Little Miss Cleaver just turned five in March. (I know, I have no idea how that happened so fast either).
To celebrate such a momentous occasion, we had a big friend birthday party about a week before the actual day. But, in LMC's words, the "real party" was the one with family on her actual birthday. So even though we were solidly cupcaked-out by that point, a cake was still in order. Enter this deeply chocolaty, but petite cake - just enough for the three of us to handle and cute to boot.
There are hundreds of chocolate cake recipes out there, so I'll just say that this one was still really moist after three days at room temperature and I use my blog as my own personal recipe box and I wanted to put this out there so I can remember it for the next birthday.
This recipe will fill any of the following:
- One 9" cake pan
- Two 6" cake pans
- About 10-12 cupcakes
- Or a really thick 6" cake, plus a small ramekin. (which is what I did).
Small and Simple (-ly Delicious) Chocolate Cake
Cake
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup plus 3 Tbl unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup salted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbl sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 3 Tbl cold coffee
- 3 Tbl milk
Frosting
- 4 Tbl salted butter, softened
- 1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- up to 3 tbl milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Optional (lots of sprinkles to decorate)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Grease pan(s) and coat with cocoa powder or use liner if making cupcakes.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, In a small bowl or large measuring cup, combine coffee, milk, and yogurt.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla to sugar and mix until well combined.
Starting and ending with the flour mix, alternate adding flour mix and yogurt mix to sugar/egg mix, making sure batter is thoroughly combined before each addition.
Scrape batter into prepared pan(s), keeping the distribution as even as possible if using multiple pans.
Bake cake until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Start your timer at 20 minutes and check every 3-5 minutes thereafter, cooking times will vary based on which pan you choose.
Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes then invert unton rack to cool completely before frosting.
To make frosting: Beat butter until light and fluffy. Add cocoa and powdered sugar to butter. Add milk a tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is achieve and then beat in vanilla.
To decorate as shown: Place a large amount pf sprinkles into a pie pan or rimmed baking dish. Frost sides, but not top of cake. Being very careful, tilt the frosted cake into the pie pan and roll until sides are coated with sprinkles. Gently place cake unto serving dish or stand and press sprinkles into the side as needed. Frost top of cake. To make number, print out number of choice in a very large font (I think I used Impact here) in the center of a 5" circle. Cut out number with sharp scissors or an craft knife. Place template gently on top of cake, trying not to stick it to the frosting. Pour sprinkles into your template, mushing them into the frosting gently with you fingers and carefully remove template.
Goes excellently with a glass of milk.
Adapted from Ghirardelli's Grand Fudge Cake (aka the one on the back of the cocoa powder bag).
To print, see button at bottom of post.
