Dr. Feelgood’s Chocolate Cake

Well flavoristas, it has been a year since we began blogging and 300 posts later we still have a bajillion things that we want to pass along to you.  Barr and I enjoy sharing our kitchens and our finds with you.  We love the swiftness of blogging:  Writing about blueberries during blueberry season is much more fun than say roasting a Thanksgiving turkey in the heat of July.

We appreciate your readership, your comments and your support.  As we move into year 2, please continue to share flavorista with your friends and family.  If you like a certain post or recipe, share it via twitter, stumbleupon, facebook or e-mail.  Encourage fellow food lovers and home cooks to subscribe to flavorista.  Membership is free, no strings attached.

Many thanks to all of you for making the first year of flavorista so delicious.  We thought we would make you a virtual birthday cake.

As a side note, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this chocolate cake recipe.  It is super moist, super chocolately and very versatile.  There are countless versions of it. I happen to prefer the recipe featured below.  It does not require an electric mixer and it can be made in about 10 minutes, with basic pantry ingredients.

Flavorista Birthday Cake

When serving  a birthday crowd, a 9x13inch cake is the way to go.  To fill the cake, turn it out of the pan and slice through it horizontally to make a layer.  This cake was a vegan chocolate cake, frosted with vanilla buttercream and layered with raspberry jam.

Dr. Feelgood’s Chocolate Cake
adapted from Crescent Dragonwagon’s Passionate Vegetarian

non-stick baking spray, such as Baker’s Joy
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. white vinegar
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Generously grease a 9x13inch baking pan with non-stick baking spray (or grease and flour the pan).  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa, flour, salt and baking soda.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir like you mean it until the batter is smooth and free of lumps.  Feel free to whisk the batter or use a wooden spoon.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Hit the pan down on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles and to even out the batter.  Bake the cake for 25 – 30 minutes or until the sides have pulled away from the pan slightly and a cake tester come sout clean.  Let pan cool on a drying rack before turning it out from the pan.

Layer cake with buttercream frosting (recipe below) and raspberry jam.  It would also be lovely with apricot jam.  Refrigerate cake until needed.

Frosting
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
4 tsp. whipping cream or half & half, divided

Using an electric mixing, beat butter until light and fluffy.  Slowly mix in the sugar on low speeds.  When the sugar has been absorbed, add the vanilla, salt and 2 tsp. of the whipping cream.  Whip on a high speed until the frosting is light and evenly blended.  Add additional whipping cream, 1 tsp. at a time, if necessary to achieve the desired consistency.  Refrigerate any unused frosting for future use.