Black Magic Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups white sugar

1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk
(If you don't have any buttermilk or sour milk then make your own by combining 1 Tbsp. of white vinegar with enough milk to make 1 cup and let sit for 10 minutes until it curdles.)

1 cup strong black coffee
(Don't be thrown off by the addition of the coffee. It will not give the cake a coffee flavor at all; it just gives the cake its really dark color and extra moistness.)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Place a circle of parchment paper in the bottom of two 9-inch round baking pans and then spray pans generously with a non-stick cooking spray. The parchment paper will ensure that your cakes come out of the pan easily, with none of the bottom getting stuck to the pan.

 

Whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add in the eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla, and beat with a mixer on medium speed for approx. 2 minutes. Note: The batter will be thin. Pour the batter evenly into prepared pans. 

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes, then remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache Ingredients:

6 oz. half and half cream

9 oz. semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Chocolate Ganache Directions:

In a saucepan, heat the cream to just about boiling and then pour it over the semi-sweet chocolate. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, then stir gently until combined. It thickens as it cools and becomes pourable. When it is the right consistency, pour it over the cake and spread evenly with a spatula.

To assemble the cake:

Once the cakes are completely cooled, spread a layer of raspberry jam that has been diluted with water onto the base layer. Then, gently place the other cake layer on top of the jam. I frosted this cake with a pourable chocolate ganache and garnished with raspberries. I definitely recommend always using fresh instead of frozen berries to garnish cakes with. I tried to cheap out and use frozen raspberries on mine and they ended up just making a melted mess. Even though this meant the cake wasn't as nice to look at it still tasted amazing!

*Recipe from HERSHEY'S