Beatty's Chocolate Cake by Ina Garten

I am a huge fan of the Barefoot Contessa otherwise known as Ina Garten and in fact bake from her books a lot.  I have scrolled through the pages often and have seen a fabulous chocolate cake with shiny chocolate that looks delectable but for whatever reason have never made it, until today! And I am so happy that I did because this cake is light, moist, sweet, and has a rich chocolate flavor.

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

13/4 cups flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup butter milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare two 8 inch round baking pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper, then spray with baking spray or butter and flour.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until combined.

In a separate bowl add eggs, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla, mix to combine. With the mixer on low speed slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With the mixer still on low, add the coffee until just combined, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a spatula.

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, the. Turn out onto wore rack, remove parchment and cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, Not chocolate chips

2 sticks of unsalted  butter, softened

1 large egg yolk at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

11/4 sifted powdered sugar

1 tablespoon instant coffee dissolved in 2 teaspoons hot water

Chop the chocolate and place in a bowl over simmering water. Stir until just melted the set aside to cool to rom temperature.

In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment beat the butter until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eg yolk and the vanilla and beat an additional 3 minutes. Turntable he mixer on low and add the powdered sugar then beat at medium speed until smooth and creamy. Turn mixer to low speed and add the coffee and the melted chocolate, mix until just blended. Don't whip. Spared the frosting on the cooled cake.

Note: The egg yolk makes the frosting shiny, you can omit it and just whip the frosting a bit more. Also, I used 2 9" square pans although the recipe calls for round. I cut one in half and made this cake.

I hope that you try this fabulous cake! Have a great day.

Linking to:
Rooted in Thyme
Coastal Charm
Inspiration Monday
Savvy Souther Style
Katherine's Corner-Thursday
Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Egg Cookies

Good morning! Happy Weekend! If you are anything like me you bought a little too much candy and are now getting perhaps a little tired of the Peeps and the Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs?

I haven't come up with a dessert yet for the Peeps but I can help you with the peanut butter eggs, by using them as a simple addition to these scrumptious chocolate cookies!

The recipe is adapted from a one of the most talented and easy to cook with people, Ina Garten, otherwise known as the Barefoot Contessa.

 It is from her cookbook Foolproof. I have made several changes, so if you want the original recipe just follow the link above, where you will find this as well as many other delicious recipes.

Chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Egg Brownie Cookies

Adapted from Ina Garten recipe in Family Circle Magazine

Ingredients

6 tablespoon unsalted butter

12 oz of 60% chocolate chips divided

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon instant coffee granules

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 plus 1 tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup of Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs chopped

Preheat oven to 325. Line baking sheets with Silphat or parchment paper. Set aside.

In a bowl over simmering water melt the butter, the unsweetened chocolate and 6 ounces of the chocolate chips. Stir occasionally. Once melted set aside to cool for 15 minutes.

In a bowl combine the flour, salt and baking powder, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the eggs, coffee, and vanilla until just combined. Then add the eggs. Mix on medium to high speed until the batter is thick, about 2-3 minutes. 

With the mixture on low, add the COOLED chocolate. Then add the flour/salt mixture and fold into the chocolate mixture. Do not stir! You will break down the egg mixture.

In a separate bowl combine the remaining 6 ounces of chocolate chips and the peanut butter eggs, add 1 tablespoons of flour and mix to coat.

Add the chip/peanut butter egg mixture to the batter and fold into the mixture. Again, do not stir. 

With a medium cookie scoop, drop rounded mounds onto cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes and no more. Let cookies cool on sheets. Pour a glass of milk and enjoy one or more!

NOTE: I baked one pan at a time and notices that the cookies baked first came out with a different appearance than the ones that sat, they has more of a shine and seems lighter.

What do you think? Will you try them?

Enjoy the cookies and enjoy your weekend!!!!

Linking to:
Rattlebridge Farm
I Should be Mopping the Floors
Savvy Southern Style

Taste Test: The Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownies

Yum!

Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa is one of my favorite people to watch on the Food Network, not only for her recipes but for the views of her fabulous house, barn and garden. Her cookbooks are also a favorite, for the beautiful photography, and delicious recipes.

This recipe is one of the most popular of the Barefoot Contessa, which was Ina's shop in the Hampton's. As I have mentioned on this blog in the past, this recipe is delicious and outrageous because the recipe makes enough brownies for an army, 20 huge brownies or 40 regular size.

Outrageous brownies
recipe adapted from Ina Garten

1 pound butter
1 pound plus 12 oz of semisweet chips
6 oz unsweetened chocolate
6 extra large eggs
3 tablespoons of coffee granules
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup sugar
11/4 cup of flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

3 cups of walnuts optional

Ingredients

Ingredients

Eggs, sugar, vanilla, coffee

Egg mixture, melted chocolate mixture and flour

All ingredients, mixed and waiting for a pan

Raw batter

Too Hot to Handle!

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Butter and flour a 12x18x1 inch baking sheet

3. Melt butter, 1 pound of chocolate chips and the unsweetened chocolate in a bowl over simmering water.

4.Set aside to cool.

5. In a large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, coffee, vanilla. Do not beat. Set aside.

6. Stir slightly cooled chocolate into egg/sugar mixture, cool to room temperature.

7. In medium bowl, sift salt,flour and baking powder.

8. Add flour mixture to cooling chocolate mixture. Pour into baking sheet.

9. Bake 20 minutes, then tap pan on oven rack to release air bubbles. Bake another 15 minutes, test with a toothpick to see if it comes out clean, do not over bake. Allow to cool.


I hope you enjoy these! They are delicious and a favorite of all the brownie lovers in my life!