Crispy top and fudgy on the inside, not too sweet and dusted with powdered sugar. It has a strong coffee flavor that could be cut back for kids. Just substitute with water. But the coffee flavor is just screaming for a side of Kahlua or Bailey’s spiked whipped cream!
Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
- 1 cup hot coffee (original recipe calls for 3/4 c water and 1 tsp espresso powder)
- 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (original calls for bittersweet chocolate)
- 3/4 cup (2 1/4 oz) cocoa powder
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/4 c oil (original calls for no oil, just butter, but I like the texture oil brings, and 1 stick of butter is less of a hassle than 1 1/2 stick)
- 1 3/4 cup (8 3/4 oz) flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 8 TBSP butter, softened (original calls for 12 TBSP)
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1 TBSP vanilla
- 5 eggs
- chopped nuts or chocolate chips could be folded in right before pouring the batter into the pans
- Powdered sugar for topping
Set oven rack to lower middle rack and preheat to 350 degrees
Add chocolate chips and cocoa powder to hot coffee in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside to let cool, then whisk in sour cream and oil.
Sift dry ingredients together and set aside.
With a stand mixer with a paddle, beat butter, vanilla and brown sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Then add eggs.
Add dry ingredients (3 parts) and wet ingredients (2 parts) to the butter mixture. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate the butter stuck on the bottom of the bowl.
I divided the batter into a 6-cup bundt pan and a 9X9 glass baking dish. Bake for about 45 minutes. Let cool and top with powdered sugar.
The cake in the Bundt pan actually baked more quickly than the baking dish. The texture of the cake was like a regular cake. The cake in the baking dish turned out to be somewhat like a fudge brownie on the bottom half and a cake on the top. I’m really enjoying the fudgy version, cutting it into small bars and eating it more like a brownie.
Nesting On A Hill 