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    Home » Recipes » Cakes and Cupcakes

    Published: May 21, 2012 · Modified: Apr 21, 2021 by alexandra · This post may contain affiliate links

    Confession #64: I'm Cake Deprived... Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Satiny Chocolate Glaze

    Jump to Recipe

    I don't have enough reasons to bake cake, as evidenced by the fact that I'll immediatley jump at any cake occasion that may arise and then obsess over photo after photo of cake recipes trying to decide what to make. My family isn't big on cake, but you know what I think? Cake is good, and it's fun to make too!

    For me, cake pretty much always has to involve chocolate, and since almost everyone loves a good chocolate cake, I decided to start with that. My biggest rule for chocolate cake is that it has to be moist and chocolate-y, like you could practically eat it without frosting (but really why would you ever do that?). I have a go-to family recipe that fits the bill, but I decided to try something new, just for kicks, so after a bit of "research", I went with Beatty's Chocolate Cake from the Barefoot Contessa. I topped it with a Cream Cheese Frosting, which I thought would contrast nicely with the chocolate glaze I wanted to put on top. Plus, some people don't need triple doses of chocolate like I do, right?. The Satiny Chocolate Glaze finished it off perfectly, making it look special and hiding my less than perfect frosting job. Speaking of which, if you can't frost a cake to save your life, you need this glaze!

    One big mess later, I had a cake that I was quite happy with. Everyone LOVED it, and some even deemed it the best cake they've ever eaten, which made my day. :)

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    Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Satiny Chocolate Glaze

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    A moist chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and a glossy chocolate glaze to finish makes for a yummy cake with a pretty presentation, declared by some to be the best cake ever!

    • Cook Time: 35 minutes
    • Total Time: 35 minutes
    • Yield: 1 cake 1x

    Ingredients

    Scale

    Cake

    • butter, for greasing pans
    • 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for pans
    • 2 cups sugar
    • ¾ cup good-quality cocoa powder (I used dutch-processed)
    • 2 teaspoons baking soda
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 2 eggs (room temperature if you can help it)
    • 1 cup buttermilk (or substitute)
    • ½ cup vegetable oil
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

    Cream Cheese Frosting

    • 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
    • 10 tablespoons butter, softened (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons)
    • 3 ⅓ cups powdered sugar
    • 2 pinches salt
    • ¾ teaspoon milk
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    Satiny Chocolate Glaze

    • ¾ cup chocolate chips
    • 3 tablespoons butter, cubed
    • 1 tablespoon corn syrup
    • ¼ teaspoon vanilla
    • ½-1 teaspoon hot water

    Instructions

    To make the cake:

    1. Preheat oven to 350 F and prep your cake pans: Butter two 8-inch by 2-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper, and grease and flour parchment.*
    2. Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
    3. In the seperate bowl of a stand mixer, beat the eggs well. Add the buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Beat to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix in on lowest speed until just incorporated. Slowly mix in coffee.
    4. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or just until a toothpick stuck into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes in pan before removing. Let cool completely before frosting.
    5. To assemble the cake, place one layer of cake on a plate or cake stand and generously frost the top. Place the other layer of cake on top and frost along the top and sides to desired finish.
    6. Pour chocolate glaze on top of cake, delicately using the back of a spatula to spread it around the entire top of the cake without pushing into the frosting. Allow glaze to drizzle down sides.

    To make the Cream Cheese Frosting:

    1. In the (clean) bowl of a stand mixer, beat the softened cream cheese and butter on high until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, milk, salt and vanilla and beat (slowly at first to incorporate the powdered sugar, and then faster) until light and smooth.

    Satiny Chocolate Glaze

    1. Melt chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup in a double boiler over hot water, stirring constantly until chocolate chips are melted. (If you don't have a double boiler, you can achieve this same effect by placing the ingredients in a heat-safe bowl and setting the bowl over a saucepan filled with water.
    2. Remove from heat and stir more, if necessary, until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Add ½-1 teaspoon hot water as needed to make a very thin glaze that will easily puddle over the cake.

    Notes

    *I used 9-inch cake pans, and it worked just fine. 

    Have you made this recipe?

    Tag @brighteyedbaker on Instagram and hashtag it #brighteyedbaker

    Chocolate Cake Recipe adapted from: Food Network

    Satiny Chocolate Glaze adapted from: All Recipes

    Cream Cheese Frosting is a Bright-Eyed Baker Original.

    More Cake and Cupcake Recipes

    • Irish Coffee Cake
    • Halloween Spider Web Cupcakes (gluten-free option)
    • Simple and Moist Carrot Bundt Cake (gluten-free option)
    • Moist Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes with Easy Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting {gluten-free/df options}

    Reader Interactions

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    1. Dielle says

      November 16, 2012 at 1:12 pm

      How do you store the cake? Does it need refrigeration because of the cream cheese?

      Reply
      • alexandra says

        November 16, 2012 at 2:13 pm

        I would definitely refrigerate it for that reason. If you have a cake carrier of some sort you could put it in there to keep it neater, or otherwise I would just cover with plastic wrap or foil as neatly as possible.

        Reply
    2. Riley says

      September 30, 2012 at 9:26 pm

      Thanks so much for this recipe! It looks great! I'm going to try it for my mom's birthday :) I always go to your recipes now when I am looking for a great recipe! They always turn out wonderful and I love them because they are from scratch! Your pictures are beautiful by the way :)

      Reply
      • brighteyedbaker says

        October 02, 2012 at 8:36 am

        Thank you so much! You have no idea how happy it makes me to here you say that. I hope you continue to love all of the recipes you try!

        Reply
    3. CMaurice says

      September 06, 2012 at 10:51 am

      OMG never mind I missed the last part of recipie-the assembly...sorry (senior moment)

      Reply
      • brighteyedbaker says

        September 06, 2012 at 4:00 pm

        Haha :) You confused me for a second there! Are you making it? If so, let me know how it goes!

        Reply
    4. CMaurice says

      September 06, 2012 at 10:47 am

      Did you use a filling for the cake? or use the frosting for the middle?

      Reply
    5. love2dine says

      May 23, 2012 at 2:58 am

      Oh man, these look amazing!!!

      Reply
      • brighteyedbaker says

        May 25, 2012 at 8:16 am

        Thanks! Who can resist cake, right?

        Reply
    6. Rebekah says

      May 22, 2012 at 6:57 pm

      Incredible.....I HAVE to make this sometime soon!

      Reply
      • brighteyedbaker says

        May 25, 2012 at 11:10 am

        Thanks! You definitely should!

        Reply
    7. Spencer says

      May 21, 2012 at 11:15 pm

      This recipe is music to my ears! I would so love to eat that cake. It looks absolutely amazing.

      Reply
      • brighteyedbaker says

        May 22, 2012 at 10:24 am

        I would love a piece right now too, lol :) Thanks for the sweet comment!

        Reply

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    Hey There! Thanks for stopping by! Here's what you can expect to find on Bright-Eyed Baker: lots of baked goods and other sweets made from scratch (many of which are gluten-free), plus the occasional savory recipe or mixed drink. My goal is to show you that from-scratch baking - gluten-free or not! - doesn't have to be intimidating. Learn more about me.

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