Mexican Chocolate Cake
Why I Love This Recipe
I made this while searching for a birthday cake for my husband. It's very good, not too rich. I found the Mexican Chocolate at Trader Joe's.
Ingredients You'll Need
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1-3/4 cups sugar
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter
2/3 cup water 6 oz. Mexican chocolate, such as Ibarra or Mayordomo
1 tablespoon cocoa 2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup finely-ground toasted almonds
Icing
6 tablespoons butter
3 oz. Mexican chocolate, such as Ibarra or Mayordomo
1 tablespoon cocoa
2 to 3 tablespoons half and half
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Toasted sliced almonds for garnish
Directions
Rreheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 8" round cake pans.
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl and reserve. Melt together the butter, water, chocolate and cocoa in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring well. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes and remove from the heat. Stir the sifted dry ingredients into the chocolate mixture. In a bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and mix well with the chocolate mixture. Stir in the ground almonds. Spoon the cake batter into the prepared pans and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow the layers to stand in their pans for about 5 minutes. Run a knife around their edges, invert them onto cake racks, and remove the pans. Let them cool.
While the layers cool, prepare the icing. Melt the butter together with the chocolate and cocoa in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the half and half and heat through. Mix in the remaining ingredients and blend well. Stir in the remaining half and half if needed for easy spreading consistency.
To assemble the cake, place one layer on a decorative serving plate. Ice the top and sides of the cake layer. Repeat with the remaining layer and frosting. Garnish with toasted almonds.