Chocolate Birthday Cake
Why I Love This Recipe
The first time I made this cake my eldest son declared this is going to be my birthday cake every year! It's been several years now and it's still the one he wants each and every time. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Ingredients You'll Need
3 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 cup water
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sweet cream butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup egg yolks, about 4
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/2 cup egg whites, about 4
2 1/2 cups chocolate ganache
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans. Combine the chocolate and water in a small saucepan and set over very low heat. Cook, stirring vigorously as the chocolate begins to melt, until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, and sift them together onto a large piece of waxed paper. Put the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth and well blended. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and the cooled chocolate mixture and beat until blended. Add the sifted dry ingredients in three parts alternately with the buttermilk, beating after each addition until the batter is smooth. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggwhites until they are stiff but moist. Gently stir one third of the beaten whites into the batter. Add the remaining whites and fold them in.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until a tooth pick insterted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pans for 5 minute, then turn out onto racks to finish cooling completely. Fill and ice with chocolate frosting.
