Capitol Grade Dark Chocolate Cake Recipe

Mar 13, 2012 3:01 pm

Our tribute is this recipe from The Hunger Games

By Emily Ansara Baines

+ ENLARGE

Photo: F&W Media

We hope you eat this cake under better circumstances than Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games.

The feast served during Katniss’s first night away from her family ends with a decadent chocolate cake. Amidst the depression of facing almost-certain death (not to mention Haymitch’s dispiriting drunkenness!), this sweet ending perhaps makes Katniss realize that things aren’t as bad as they may seem.

Reprinted with permission from The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook

Servings: 8

Ingredients

For the cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups white sugar

1 cup fine-quality unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup coffee, cold-brewed

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

For the icing

2 cups butter, softened

9 cups confectioners' sugar

2 1/2 cups fine-quality unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9" x 13" pan.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the eggs, coffee, buttermilk and oil. Mix with a wooden spoon until smooth; batter will be thin. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 35–40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 45 minutes.
While cake cools, prepare the icing. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment on medium speed or using a wooden spoon and lots of muscle, beat butter until smooth and creamy. Reduce speed to low and add confectioners’ sugar, cocoa, and vanilla, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula as you go. Add milk as needed until frosting reaches preferred spreading consistency. (For thicker frosting, add less than a cup of milk. To thin out your frosting, add more milk. The choice is yours!)
Once cake has thoroughly cooled, spread icing over the top

Level of Difficulty:

Moderate

Prep Time:

20 minutes

Cooking Time:

1 hour

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