderness and tang from the sour cream, is moist but with an airy, soft crumb. This versatile recipe can be used to make round layer cakes, square cakes and sheet cakes, and freezes beautifully. 

Oh, and it makes a great cupcake. Just be sure not to under bake them, as the cupcake tops are flat (and not domed), so if they aren't baked completely, they will go concave in the middle. These were topped with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. I would love to hear what other people think of this cake.

Dark Chocolate Cake
From Baking for All Occasions by Flo Braker

When Evie Lieb (page 184) and I met at a yard sale (predominately cookbooks) many years ago, we discovered we had a lot in common, least of which was our mutual love of baking. Along the way we discovered that both of us had spotted a chocolate cake recipe in a magazine that we had adopted as our signature cake for all types of occasions. Since it first came to our attention in the early 1970s, we have sung its praises to anyone who will listen. Here, I list it as a basic cake that stars in two great dessert recipes, Dark Chocolate Baby Cakes (page 136) and All-American Chocolate Cake with Divinity Frosting and Milk Chocolate Paint (page 331).

This recipe includes directions for baking in two different layer-cake pan sizes: 6 by 3-inch round pans, which are used for the Baby Cakes, and 9 by 2-inch round pans, which are used for All-American Chocolate Cake. But this cake is extremely popular, so here are two suggestions for making large cakes from this recipe. Bake the cake in a 9 by 13 by 2-inch pan (quarter sheet pan) for 40 minutes, let cool completely, frost, and cut into squares to serve. Or, double the recipe and bake the cake in an 18 by 13 by 1-inch pan (half sheet pan) for 35 minutes. Let the cake cool completely, then following the directions for splitting a cake into layers on page 25, freeze the cake until just firm, cut it in half crosswise, and then split each half in half horizontally to yield 4 layers total. Use the layers to make two 2-layer, 13 by 9-inch cakes. Fill and frost as desires; each cake serves about 16.

Yield: Two 6 by 3-inch round cake layers or two 9 by 2-inch cake layers (Rachel’s note: or 22-24 cupcakes; start checking them at 20 minutes.)

3 ounces (85 grams) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 cups (8 ounces/225 grams) cake flour

1½ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 ounces/225 grams) sour cream

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
6 ounces (1½ sticks/170 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature.
2 cups firmly packed (14 ounces/400 grams) light brown sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup (8 fl ounces/240 ml) lukewarm coffee or water

Before baking: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat two 6 by 3-inch round cake pans or two 9 by 2-inch round cake pans with nonstick spray, then flour them, tapping out the excess flour. Or, butter and flour the pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper. Have all the ingredients at room temperature.

Half fill a bowl with hot water (120 degrees F). Put the chocolate in a bowl and place it over (but not touching) the hot water. Let the chocolate melt until creamy and smooth, stirring slowly occasionally. (Replace the water with more hot water, if needed to melt the chocolate smoothly.) Remove from the water bath and set aside to cool to lukewarm.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper; set aside. In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream and vanilla; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until it is lighter in color and creamy, clings to the sides of the bowl and has a satiny appearance, about 45 seconds. Add the sugar in a steady stream, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrap down the sides of the bowl. Continue to beat on medium speed until the mixture is very light in color and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.

With the mixer on medium-low speed, add the eggs, 3 to 4 tablespoons at a time, beating after each addition until incorporated and stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Continue to beat on medium-low speed until the mixture is well blended and lighter in color and texture, 3 to 4 minutes. Stop the mixer occasionally to scrape doen the sides of the bowl.

On the lowest speed, add the melted chocolate, and then add the flour mixture in three additions alternately with the sour cream in two additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and mixing after each addition until incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrapes down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Detach the paddle and bowl from the mixer, and tap the paddle against the side of the bowl to release the excess batter. Slowly add the warm coffee, stirring with a rubber spatula until smooth. Spoon half of the batter into each prepared pan and spread evenly with the spatula.

Bake the cakes until the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a fingertip and a round wooden toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out free of cake, about 55 minutes for 6-inch round pans and 35 minutes for 9-inch round pans. Transfer to wire racks and let cool in the pans for 10 to 15 minutes.

Tilt and rotate the pan while gently tapping it on a counter to release the cake sides. If they don’t release, slip a think metal spatula between the still-warm cake and the pan and run the spatula carefully along the entire perimeter of the pan.  Invert a wire rack on top of the cake, invert the cake onto it, and lift off the pan. Slowly peel off the parchment paper, turn it over so the sticky side faces up, and reposition it on top of the cake*. Invert another rack on top, invert the cake so it is right side up, and remove the original cake. Repeat with the remaining cake. Let the cakes cool completely.

To store, wrap each cake layer in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 2 days. For longer storage, overwrap with aluminum foil, label with the contents and date, and freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature for about 2 hours before unwrapping, splitting into layers, and frosting. 

*I think that a video is worth a thousand words in this case. Watch Flo demonstrate this technique on this video episode of Baking with Julia (look at 14:53 remaining).

Comments

[sweetie]

Hi!

I'm glad to have stumbled on your post. I'm baking my way through every recipe in Flo Braker's book and chronicling my adventures on my blog. I did my second recipe today and there's a mistake in the directions. I'll post the change on my blog very shortly so you can update your book too.

In the meantime I'd like to update my book to include the addition of chocolate (THANK YOU for pointing this out). Should I include the chocolate in the recipe between the sentence ending with "bowl" and the start of "Continue..." and beat 3-4 minutes?

Subbed to your blog-- you've made some wonderful recipes!

[Goldilocks Bakery]

This chocolate cake was so delicious i like it so much,thank you fro the recipe.

reign

[Jen]

Thanks so much for the correction! I was getting desperate trying to figure it out!

[ButterYum]

How fabulous! And what a great name for an all cookbook book store!

[david]

Are you sure this recipe is now correct? I've tried it twice and both times with no luck. The cake rises but sinks and shrinks from the sides of the pans considerably upon cooling.

I've checked the oven temperature with two oven thermometers.

Is it really a full cup of coffee? The batter seems fairly thin.

[Rachelino]

David- I sent you an email my thoughts and some questions, but wanted to respond here as well to anyone who might find the post and confirm that yes, the recipe is correct. Yes, it is a full cup of coffee (but the coffee must be lukewarm, and not hot). I just made the recipe twice yesterday, actually, so it's fresh in my mind.

Not knowing any of the details, I think it might have been underbaked if it sunk so much in the middle.

[tramadol]

Wow! Simply amazing! That's a very wonderful recipe! Thanks for sharing. My parents' anniversary is approaching, so I think it would be perfect if we have those cupcakes on our table!

[Hanaa]

Rachelino, I just made this cake from Flo's book. It's cooling as I'm typing this. I read through the recipe several times, looking for when to add the melted choc, and eventually decided it made the most sense to add it after the eggs. Then I remembered your post, so I came to verify that what I did was correct. I'm taking the cake to a dinner party tonight. I'm looking forward to tasting it. It smells amazing.

Next week I'll be making Flo's Signature Yellow Cake. I'd like it to be a sheet cake for a birthday cake I'm making. I'm hoping it works. Have you tried this recipe?

[Rachelino]

Hanaa - sorry I have been away from the internets. I LOVE Flo's signature yellow cake! I have used it only a few times, but it is a killer moist and flavorful yellow cake. I filled and frosted it with a fruit puree infused version of Rose's new golden neoclassic buttercream from HBC (made with Lyle's Golden Syrup) and it was a huge hit.

Excellent work on the chocolate cake recipe! I hope it turned out well!

[Jeannette]

Thank you so much for putting the video link on at the end of the recipe. I have just had this book as a Christmas present off a very dear friend and I was most interested to see and hear Flo Braker ,it makes such a difference to see someone working and explaining everything. What a nice person she seems. I shall now get out my book and make sure i pencil in this correction, thank you! Jeannette.

[Loopy]

I've made this cake three times now. The first time, it was perfect. The last two times, it rose beautifully in the oven but then shrunk ALOT and drew away from the sides of the pan when cooled. This third time, I was precise in weighing ingredients and making sure the coffee was almost room temp. I don't know what I did differently from the first time! It still tastes delicious, just looks kind of sad...there is also a thin darker layer at the bottom of the cake all three times I made it.

[Monica]

I also baked the cake as part of our ABC choice and its so yummy and rich and love.. LOVE the added full cup of coffee, gives it a whole other dimension and brings out the full chocolate flavor.

[Unintentional Housewife]

I just found this post, and I'm drooling over the description. I've never baked cake, and I'm not generally much of a cake person, but dark chocolate is a weakness of mine! This sounds so delicious, I'm sure I'll need to try out my cake-making skills soon.

[Rachelino]

Unitentional housewife, do it! Making your own cake will make you more of a cake person....or rather, it wil be better than most cake you have had if you do it right. But then again you might eat more cake!

[Mariana]

so is it bad to let you know there's a typo

[madeitwithlove]

This is a great blog, thank you! For any one interested in another really wonderful chocolate cake recipe you might like to check out Jane Hornby's chocolate wedding cake on the BBC food site. Jane is another great baker and all round cook who dedicates herself to making recipes work.
As an inexperienced baker I always need to know a recipe will work. I'm always 'baking' mistakes but I guess this is the only way to learn and make corrections. I'd love to get a copy of Flo Braker's book but don't know how I'd cope with any errors in the recipes.

[Rachelino]

madeitwithlove, thanks for the recommendation on Jane Hornby's chocolate cake recipe! I highly recommend any of Flo Braker's books, Simple Art of Perfect Baking or Baking for all Occasions are great comprehensive cookbooks, and Sweet Miniatures is her award-winning book on bite-size/individual size desserts. While all books, especially cookbooks, are bound to have a printing or recipe error somewhere, Flo's recipes are rock-solid, and I think it drove her crazy that that one error made it through to the final printing. Don't be afraid to use her books! I haven't found another error like that.