Death by Chocolate Cake

I love to bake, and for once I actually managed to get photos before devouring the entire thing. I wasn't able to get a shot of the entire cake before slicing into it, perhaps next time.

The recipe is a slight variation on the classic Brooklyn Blackout cake. Some purists may not like my little twist, but I felt the traditional pudding frosting would make it too chocolate-y. Besides, I'm a sucker for cream cheese frosting.

The end result is delightfully moist and rich chocolate cake with the lovely tang of cream cheese.

Brooklyn Blackout Cake (from here):
8 tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick), plus extra for greasing pans
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, pre-sift before measuring, plus extra for dusting pans
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp table salt
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 cup strong black coffee
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees
2. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans
3. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl
4. Melt butter in a medium sauce pan, misk in cocoa powder and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute
5. Turn off heat and whisk in coffee, buttermilk and sugars
6. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla, then slowly whisk in flour mixture
7. Divide batter between the two pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs stuck to it
8. Let cool 10 minutes before flipping cake onto cooling rack. Then cool completely for 1 hour before frosting.

Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
16 oz Cream Cheese
Powdered Sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Cream together butter and cream cheese
2. Mix in vanilla
3. Flavor with powdered sugar.

Note: Lots of recipes put a precise amount of powdered sugar, but I prefer going by taste and texture. I like using less powdered sugar, unless I need the icing to be stiffer.