Counting the Beans and Cooking the Books

I’ve been on a two-week hiatus from LEX18 (bumped last week for President Obama and bumped this week for Wimbledon), but I’ll be back this Tuesday, July 7th!

In the mean time, I’ve been baking up a storm for Wine + Market and also to just feed friends and family.

I so wish I lived closer to my sister so I could make her a giant cake to celebrate her birthday today!  But alas, a virtual slice of cake and a glass of milk will have to do.

Happy Birthday, Christine!

This chocolate cake recipe has never failed me–I’ve never made the recipe in its entirety, but I always use the cake portion and pair it up with whatever icing fancies me that day.

For Christine’s cake, I divided the batter into two 9-inch pans (sprayed and lined with parchment) and split each baked layer in half, giving me four layers.

I made a classic buttercream icing, which I split in half.

I flavored one half with 1 tablespoon instant espresso dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water and flavored the other half with 4 ounces of melted chocolate.

Boiled buttercreams (aka French) are a wee more challenging than simple buttercreams (aka American, consisting of powdered sugar beat into butter or shortening), but so worth the effort.

When assembling, I alternated coffee buttercream with chocolate buttercream for a perfect mocha cake.

This recipe makes for great cupcakes with perfect little domed tops (I am not a fan of flat-topped cupcakes).

Here are my chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing, sprinkled with a bit of dark chocolate grated with a microplane zester.

Delish!