Dare To Try Someone Else’s Favorite, Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting
It’s time for us to try another family’s favorite recipe. It might mean stepping out of our chocolate cake comfort zone because if you’re like me, you have your own favorite way of making chocolate cake and cupcakes. And your favorite frosting.
Since I’m not much of a cake eater anyway, the only one I make is our family’s heavenly chocolate cake with snow frosting. It has Miracle Whip in it which keeps the cake nice and moist. My favorite frosting is the white, sticky, marshmallow-like frosting that we call snow frosting (also known as 7-minute frosting). But last fall at the Minnesota Blogger Conference (now Twin Cities Collective), my friend Michelle shared with me her recipe for margarita cupcakes and we got to talking about chocolate cake. She told me that her family’s favorite is a chocolate cake that she makes with sour cream. The dense, fudgy frosting is her favorite part.
In the picture below, I baked a dozen in my tiny tart pan and piled three into a cupcake tower topped with shaved white chocolate and mini chocolate chips.
I was skeptical. Everyone thinks their chocolate cake is the moistest — kind of like how every fisherman thinks he guts and debones a fish better than anyone and that there are “no bones in fish that he cooks” but there are always bones. (My dislike for bones is reflected in Buffalo chicken dip for people who don’t like bones or blue cheese.
what’s the difference between frosting, icing and glaze?
The cupcakes were a hit! I brought them along on our Easter weekend to Minneapolis and the kids (and moms) ate them up. I actually liked the frosting better the second day so it was a perfect treat to bake and frost the day before we left. Thank you, Michelle Hals, for sharing your family favorite with us.
The frosting is extremely generous so go crazy on the cupcakes!
Sweet & sharing wishes,
Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting
Equipment
- 1 9×13 cake pan or makes 30 cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 4 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1⅔ cups boiling water
- 2⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 eggs, large
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Fudge Frosting
- ½ cup vegetable shortening, NOT butter-flavored
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
- 12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons milk, up to 3 tablespoons of milk
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9×13 pan. Or 30 cupcakes or 2 (9-inch) round cake pans.
- In a small saucepan over low heat melt chocolate, butter, and boiling water. Stir until melted and smooth. Set aside.
- In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
- In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs with a whisk and then whisk in the sour cream and vanilla until smooth.
- Slowly add the melted chocolate mixture to the dry ingredient mixture. Stir until combined.
- Add the egg mixture and stir until silky smooth.
- Pour into a 9×13-inch cake pan and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35-40 minutes.
- For 2 (9-inch) cakes bake for 35-40 minutes. For 2½ dozen regular cupcakes bake 25 minutes.
Fudge Frosting
- Over low heat, melt the chocolate chips. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a separate bowl, beat shortening and butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add vanilla.
- One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar to the shortening mix.
- Pour cooled chocolate into the frosting mixture. Add milk as needed to get to your desired spreading consistency. Frost the completely cooled cakes or cupcakes.
Nutrition
All text and images © Staci Mergenthal • Random Sweets
My mom always made her chocolate cake with Miracle Whip too. I’ve never tried to make a chocolate cake with sour cream but I’m always looking for new recipes. Thanks for sharing, looks delicious.