Chocolate Cake and Cooked Vanilla Frosting

I'll start off by telling you something that you probably don't know about me.  Are you ready????

I'm not a cake person.  There I said it.  Got if off my chest and now I think we can move on, unless you're sitting there shocked.

What can I say, I would rather just eat savory food than sweet stuff, so I have to really be in the mood for cake, and then it can't just be any cake.

Chocolate is by far, my favorite.  I remember as a teenager, I had this recipe for chocolate cake that came from my best friend's mom.  It was SO good and I made it many times for my family.  And then I lost the recipe and have never been able to find one I really liked, until this one.

A Feast for the Eyes is one of my favorite blogs, she has such yummy food and beautiful photographs, so when I came upon her recipe for chocolate cake, I had to try it, and it's become my favorite chocolate cake.

I also saved her recipe for cooked frosting which is something that left me a little perplexed at first, especially since it's base is a flour and milk roux.  Weird.  But oh my word........I tried it and it was fantastic.  It's now my go to frosting for any cake.

Chocolate Cake and Cooked Vanilla Frosting

For the cake:
1-¾ cup all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur Flour unbleached flour)
2 cups sugar
¾ cups unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup black coffee, cooled (I used a dark roast coffee. You can't taste the coffee, but the chocolate is deeper in flavor and richness with this ingredient
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 Tbsp lemon juice with milk to equal 1 cup; or 1 Tbsp vinegar with milk to equal 1 cup)
½ cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the cooked vanilla frosting:
5 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur brand)
1 cup milk
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla
NOTE: I doubled these ingredients to be sure I had enough to frost a cake.


Directions

For the cake:
Prepare 2 9-inch cake pans (I always line mine with parchment paper and then use a non-stick baking spray with flour.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, & salt in a large bowl or in bowl of stand mixer.

Add eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil, & vanilla.
Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. (Batter will be thin.)

Divide evenly into cake pans (this cake makes a great sheet cake or cupcakes).

Best part of making chocolate cake?  Licking the bowl.

Bake for 20 minutes (for cupcakes) or 27 minutes (approx) for a baking pan at 350°F or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool completely and frost.

FOR THE FROSTING:
Whisk together in a saucepan the flour and milk.

Cook over medium heat until starting to thicken and cook for a minute or two more— don’t let it get too thick or it will be too stiff when it cools. (The roux has to boil for a little bit for the flour to cook and lose its starchy flavor.)

Pour into a wide bowl and allow to cool, stirring now and again. If the roux is lumpy when it cools, just press it through a fine sieve.

Beat together a cup of unsalted butter and a cup of granulated sugar until light (you really need an electric hand mixer or stand mixer for this).

Beat in the cooled roux about two tablespoons at a time. As you beat and add the roux, the frosting turns creamy (6-8 minutes) instead of grainy from the sugar — almost like “magic”!

Add 1-2 tsp vanilla and beat some more until it’s light and creamy.

TIP: Don’t chill the roux in the fridge or it will be too hard to beat stuff into.

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