Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

After a long week, all I wanted to do was make the Chocolate Buttermilk Cake. I mean, what more is there to day…it’s chocolate. And it did not disappoint.

Now that I’ve made the Flourless Chocolate Wave Cake and Forever Malted Brownies, I have a better idea of what’s needed to make any chocolate cake from scratch. I pretty much had all the ingredients for this one. The first step was a little different from what I’ve done before to prepare pans; for this cake I had to coat the pans with flour after the butter. I wasn’t sure what this would mean for the look of the chocolate cake after I took them out of the pans.

After mixing the dry ingredients, I had to melt the chocolate with the coffee and cocoa powder. I never have a double boiler for this step in Claire’s recipes, but I came up with the idea of using my biggest measuring glass with a smaller pan filled with an inch of water. Overall, it worked, but was kind of messy. I prefer to just melt chocolate in the microwave! I then added the buttermilk once that part was done, creating a beautiful creamy chocolate mixture.

In my stand mixer, I then mixed the butter and sugars with the eggs. I always enjoy watching the base of the cake batter come together. It’s just so satisfying seeing ingredients change into something delicious. Once this was all done, I added in my flour and chocolate mixtures for a finished batter. I smoothed them into the cake pans, and in the oven they went.

I made sure to spread the cake pans out in the oven like Claire directed so everything was baked evenly. The cakes took around 30 minutes to bake throughout.

While the cakes were cooling I made the Silkiest Chocolate Buttercream (okay, actually I finished making the Pigs in a Brioche Blanket for dinner, which were fantastic, and then I worked on the buttercream at a ridiculously late hour). This is where things got interesting—and by interesting, I mean I almost royally screwed it up, which would have made my long day of baking turn into an emotional night of frustration.

Like the Italian meringue in the Preserved Lemon Meringue Cake, this French-style buttercream requires the simple syrup to be done cohesively while mixing the eggs. However, I wasn’t supposed to mix the eggs into a firm peak, but rather a ribbon texture. As Claire suggested, I got all the ingredients prepared ahead of time so I wouldn’t struggle getting everything done at the right moments. I am very grateful I had the experience with the Preserved Lemon Meringue Cake before doing this one—it was very difficult!

Now looking back, my problems started with the eggs. I had cracked them in the stand mixer when they were already room temperature. As I was working to get my sugar syrup to 238°, I was noticing my eggs were not really getting pale or ribbony. I’ve done this for other recipes in Dessert Person before, and it was clear something was off.

After lots of back and forth between the stove and the mixer, I became stressed. I didn’t want this whole thing to fall apart just because of the eggs, but I also didn’t want my sugar to begin crystalizing or burning.

I finally decided to keep my sugar at the right temperature while I switched out the eggs. These eggs weren’t at room temperature like the directions say, but the other ones just seemed to be too much at room temperature.

After moving to plan B, guess what? It worked! The eggs became pale and ribbony, my sugar didn’t burn, and things seemed to be working when I poured the sugar mixture into the eggs.

Things seemed to be matching the photos in Dessert Person until I got to beating in the butter; that’s when the mixture started looking extremely coagulated (and honestly disgusting). It almost reminded me of cheese curds when they’re still on the conveyer belt (a core memory for Wisconsinites). Again, it was late, and I wasn’t in the mood for a freak-out over buttercream.

Claire’s notes insisted if I just let the buttercream do its thing in the mixture for a while, it would come together. I’ve also made plenty of buttercream in my day to know it’s one of the more flexible baking recipes once the butter is added in. I decided to move my attention to taking the cakes out of the pans, which wasn’t as easy as I anticipated, but I made it happen. When I returned to look at the buttercream, it looked like buttercream! I was so relieved. I added the chocolate and voila! I created the Silkiest Chocolate Buttercream—and it was indeed very silky.

I frosted the tops of each cake layer, then spread more buttercream around the sides. I actually wished I had more buttercream; I’d recommend making a double batch to get those thick layers of frosting like in the Dessert Person picture. Once it was done, it just needed something extra, so I sprinkled chocolate sprinkles around the edges of the top.

More times than not when I bite into the desserts I make out of Claire’s book, they’re very good; but every time I bite into one of the cake recipes, I am in awe of how good it tastes. While it may seem obvious, it’s incredible how rich and flavorful a cake is when it’s made from scratch. The Chocolate Buttermilk Cake was beyond what I hoped for; the coffee comes in just slightly, making the chocolate absolutely decadent. And with the Silkiest Chocolate Buttercream, you may have thought you died and went to heaven (yes, it really is that good). My husband loved it as well, and if he’s going for seconds, that means it’s a hit. While I’m not sure if I’ll tackle the Silkiest Chocolate Buttercream again, I will definitely be adding this cake recipe to my list of favorites.

Not sure if Claire will make this one on her YouTube channel, but of course I’ll post it if she does!