Awesome chocolate cake recipe!Better late than never…

If you are looking for another post about France, it will be here on Friday. I’ve decided that until the end of September, every Friday will feature the “If it’s Friday, it must be France” post. `A vendredi!

Now this post is WAY overdue! Last November we held the launch party for The Bridge Club at the funky Gladstone Hotel in the artsy Queen Street East district of Toronto. It was a blast! Not only did we have great music by the awesome jazz band, The Fabulous Quitters, but to my surprise Nicole Lachapelle, cakebaker extraordinaire, made this work of art. She replicated every last detail of the book cover, enlisted the help of our son Sasha (her boyfriend) to help with some of the heavy labour, and even created a look down the sides that resembled pages. Very impressive!

Favourite Chocolate Layer Cake

1 cup butter, softened

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

2  eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup cocoa powder

1 tsp each baking powder and baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 ½ cups buttermilk

CHOCOLATE ICING:

1 ½ cups butter, softened

½ cup whipping cream

1 tbsp vanilla

3 cups icing sugar

6 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped, melted and cooled

In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time; beat in vanilla. In separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir into butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, making 3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of buttermilk.

Spoon into 2 greased then parchment paper-lined 9-inch round metal cake pans. Bake in centre of 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until cake tester inserted in centre come out clean. Let cool on rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pans; let cool completely on racks. Cut each cake horizontally into 2 layers.

CHOCOLATE ICING: In a bowl, beat butter until fluffy; gradually beat in cream. Beat in vanilla. Beat in sugar, about 1 cup at a time. Beat in chocolate until fluffy.

Place 1 layer, cut side up, on cake plate. Slide strips of waxed paper between cake and plate. Spread cut side with about ¾ cup of the icing; cover with remaining half. Cut side down. Spread top with another ¾ cup of the icing. Repeat with remaining layers.

Spread remaining icing over the side and top. Remove paper strips. ( Make-ahead: cover loosely and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Let come to room temperature before serving.) Makes 16 to 20 servings.

Nicole doubled the recipe to make this amazing replica of my novel and every last crumb was devoured. DELICIOUS. Thanks Nic! With her permission I am sharing the recipe here and definitely recommend it to all lovers of things chocolate.