Chocolatey, moist, the most tender of tender crumb, rich, chocolate buttercream filling; the kind of cake you think about longingly at 9.30 in the evening. This is not a brown cake wishing it was a chocolate cake – this IS a chocolate cake, but not so dark and dense that it strays into dessert territory. It’s from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.
This was the recipe that I chose to make for Tim’s birthday. His 69th birthday – but we’ll get to that in a minute.
A little bit of prep first.
Preheat the oven to GM4/350F/180C and grease and line 2 9″ round cake tins.
Melt 6oz dark chocolate (about 50% cocoa solids) and leave it to cool.
In a bowl, sift together 2 cups of plain flour and 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda. Leave to one side for the moment.

Put 8oz unsalted butter, 1 cup of caster sugar and 1 cup light brown sugar in a large bowl

Cream until… yep. Fluffy. High five! Scrape down the edges and right to the bottom of the bowl.

One at a time, add 4 eggs. Beat well until each one is incorporated before adding the next. Be sure to scrape the edges of the bowl down again – bits of the butter and sugar mix can sit silently scheming at the bottom of the bowl.

Add your melted chocolate and beat that in well. You can’t over beat at this stage, so don’t worry yet.

Now we’re adding the flour/bicarb mix, and alternating the addition with a cup of buttermilk and a glug of vanilla extract.
So, a third of the flour first – add it on slow speed, just until it’s incorporated.

Then a third of the buttermilk and vanilla

Then repeat that twice more. Don’t over-beat – if you can still see some traces of flour and buttermilk, that’s OK because at this point, I take the bowl off the mixer and finish combining it all by hand with a large spatula.
My friend Kirsten and I were talking about this and saying how the instructions to not overbeat cake batter make you overwrought and paranoid, but I think the point is to be gentle and to remember that prior to the advent of mixers, the flour was folded in – gently and with a spoon – so use the mixer, but keep it on low and stop it to add the next lot of ingredients so that it isn’t just grinding away relentlessly.

Your reward is this beautiful batter – have a taste; it’s creamy, light and utterly lick-the-spoon-able. Divide it between the two tins

The recipe suggests baking for 25-35 mins, but mine took more like 40-50 mins. Check at 25mins just in case. It’s done when a toothpick inserted into the middle is clean or only has a couple of crumbs on it. Brown sludge means ‘not cooked’.
Cool in the tins for 10 mins then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

The buttercream icing.
As per the cake, melt 6oz of dark chocolate (50% cocoa solids is plenty) and leave it to cool.
Beat 8 oz unsalted butter until creamy – scrape down the bowl to be sure, then add 1 tbsp milk and beat again to combine.

Add the chocolate and beat well, then add the vanilla and beat it for about 3 minutes to get it all creamy and slightly paler.

Add 1½ – 2 cups sifted icing sugar gradually

and beat until you are happy with the consistency

Peel the paper from the cakes and put about 1/4 of the icing between the two cakes to sandwich them together.

Apply a ‘crumb coat’ all over the top and sides of the cake. That is, using a small offset spatula, scrape a very thin layer to icing on to it, ignoring how unattractive it looks, then refrigerate the whole thing for about 30 mins or until the icing has hardened. You’ll be glad you did. Leave the remaining icing at room temperature.

Once the icing on the cake has set, ice the top and sides with the remaining icing – no need to worry about crumbs interfering because they’re all contained under the crumb coat. Interfering crumbs really get on my…

nerves.

That was easier! Given more time and a hot spatula (is that a Tina Turner song?) I bet you could get it really smooth.

Decorate in whatever way please you.

I had a specific plan for this cake because it was Tim’s birthday and because it was Tim’s 69th birthday. Kind of difficult to address that particular number in a way that is not wildly offensive and yet… somehow… it simply couldn’t be ignored. No, you’re right; plenty of people would and could have ignored it, but I couldn’t. So there. But what to do? I didn’t want to start modelling figures with chocolate – that could get horribly out of hand…
So I used white chocolate, melted, cooled and piped on to baking paper, then left to dry. Lots of this number – all the way round the cake as it happens.

And then the top. Cheeky, yet not quite too far. *snort*

Tim liked it. Yeah, by the way, he is the owner of a sense of humour. Just so you know. It’s not like I gave the family sour-puss a heart attack and/or shamed the whole family.

and approaching an envy that was bordering hysteria, Alex liked it too. He was stunned to learn that the candles were not for him. So we re-lit and Tim generously shared his birthday tradition with an adoring child. Happy 69th birthday to you too, Alex!

Leaving 69s aside, *snort*, I must, must, must say this. This recipe makes the best cupcakes ever – as a cake it is relatively and delightfully substantial, but as a cupcake, the cakes are incredibly light. This recipe makes a good 24 cupcakes – I usually do a half batch and get at least 12 cupcakes. Line a muffin tin with cases and only half-fill them. If you are generous, they reward you by over flowing. Yes, I tried many times. You must only half-fill them.
Use the same icing, but pipe swirls on with a piping bag.

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Chocolate Buttermilk Cake
(loosely adapted from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook)

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Cake
2 cups plain (all purpose) flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
8oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 eggs
6oz dark chocolate (50% cocoa solids) – melted and left to cool
1 cup (250ml) buttermilk
1½ tsp vanilla extract

Icing
8oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp milk
6oz dark chocolate (50% cocoa solids) – melted and left to cool
1 tsp vanilla extract
1½ – 2 cups icing sugar

Preheat oven to GM4/350F/180C
Grease and line 2 x 9″ round cake tins

The cake:

Melt your chocolate and leave it to cool.
In a bowl, sift the flour and bicarb together. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until smooth and fluffy (high five!). Be sure to keep scraping down the bowl (and to the bottom) during the whole making process.
Add the eggs one at a time and incorporate each one well before adding another. This always curdles when I do it; just keep whipping.
Add the flour/bicarb mix in 3 additions – alternately with the buttermilk and vanilla. That is, flour, buttermilk, flour, b/milk, flour b/milk. Add the next addition once the previous is barely incorporated and finish off by hand with a big spatula.

Divide the batter between the 2 tins and bake. The recipe suggests 25-35 mins, but mine took more like 40-50 mins. Check at 25mins just in case. It’s done when a toothpick inserted into the middle is clean or only has a couple of crumbs on it.

Cool in the tins for 10 mins then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

The icing:

Melt the chocolate and leave it to cool.
Beat the butter until creamy – scrape down the bowl to be sure.
Add the 1 tbsp milk and beat again to combine.
Add the chocolate and beat well, then add the vanilla and beat it for about 3 minutes to get it all creamy and slightly paler.
Add the sifted icing sugar gradually and beat until you are happy with the consistency.

Peel the paper from the cakes and put about 1/4 of the icing between the two cakes to sandwich them together.
Apply a ‘crumb coat’ all over the top and sides of the cake. That is, using a small offset spatula, scrape a very thin layer to icing on to it, then refrigerate the whole thing for about 30 mins or until the icing has hardened. You’ll be glad you did. Leave the remaining icing at room temperature.

Once the icing on the cake has set, ice the top and sides with the remaining icing – no need to worry about crumbs interfering because they’re all contained under the crumb coat.
Decorate as you wish.

This recipe makes the best cupcakes ever – as a cake it is relatively substantial, but as a cupcake, the cakes are incredibly light. This recipe makes a good 24 cupcakes – I usually do a half batch and get at least 12 cupcakes. Line a muffin tin with cases and only half-fill them. If you are generous, they reward you by over flowing. Use the icing, but pipe swirls on with a piping bag.