When Fatima saw this black chocolate cake in the October issue of Food Network Magazine, she said, “oh my gosh, we need to make this.” I looked at the ingredients and figured out where to get black cocoa powder.
Black cocoa powder is not as easy to find as I thought. Living in New York City, there are specialty bake shops everywhere. However, only one shop had this in stock, Sur La Table. Sure it’s online, but it’s way more expensive than buying it in a brick and mortar. It was also the week before Halloween, so I’m guessing it is a hot ingredient in Halloween desserts.
I called two Sur La Table locations. Midtown was sold out, but the upper east side had some in stock. I asked if I could reserve one, but was told there were enough that they wouldn’t go out of stock. I made my way uptown, got to the store and furiously searched for the black cocoa powder. There it was on the top shelf; the last one. As I was checking out, a woman came into the store and asked where to find black cocoa powder. I got out of there as fast as I could, haha!
Making the Black Chocolate Cake
Like the apple cider donuts, plan this recipe ahead of time. Luckily I spent a rainy Sunday making this cake, however, you’ll need to chill part of the cake batter for three to four hours before continuing. Once the cake is made and frosted, you need to chill for another hour. So start the process early.
Making the frosting was another process. You have to cook part of it on the stove (uses raw eggs) and transfer to the remaining ingredients. Have to be careful not to burn the frosting.
I took my time making this cake. Since I only had enough cocoa powder for the cake and the frosting, there was no room for errors. I carefully measured and double-checked each ingredient. The whole process took a little longer than I anticipated for this reason alone.
Making this cake was worth the time and effort. It’s dark, rich, and moist. A little on the dense side, but it truly is a decadent dessert. Oreos are made with black cocoa powder and this cake tasted like a giant Oreo cookie (without the cream filling). Fatima and I were saying a cream cheese frosting would pair perfectly with this cake and would give you all the Oreo vibes.
Check out the recipe at Food Network.
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