Beatty’s Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream
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This chocolate cake, made with buttermilk and oil — no butter — and exclusively cocoa — no melted chocolate — is incredibly light and moist and stays this way for days. It’s an Ina Garten recipe, one she begged for from a friend, the grandson of Beatty, after taking one bite. It has become a family favorite — a real crowd pleaser with adults and children alike.
Earlier this month, upon realizing that I had officially become my mother, not only in my preferences, but also in how I impose my preferences on others — dark meat chicken, cakes without frosting — I decided it might be wise to branch out a bit, to bake a cake with not one but two layers and to guild it not with a delicate dusting of powdered sugar but with a slathering of silky frosting.
It was a healthy exercise. You see, I didn’t know that frosting — chocolate buttercream in this case — has the ability to silence a table surrounded by both toddlers and adults and afterward to elicit unprompted comments such as: “You are such a good cooker.” This cake, made with buttermilk and oil — no butter — and exclusively cocoa — no melted chocolate — is incredibly light and moist and stays this way — tasting freshly baked — for days. It’s another Ina Garten recipe, one she begged for from a friend, the grandson of Beatty, after taking one bite.
I’m so happy I branched out. Because while I am completely embracing that I am my mother’s daughter, adoring almond tortes and torta capreses, I understand there is a time and a place for layers of cake and frosting. A silent table is always (or almost always) a sign of success.
How to Make Beatty’s Chocolate Cake, Step by Step
First, sift the dry ingredients together: flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt:
Next combine the wet ingredients: buttermilk, oil, eggs, vanilla, coffee:
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.
How to Make a Parchment Paper Circle Cake Bottom:
Transfer the batter to two buttered and parchment-paper-lined baking dishes.
Bake until done.
How to Make Chocolate Buttercream:
Frost the cake by spreading just under half of the frosting over one layer. Top with the other layer; then spread the remaining frosting over the cake and on the sides.
Beatty’s Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream
- Total Time: 1 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings
Description
Adapted from: Barefoot Contessa at Home
This chocolate cake, made with buttermilk and oil — no butter — and exclusively cocoa — no melted chocolate — is incredibly light and moist and stays this way for days. It’s an Ina Garten recipe, one she begged for from a friend, the grandson of Beatty, after taking one bite. It has become a family favorite — a real crowd pleaser with adults and children alike.
A few notes:
- Ina uses the stand mixer, but I find it works great just by mixing with a whisk and spatula.
- I now make this in one bowl: whisk together the dry ingredients; then add the wet one by one, being sure I beat the eggs prior to adding them to the bowl.
- I’ve added weight measurements, because that’s how I prefer to bake.
- The original frosting recipe calls for a raw egg yolk, but I omit it and don’t notice a difference.
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- Butter, for greasing the pans
- 1 3/4 cups (225 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
- 2 cups (418 g) sugar
- 3/4 cups (66 g) good cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons (10 g) baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) kosher salt
- 1 cup (225 g) buttermilk, shaken
- 1/2 cup (108 g) vegetable oil
- 2 extra-large eggs (98 g) at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
For the Chocolate Buttercream:
- 6 ounces good semisweet chocolate (Ina recommends Callebaut.)
- 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups (152 g) sifted confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch x 2-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then flour the pans.
- Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Add the coffee and stir just to combine. Batter will be really thin. Pour the batter — if you feel like being really precise, pour about 690g of batter into each pan — into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
- To make the frosting: Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature. Alternatively: Melt in the microwave at 30 second to 1-minute intervals until spreadable.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. On low speed, add the chocolate to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don’t whip. Spread immediately on the cooled cake.
- Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Cake
- Method: Mix
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Beatty’s, chocolate, cake, buttercream
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
281 Comments on “Beatty’s Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream”
Thanksgiving is really delicious, everything about it. #1. Hand-traced Turkeys, with people inspiration/gratitude written on the palm, decorated however one personally feels their turkey should look. #2. Anything home made with fresh ingredients and love. It’s true…I can’t even sit here and think of my favorite. I have had SO many good dishes, and they always have those two things in common.
I adore this cake! Best chocolate cake I’ve made. 🙂
I look forward to my mom’s apple pie. So delicious!
My favorite tradition is prepping homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas Eve and baking them up for the family in the morning.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition, weird as it may sound, is my uncle’s spicy pickled green beans.
Beatrice Ojakangas s danish pastries made in the food processor………..spicy swedish cookies………..sage and onion stuffing. Pecan pie with the nuts chopped quite small.
Beatrice Ojakangas s danish pastries made in the food processor………..spicy swedish cookies………..sage and onion stuffing. Pecan pie with the nuts chopped quite small.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is pork roast with enough really good gravy that you could have it as a beverage. The best part is making the pork stock ahead of time. I use fresh hocks, and try to find something interesting to do with all the luscious meat left once the hock has flavored the stock.
My favorite tradition is making a huge breakfast on Christmas Eve, then on Christmas morning we have homemade cinnamon rolls and cafe lattes! Yum
I’m not complicated, my favorite thing is simply the stuffing cooked in turkey. I could inhale it. Such flavor from the turkey’s juices. And of course some turkey. Love the little dark meat nuggets under the drummies. After that, my pumpkin pie made with sweetened condensed milk. Yum!
Ohhh my favorite will always be green bean casserole! With tons of crispy fried onions, of course. I think I’m the only one who likes it, because I’m ALWAYS the one to make it!
Turkey, dressing, and candied sweet potatoes. I could live on those three treats for the rest of my life and be perfectly content.
Super excited about fresh cranberries, persimmons, and citrus!
Love making cranberry sauce, olive oil-orange cake, and persimmon bread.
Thanks for the chance to win!
Also, Happy Birthday to your little one, what a cutie!
My favorite part of thanksgiving is the jalapeño cream corn. It’s always the first to go. This year, I also want to incorporate some of my culture into the day. I’m going to attempt to make my mom’s baklava and kak.
My sweetie’s mother-in-law was famous for her nut rolls at Christmas, which her daughters said came from a secret recipe. Not knowing any better, I asked her about them and she whipped out the recipe. Now it’s my Christmas treat to savor and to give away, especially now that she’s gone. She’d make like 40 loaves. I settle for four and they’re all in her memory.
Pie – any kind but pumpkin, cherry, lemon or apple are my best for the holidays. My mom is tasked with the pie making and she learned it from my nana and now my sister and I are keeping the tradition going. I am really looking forward to it!
My favorite thanksgiving food is mashed potatoes.
Last year I made Sugared Cinnamon Almonds in my slow cooker. The kitchen and the slow cooker smelled like cinnamon for days! It’s my new holiday tradition.
I try to buy organic, fair-traded goods whenever possible, but even more essential to me is the assurance that it’s 100% VEGAN. Read “The World Peace Diet” by Will Tuttle. Most brilliant book EVER!
The dish I look forward to the most for Thanksgiving is my tia’s sweet potato and marshmallows casserole. The crispiness of the outside and smoothness of the inside is a great texture combination!
As this post features a birthday cake, I’ll share with you my fav. My mom has an old newspaper clipping titled Marva William’s cake. It is essentially a sponge cake with real chocolate whipped cream frosting. Once it comes out of the oven, my mom cools it upside down on a bottle. I’ve requested this cake for my birthday for as long as I can remember. Now, 30+ years later, if my mom makes it when I am not at home, I get a phone call letting me know who received my customary special treat of licking the beaters!
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for cooking and baking! Among other dishes, I will make my grandmother’s squash biscuits. She made these wonderful soft rolls every year until she was 93. I will also make the gravy using her silver spoon, literally worn down at the edge from years of stirring. She passed away last month, and we will all remember her as we sit down to the table. Maybe with this new chocolate cake recipe!
Love your recipes! My favorite is Thanksgiving Turkey with homemade sage sausage stuffing. My best friend, who passed away 2 years ago, taught me and my daughter how to make it, and now, my daughter and I carry on her tradition. It would not be Thanksgiving without our dear Frannie’ s stuffing! We are so grateful that she shared so many wonderful holidays with us.
I am a traditionalist when it comes to my Thanksgiving meal. Standard Roast Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes/gravy & butternut squash! I look forward to the planning of this meal & spending hours preparing for my family.
Here in India, what I love most about the festival season is the tradition of sharing food. Starting with Diwali, when we go to my friend’s house to feast on her mother’s homemade Indian sweets and savouries, until Christmas, when my mother makes her fruit cake and we go around giving it to our neighbours, there’s a joy in giving and receiving homemade food that is deeply engrained in our culture. To add to it is the tradition that you never return a box or plate empty – you always have to send it back with something in it.
Since moving from Louisiana to California, I’ve come to appreciate the Cajun cooking passed down from my Maw-Maw and my Mom. During the holidays, I make batches of pralines drizzled with chocolate and give them to my friends and neighbors… It’s my way of brining a little Cajun to the West Coast!
First of all, this cake is so AMAZING, as is your blog. I enjoy it so much and come looking for inspiration and ideas all the time. I’m looking forward to Christmas baking and spending time with my family most of all. I love making Christmas cookies and homemade hot chocolate. For Thanksgiving, I’m thinking I may have to try a fun new pie and a twist on a standard veggie.
My cornbread stuffing adapted from Paula Deen’s recipe. It’s actually the first leftover to disappear.
I am a Southern girl and Thanksgiving and Christmas, we eat. Your recipes are used from entrees to desserts. Keep on Cooking and we will keep on eating!
Awww, thanks, Sharon!!