(Hershey) Black Magic Cake

I can’t help thinking about this cake after I saw Terri’s entry on the Hershey Black Magic Cake on Monday. The cake looked divinely delicious and I was yearning to sink my teeth in that piece of chocolate cake!! And since I have the ingredients in my pantry…….I made it yesterday!

There’s no Black Magic in this cake, simply the magic of chocolate that makes this chocolate ever so yummy. And when this cake is paired with the perfect frosting (I made chocolate ganache), this decadent cake was finger licking good!

 

Terri’s version of the Black Magic Cake was slightly trimmed to her preference (and her pictures look awesome), while the recipe I’m sharing below is the original recipe as posted by Hershey on their Hershey Kitchen site. I would take Terri’s advice on reducing the baking soda as I thought I could taste an extra tinge of baking soda in the cake. The cake turn out very soft and very moist. I baked some in a 8 inch round pan and some as cupcakes. Gave some away to my local librarian so that they can forgive me for returning a book late and to a neighboring friend…and still have lots for the two of us at home! This recipe is a keeper, one of the yummiest chocolate cake I’ve made from scratch!

(HERSHEY) BLACK MAGIC CAKE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Sugar
• 1-3/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 2 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1 Tsp Salt
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Cup Buttermilk or Sour Milk*
• 1 Cup Strong Black Coffee OR 2 Tsp Powdered Instant Coffee plus 1 Cup Boiling Water
• 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Method:

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan.
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes (batter will be watery / thin). Pour batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake for 10 mins, then remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost as desired. Yields 10 to 12 servings.

* To sour milk: Use 1 tablespoon white vinegar plus milk to equal 1 cup. This will curdle the milk!

June’s Notes: It is truly important to use good quality chocolate powder. Do not use store brand chocolate powder for this recipe. Unfortunately, I ran out of my Ghirardelli Cocoa Powder and all I had was a store (Market Basket) brand cocoa powder . I notice the obvious color difference between those 2 cocoa powder. My Ghirardelli cocoa powder was darker and richer in color compared to the store brand. I used half of each. Even though the cake still turn out very decadent (coz I still use some good quality cocoa), I bet it would taste even better if 100% Ghirardelli (or Hershey etc) Cocoa Powder was used.As I used an 8 inch pan, and filled it higher, it took me one hour plus to bake the cake till it’s done. The Cupcakes took me about 30 minutes to bake. If you are making cupcakes, filled it a little more than 1/2 full but definitely less than 3/4 full. 

For the ganache I used Ina Garten’s Chocolate Ganache recipe. It was a ultimate combination with the Black Magic Cake! Here’s the recipe:

CHOCOLATE GANACHE RECIPE

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Heavy Cream

8 Oz Good Semisweet Chocolate Chips

1 Tsp Instant Coffee Granules

Method:

Cook the heavy cream, chocolate chips, and instant coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Frost cake when your cake is completely cool.

June’s Notes: Only make this ganache when your cake has cooled completely! I used Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip to make the ganache and I added 1 Tsp of Vanilla Extract when I was melting the chocolate. My ganache frosting skill unfortunately is quite poor….but I think it would be forgiven once you take a bite at this cake!! I trimmed my cake to make it even before frosting. Saved the trimmed crumbs for my Cake Truffles which I would make later.