Bi-Rite's Chocolate Midnight Cake

When we returned from our Christmas vacation to Maryland, I had received two cookbooks. I saved one for the plane to read, and I let myself read one while I was there. I read the Bi-Rite cookbook and was reminded of the yummy ice cream I had when we visited their creamery in San Francisco. Immediately when we got back (well, the next morning) I made 3 recipes. This cookbook is great because you get recipes for ice cream, but also cake, cookies, candy, and more. They even give you ideas  on how to pair the recipes. These three recipes were not originally paired in the book, but they worked so well together. You can feel free to pair them up like I did, or just make them on their own. I will post each of them this week, so stay tuned. If you want to make the ice cream cake that I made, then you would probably start the ice cream base first, so stay tuned for that.

The future of this week in one cake!

Poor funny cake!

 

This cake looked a little funny when I made it, but boy did it taste good! My cake pan is not tall enough (it was supposed to be 2 inches deep), so I had extra batter leftover. I used it to make some mini cupcakes. You could also use a 9 inch pan instead of an 8 inch one. I did feel that using the baking spray messed up the batter a bit, so next time I would just grease the pan with a bit of butter instead. The spray made holes in the batter, which I noticed the most in the cupcakes because I only sprayed some of them. Expect a moist, slightly spongey cake.

One cake, and a few minnies!

Directions for Chocolate Midnight Cake

From Bi-Rite Creamery

• 1.5 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup (3.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (3.5 ounces) cake flour
• 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1.5 cups boiling water
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare your baking dish. You can use an 8-inch cake pan with a height of 2 inches, a 9-inch cake pan, an 8-inch cake pan that is shorter (but plan on having some extra batter), or you can make 2 dozen standard-sized muffins. I would recommend having a baking sheet under the cake pan because I had some oil leak out and was lucky I had the pan. Use a circle of parchment paper at the bottom of the cake pan to make it easier to remove later. Use a light coating of baking spray.

Whisk together the sugar, flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Gradually add the boiling water, 1/2 cup at a time, until the batter is smooth and all of the water is added.

Whisk in the eggs one at a time, then whisk in the oil. The batter will be very thin.

Pour the batter into the cake pan or muffin pans. Make sure if you are using a cake pan with a height of 1 inch that you only fill the pan about 2/3 to 3/4 full to allow for it to rise a bit while baking. Use the leftover batter to make cupcakes, if you want.

I am so bad at pouring into cupcake pans, but luckily this new pan I got was easy to clean.

Bake for about 50 minutes, but start checking early because mine took less time. Cupcakes should take less time–closer to 15-20 minutes. The cake is done when it springs back to a light touch.

I feel like I could have pulled this out sooner.

Let the cake cool for 30 minutes in the pan, then invert it and remove the parchment paper. Let cool completely.

This will be coming soon!

Directions for Chocolate Midnight Cake without pictures

From Bi-Rite Creamery

• 1.5 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup (3.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (3.5 ounces) cake flour
• 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1.5 cups boiling water
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare your baking dish. You can use an 8-inch cake pan with a height of 2 inches, a 9-inch cake pan, an 8-inch cake pan that is shorter (but plan on having some extra batter), or you can make 2 dozen standard-sized muffins. I would recommend having a baking sheet under the cake pan because I had some oil leak out and was lucky I had the pan. Use a circle of parchment paper at the bottom of the cake pan to make it easier to remove later. Use a light coating of baking spray.

Whisk together the sugar, flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the boiling water, 1/2 cup at a time, until the batter is smooth and all of the water is added. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, then whisk in the oil. The batter will be very thin.

Pour the batter into the cake pan or muffin pans. Make sure if you are using a cake pan with a height of 1 inch that you only fill the pan about 2/3 to 3/4 full to allow for it to rise a bit while baking. Use the leftover batter to make cupcakes, if you want.

Bake for about 50 minutes, but start checking early because mine took less time. Cupcakes should take less time–closer to 15-20 minutes. The cake is done when it springs back to a light touch.

Let the cake cool for 30 minutes in the pan, then invert it and remove the parchment paper. Let cool completely.

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