BB: Beatty's Chocolate Cake

Lately, it seems as if every time I work with buttercream frosting, we're experiencing a heat wave and my kitchen is 100 degrees. This time was no exception.


The second selection for this month's Barefoot Bloggers was Beatty's Chocolate Cake, chosen by Mary of Passionate Perseverance. I made this yesterday, thinking I would take some to work with me in the evening. The cake part went well, although 1. I was really concerned about how liquid the batter was, wondering if it would actually transform itself into a solid cake; and 2. I was extremely thankful I had 3" by 8" cake pans, meaning no overflow.


I've had 1 1/2" by 8" cake pans for years and used them with no problems. One day, however, I decided to make one of Martha Stewart's cakes. Apparently, both Martha and the Universe changed the caking baking rules on me, because the cake overflowed its boundaries and flooded the oven. Ah, the joy of scraping baked-on cake batter from an oven.

Fearful that this might happen again with future cakes, I searched for taller cake pans, and rather than settle on a measly 2 inches, I bought the big guns -- 3 inchers.

I was prepared.


In the process of preparing the cake batter, I also had to scrounge for cocoa powder.


I managed to totally consume my KA deep dark chocolate cocoa powder and my Fair Trade cocoa powder (very delicious stuff, I might add), while using a bit more of my precious Frango Mint baking cocoa. The blend gave a subtle, but pleasant, flavor to the cake.


Finally, it came time to frost the layers. Let's see. After following the instructions to soften the butter to room temperature and to cool the melted chocolate to room temperature, I ended up with melted butter and hot chocolate. All room temperature, of course.



45 minutes before leaving for work, I was spreading flowing chocolate buttercream over the cake. Good thing it was delicious. I probably didn't put enough on as a filling, and it was difficult to frost the sides thick enough, since the frosting kept melting off. While I was getting ready for work, I put the cake into the fridge, hoping to harden the frosting just a little before cutting the cake.


Just before leaving, I cut half the cake into two pieces, placed them in a carrying container, and drove to the library. Imagine my horror, upon arriving, to find that the two hunks of cake had merged into one, frosting everywhere in the container. Well, I figured that it may not look terrific, but it would still taste delicious, so I performed minor surgery on the one large piece, quickly refrosted the two resulting pieces, and placed all of it into the library's fridge to chill well before evening break.




I came home with an empty container, so I guess that looks really didn't matter in this case.

My daughter's only comment, upon eating her piece, was that it was too hot for chocolate cake.

Too hot?

Geez, I thought she was better trained than that.

Anyway, this cake gets rave reviews from nearly everyone (see just above), and I plan to make it again for sure, when the weather cools down a bit.

I do apologize for such a plain-Jane cake -- heat and the clock usurped my limited creativity this time. And, I'm still searching for a use for my outdated 1 1/2-inch cake pans.