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The Best High Altitude Chocolate Cake
By Heather Smoke, Curly Girl Kitchen
Recipe Link
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened, Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp instant espresso powder or instant coffee
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
- 2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened, Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted to break up lumps
- 1 tbsp meringue powder, optional
- 1/4 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-4 tbsp milk, if needed
Directions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and spray the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray. If making half the recipe, use three 6-inch cake pans.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Separately, whisk together the eggs, milk, sour cream, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk until combined, about 15 seconds.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake on the center oven rack for about 22-28 minutes, until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched, or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pans on a cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, meringue powder and salt, mixing to combine.
- Add the vanilla, and increase the speed to medium (#4-6 on a Kitchen Aid mixer); whip for 4-5 minutes until very light and fluffy, scraping the bowl down occasionally, and only adding the milk if needed for desired consistency.
- Turn the speed down to “stir” and mix for 2 minutes to eliminate big air bubbles.
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. Place one cake layer on a cake board, and frost with a layer of buttercream. Repeat stacking and filling the cake layers, then frost all over with a thin “crumb coat” of buttercream. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set the crumb coat. Keep the bowl of remaining buttercream covered. Frost all over with a final, swirly layer of buttercream.
- If you have any extra buttercream leftover, fit a piping bag with tip 1M, fill with the buttercream, and pipe a few swirls on top of the cake. Decorate with chocolate squares.