CHOCOLATE WHIPPED CREAM CAKE

"Imagine the best Yankee Doodle possible. Imagine one of the easiest cakes possible. No creaming butter and sugar: just whip cream, add eggs and the dry ingredients, and you’ve got cake!"

1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/3 cup Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups heavy (whipping) cream, divided use
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter two (8-inch) round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment.

Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.

Pour 1 cup of the cream into a mixing bowl, add the espresso powder, and beat to stiff peaks with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the sugar and honey. Whisk in the dry ingredients until just combined and smooth. Stir in the vanilla.

Divide the batter between the baking pans, and give the pans a rap on the counter to release any air bubbles.

Bake the cakes for 20 to 25 minutes, until a cake tester comes out with just a crumb or two.

Let the cakes cool in the pans on racks for 10 minutes or so; they’ll fall a little (don’t worry about it).Then turn the cakes out of the pans, peel off the parchment, and let cool completely on the racks.

Whip the remaining 1 cup cream to stiff peaks (if desired, before beating the cream, sweeten with powdered sugar, to taste.). Put one of the cake layers on a serving plate. Spread with half the whipped cream. Top with the other layer and the rest of the whipped cream. Refrigerate until you’re ready to serve the cake. I think this cake is best eaten within a day.

Note: If you’ve got some cherries preserved in brandy hanging around, spoon some of the brandy over the cake before you spread on the whipped cream, and top each layer with some of the cherries.

Makes one (8-inch) layer cake
Adapted from source: Tasty: Get Great Food on the Table Every Day by Roy Finamore
Copyright © 2006 by Roy Finamore. Reprinted by permission of Houghton
Mifflin Company.