Chocolate Blackout Cake

New York style chocolate blackout cake is one of the darkest, richest, and densest chocolate cakes you may ever have the luxury of eating. Consisting of layers of spongy cake seperated and covered by a thick custard-like frosting, this is a cake to be reckoned with.

This recipe comes to me from my mother who has fairly high standard when it comes to chocolate blackout cake. For some time she has been trying to recreate the cake she used to get from the now-defunct Pakula's Bakery in Spring Valley, NY. While some versions have been close, this apparently is the stand-out amongst the bunch. From my viewpoint, this cake would be at home in a traditional Brooklyn bakery or sitting in a display case at a Jersey diner. In short, this cake is quite good.

For the cake batter:

1 stick of butter (unsalted)
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2-1/4 cups cake flour
1 cup milk

For the frosting:

3 cups water
2-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups Dutch process cocoa powder
1 Tbsp corn syrup
5 Tbsp corn starch
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla

Before you start baking the cake, cut parchment paper into circles and line the bottom of two cake 9" pans.

With a stand mixer and a whisk attachment (or hand mixer), cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugar until it starts to get seemingly light and fluffy.

Put the mixer onto low speed and add the eggs, mixing them in one at a time.

Next add the vanilla, baking power, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.

Finally, add the milk and flour in small increments, switching between the two.

When it is done, it should look chocolaty and creamy.

Spread the batter evenly between the two cake pans.

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.

Bake the cake for 45-55 minutes on the middle cooking rack.

Chop the butter for the frosting into small pieces.

In a large sauce pan, mix together 2-1/2 cups of water, the sugar, and the cocoa powder.

Whisk this mixture over a medium-high flame until brought to a boil.

If it becomes a rolling boil, turn the heat down a bit.

Dissolve the corn starch in a 1/2 cup of water and then pour it into the sauce pan.

Whisk vigorously for a few minutes while bringing it back up to a slight boil.

The mixture should start to get very thick and dark.

Remove the frosting from the flame and add butter and vanilla.

Stir until they are both combined.

Pour all of the frosting into a large bowl.

Cover the frosting with plastic wrap and then refrigerate for about an hour.

It helps if the wrap is gently placed directly onto the chocolate frosting itself to keep a skin from forming on top.

If everything was timed correctly, there should still be a few minutes before the cake is ready.

Now would be a good time to eat whatever excess frosting you can find... or clean. I suppose you can always start to clean up.

Stick a toothpick or skewer into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it is ready to take out of then to let cool.

This cake should sit for about 10-15 minutes once removed from the oven.

Flip the cake out onto the cooling racks.

Let them get to be about room temperature.

Cut each of the cakes into two equal halves with a sharp serated knife.

Take the ugliest of the four cake sections, and crumble it up into crumbs for coating the edge of the cake.

Place the large crumbles into a food processor and blend them down to much finer crumbs.

Before starting, figure out which section is the flattest, and set this aside for the top.

Place one layer on your cake stand and frost the top.

Stack the next layer on top, and frost the top again.

Finally, put the remaining layer with the flat side up.

Frost the sides of the cake and then the top layer.

Coat the outer edge of the cake with the fine crumbs.

Alternately, if you decided to not make crumbs and make a four-layer cake, then coat the outside with dark chocolate chips.

Let the whole the chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Slice the cake and serve.

It is extremley rich and goes good with milk.