Fluffy Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

I asked Paul what kind of cake he wanted for his old man 42nd birthday. He said he’d like a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I’ve been eyeing the “Fluffy Yellow Cake” recipe in this book for a while now. Do I dare try a new recipe on someone’s special day? Shouldn’t I practice first? Yup, I dare. I did.

Amazing book. As always from Cooks Illustrated.

I adjusted a tad for high altitude (see recipe for my adjustments) and lo and behold the cake layers didn’t cave in! A miracle for high altitude Utah. (I live at about 4500 feet.) It usually takes a few tries to get a cake to bake up correctly, but not this time!!  Ain’t they fluffy and gorgeous? Fluffy like a box cake but way tastier and without any chemicals or additives. Proud lady. Notice the cake pans in the background with the parchment paper—don’t skip that step. I’ve never had a problem again with cakes sticking once I started using parchment paper. I get it at Costco.

And this is bar far the easiest chocolate frosting recipe ever. You make it in the food processor—pulse, pulse, done. Good heavens  it’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted too.

The only bad part about making it in the food processor is that you can’t exactly lick the blade like you usually lick beaters. Rats.

Dutch cocoa, corn syrup, bittersweet chocolate and butter. I confess I ate a few spoonfuls of just the frosting.

Ain’t she just too purdy? Yea, yea, looks are meaningless. Let’s see how she tastes.

Good gracious. Look at the fluffiness of that cake? Surrounded by chocolate. Mmmm.

This is all that was left the day after the birthday party. Look who’s finishing off this cake. Me. The baker should always polish it off.

Click here for my printout of the recipe

For the original recipe on cooksillustrated.com:  Cake recipe, Frosting recipe Of course I highly suggest the book too.