Recipe#4075

Title: Chocolate 12

rom: wts@bit-by-bit.com (Wade Stewart) 
 Newsgroups: rec.food.baking 
 Date: Mon, 03 Feb 1997 18:10:22 GMT 
 Message-ID: <32f61992.3059197@news.crl.com> 

3 oz Hershey's Baking Chocolate
 1/3 cup water
 3/4 cup butter or margarine
 2 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
 2 eggs
 1 teaspoon vanilla
 2 1/4 cups unsifted cake flour or 2 c. all-purpose flour
 1 teaspoon baking soda
 1/2 teaspoon salt
 1 cup water
 Break chocolate into pieces; place in small saucepan with 1/3 cup
 water.  Stir constantly over low heat until chocolate has melted.
 Cool.  Cream butter or margarine and sugar in large mixer bowl
 until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.  Blend
 in chocolate.  Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; add alternately
 with 1 cup water on low speed.  Beat just until well-blended.  Pour
 batter into well greased and floured cake pans.
 2 8" layer pans...........................35-40 minutes
 2 9" layer pans...........................30-35 minutes
 2 8" or 9" square pans...............30-35 minutes
 Bake at 350.  Cake is done if toothpick inserted in center comes
 out clean.  Cool 10 minutes.  Remove from pans.  Cool completely
 on wire racks.  Frost as desired.
 Creamy Chocolate Frosting
 3 T. butter
 3oz. Hershey's Baking Chocolate
 3 c. confectioners'  sugar
 1/4 t. salt
 1/2 c. milk
 1 t. vanilla.
 Melt butter in small saucepan; add chocolate and stir constantly over
 VERY LOW heat until melted.  Pour into small mixer bowl.  Add
 remaining ingredients; beat until well blended; chill until spreading
 consistency (10 to 15 minutes).
 Fills and frosts 8- or 9-inch layer cake or 13x9-inch cake.
 Hints:  
 Cocoa powder can be substituted in place of the baking chocolate
 squares and can be blended in small bowl then added when called
 for in the recipe.  This eliminates the need for melting the
 chocolate and enables you to use what you may already have in your
 cupboard.  1oz. (1 square) unsweetened chocolate = 3T. unsweetened
 cocoa powder + 1T shortening or cooking oil.
 Grease your cake pan with vegetable shortening or cooking spray.
 Do not use butter, margarine, or vegetable oil.  Spread with a
 paper towel or pastry brush, so entire inside surface is covered.
 Sprinkle 2T. flour inside pan and tilt from side to side to spread
 evenly.  Turn pan upside down and tap bottom gently to remove exess
 flour.   removal of your cake for cooling/decorating>
 Pour in the batter, spread evenly with a spatula and tap pan to
 remove air bubbles.  Cook on middle rack in oven until cake tests
 done.  To remove cake from pan, place cooling rack against cake
 and turn both cake and rack over.  Lift pan off carefully and let
 cake cool completely  before icing.  Then brush
 off any loose crumbs.  To transfer cake to serving plate, hold
 plate against cake and flip both plate and cake rack over.  Be sure
 to keep the cake and rack close to the plate while turning so cake
 doesn't crack.
 Icing the cake:
 Start with a level cake surface.  If the cake layers are uneven,
 trim off the raised portions using a serrated knife.  You can chill
 the cake first and may be easiest to do while still in the pan.
 Brush off all loose crumbs and you're ready to put the layers
 together.
 Put layers together with icing.  Use a spatula to cover the top of
 the bottom layer with icing.  Now place the top layer in position,
 so the flat base is the top of the cake.
 Ice the top of the cake.  Place a large amount of icing on the
 center of the top layer.  Spread the icing out evenly over the top
 of the cake with a spatula, pusing the excess icing down onto the
 sides of the cake.  Be sure to keep the spatula on the icing, not
 on the surface of the cake.
 Cover the sides, smooth out icing.  Ice the sides of the cake a
 section at a time, turning the plate as you continue around the
 cake.  When the sides are covered, hold the spatula upright against
 the cake.  Apply a little pressure to the spatula and turn the cake
 plate one complete rotatino to smooth the icing.  Next place the
 spatula flat on one edge of the cake top and slowly move it across
 to the other side, removing exess icing.  This gives the cake a
 smooth finish for decorating.