The Best Double Chocolate Cake

Happy birthday Blog Tech.  He requested a double chocolate cake for his birthday so I whipped one up for him.  I hate chocolate so this was a special birthday present. I hate the smell of it and I was covered in chocolate by the time I finished making this.  I had to jump in the shower to wash away the smell.

Mix 3 oz. of good semisweet chocolate with 1-1/2 C. of hot brewed coffee. Stir it until it melts.

Measure out 2-1/2 C. of flour, 1-1/2 C. cocoa powder,3/4 tsp. baking powder, 2 tsp. baking soda and 1 tsp. of salt.  Whisk this together to blend. Whisk in 3 C. sugar.

Crack 3 L. eggs into the bowl of your mixer. Beat until lemon colored.

Beat in 3/4 C. of vegetable oil.

Add 1-1/2 cups of buttermilk.

Then pour in the chocolate/coffee mix.  Add 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

Switch to the paddle attachment.  Gradually beat in the flour mixture just until blended.  Pour into 3 greased and parchment lined pans.  Bake at 300 degrees for about an hour or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.  Let them cool completely in the pans.

To make the ganache, pour 1-1/2 C. of cream into a heavy pot.  Bring it to a low boil.

Add  3 T. sugar, 3 T. light corn syrup and 4 T. of butter.  Whisk until smooth and sugar has dissolved.  Add 1-1/2 pounds of chopped up good semi sweet chocolate.  Whisk until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Set it aside to cool and thicken.

Here are the layers cooling.

I keep making this French bread.  It is so good!

Once the layers have cooled, Place one top side down on a plate.  Slide some waxed paper around the edges to keep frosting off of the plate.  Heat some raspberry jam in a small bowl and spread the top of the first layer with some of it.

This is how the ganache looks when it has set.

Spread the next 2 layers with more raspberry jam and spread some ganache on top of each one.

Finish the cake by spreading the remaining ganache all over it.  The Blog Tech was very happy.