Double, double toil and trouble...

 

  This decadent recipe is a sublime combination of two of my favourite things; coffee and chocolate.  That said, it also happens to be the perfect recipe for Halloween ~ minus the eye of newt and the other disagreeable ingredients of course!

"Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,"
     ~William Shakespeare; Macbeth
   
     Double chocolate, double layers of cake and a cup of Tim Horton's double-double coffee; this recipe combines it all to make one delicious cake!  Not familiar with a double double? It's Canada's most popular Tim Horton's coffee with double the cream and double the sugar. Double your pleasure!

Double-Double Chocolate Cake

You will need:

2 oz  bittersweet Baker's chocolate
2 cups  all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cups  granulated sugar
½ cup  cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp  baking powder
1 tsp  salt
1 cup  buttermilk (*see recipe below)
½ cup  vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp  pure vanilla extract
1 cup  double-double coffee from Tim's

• Melt the chocolate in the microwave according to package directions.  Stir until the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool.
• Preheat the oven to 350°f (180°c). Butter and flour two 8-inch (20 cm) round cake pans.
• *To make  buttermilk ~ place a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup.  Add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line.  Let stand for five minutes.
• Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Mix together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl until well combined.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients with the mixer on low speed. Add the melted chocolate and the double-double coffee and mix just until combined.
•  Pour the batter into the pans, spreading evenly.
• Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean. *Cool the cakes in the pans until they are easy to handle, then move them to a wire baking rack.

 For the chocolate icing:

2 oz  bittersweet Baker's chocolate
1 cup  unsalted butter, softened
2 cups  icing sugar
¼ cup  whipping cream

• Melt the chocolate in the microwave according to package directions. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool.
• Whip the butter in the bowl with a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the melted and cooled chocolate and mix until combined.
• Slowly add the icing sugar to the chocolate mixture.
•  Add the whipping cream.
•  Continue mixing until the icing is smooth and thoroughly combined.
• Whisk on high for 1 minute more or until the icing is smooth and spreadable.

When cakes are cooled, invert one layer onto a cake platter. Spread the top with chocolate icing. Place the second cake on top of the icing. Spread the remaining icing evenly over the top and sides of the cake.

*Recipe from The Harrow Fair Cookbook: Prize-Winning Recipes Inspired by Canada’s Favourite Country Fair by Moira Sanders and Lori Elstone with Beth Goslin Maloney (Whitecap 2010).

 

Enjoy!