Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake


A "back-of-box" recipe, but a reliable classic.
My mom loved this cake. It was our go-to chocolate cake recipe for years. We first found the recipe on the back of the tin of Hershey’s Cocoa (back in the day when cocoa came in a tin), and we kept that old tin around for years to keep the recipe (we never had the presence of mind to actually copy it down). We kept the tin in the pantry, but somehow it would disappear and reappear, get misplaced and found again and every time we found it we would celebrate by baking the cake. Someone would accidentally toss it and we would go out to the store and look for a new one that had both the cake and frosting recipe on it. Once Hershey’s made the label removable, we kept a number of labels squirreled away in drawers and cookbooks so we wouldn’t lose it. It’s an addictive cake, especially the sweet frosting. I remember one Friday after school we made the frosting, but never got to making the cake and just ate the frosting by the spoonful. It was my first cake that I made by myself to take to a social function (Latin club) and it was a hit. Then again, any cake is a hit for Jr. High School kids. Somehow, we stopped making this cake over the years. Maybe our tastes changed, maybe we just had forgotten about it, but we always held fond memories of baking this together. I have a feeling she had a hand in me choosing this recipe first. I’m happy to make for her again. 

The Recipe


Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Cake

2 cups sugar 

3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa 
1-3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder 
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda 
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water 


1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. Makes 11-12 servings.


"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.


Variations

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.
THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.
BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

The Bake
Super thin batter. Don't panic! 

Overall, this is an easy cake to bake, almost as easy as a boxed cake mix. The directions and ingredients are straightforward and no special techniques are required. There are a couple of keys to ensuring the batter comes out perfectly. Make sure you blend the wet and dry ingredients well when combining, making sure the cocoa isn’t clumpy and the eggs and milk are thoroughly combined. Give it at least two minutes on medium speed. If hand blending, put your weight behind it and stir well. The other key is to make sure when you fold in the boiling water (and yes, it does make a difference, avoid cold water), the batter will be thin. It's okay. Don’t panic and add more flour. If you do, the cake will be dry.



Being that this was the first time I had baked in awhile, and the first cake in this kitchen, I ran into a few baking issues with this cake. 

All three layers of the cake baked a little uneven, sloping down to the left, and the one that was on the left of the oven was the most lopsided. Since they all leaned down to the left, I’m suspecting this is a problem with my oven. It’s either slightly uneven heat, slightly uneven racks, or, slightly uneven kitchen. Since I live in LA in an older apartment building, the latter is most likely the case (we rock here in LA). Being that it is a wall oven and I’m a renter, I may have to get creative in finding ways to fix or compensate. (I have found other issues with my wall oven I will address in later posts).




Mom and I usually made this as a sheet cake or cupcakes. After I had decided to make it a layer cake, I didn’t realize I only had two 8-inch round cake pans instead of two 9-inch. Most conversion charts say you can just use the 8-inch, but I have seen some pretty nasty volcanic creations on some cakes that rose high. I couldn’t remember how high this cake rose and I didn’t want to risk having them overflow, so I baked two and then one after. Turns out, I probably had room to bake it as a 2-layer in 8-inch pans. My third layer was a little short. A great source for calculating cake pan switcheroos: http://dish.allrecipes.com/cake-pan-size-conversions


It has been a long time since I’ve frosted a cake, and I can’t remember the last time I made a layer cake (we never had the patience to wait that long to eat cake). Since it's a classic American buttercream frosting, if you overwork it after it starts to set, it will become a little grainy. I kept fussing with it to try and make it perfect, and it lost the silky shimmer. Note to self: don’t fuss with it so much.

The Results

This cake tastes EXACTLY as I remember. Moist, rich, sweet and oh so good. It’s a little like a fluffy brownie. The frosting adds an extra layer of chocolate sweetness. I usually prefer a less sugary cake (some store-bought cakes are way too sweet for me), but there is something about this one that I don’t mind the sweetness, and subsequent sugar rush after. Seriously. Be forewarned. One slice is close to the sugar equivalent to a Grande Caramel Frappuccino from Starbucks (I calculated it), but nearly half the sugar comes from the frosting, so if you want to avoid that face-plant sugar crash in the middle of binge-watching FARGO, you can keep the frosting light, or skip it all together. However, if you need that extra boost to finish that dream project of organizing your closet by color, season, and moon phase, pile it on. 

It's a great cake for newbie bakers or anyone who wants to avoid buying the boxed cake. Try it and see why it's stood the test of time. 


Not the best frosting job, but at least fully covered. 

I spoiled my dinner on this one!


I also discovered that my kitchen with it's 60's recessed lighting is very shadowy, and downright moody in some spots. Great for cocktail parties, but makes taking pretty pictures difficult. I'll have to find some creative ways to take better pictures on my limited camera equipment budget.

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