Recipe: Brown Velvet Cake with Old-Fashioned Dark Fudge Frosting

BROWN VELVET CAKE

"This cake is not just a spin-off of red velvet cake, but an improvement with a frosting that's rich, silky and indulgent."

2 cups Southern soft-wheat all-purpose flour (such as White Lily or Martha White)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 ounces (3 squares, 1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate
8 ounces (1 cup or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups firmly packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup whole-milk buttermilk (or plain whole-milk yogurt thinned with milk to buttermilk consistency)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Old-Fashioned Dark Fudge Frosting (recipe follows)

Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9-inch layer cake pans.

Whisk or sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water or in a microwave at half-power; remove chocolate from heat and keep warm.

Cream the butter, then add sugar and continue to cream until fluffy and light. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in melted chocolate. Mix in the flour mixture and buttermilk a little at a time, alternating, beginning and finishing with flour mixture. Stir in vanilla. Divide batter between the prepared pans, tap them lightly on the counter to remove any air bubbles.

Bake about 20 minutes, or until a straw or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pan on wire racks.

While they cool, make the frosting.

Invert one cooled cake layer over a cake plate and carefully remove the pan. Cover it thickly with about one-third of the frosting. Invert second cake layer over first layer, remove the pan, then frost top and sides with the remaining frosting. Let the frosting set before cutting, at least one hour.

Makes one (two-layer) cake

OLD-FASHIONED DARK FUDGE FROSTING

3 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 ounces (8 tablespoons or 1 stick) unsalted butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped, or bittersweet chocolate chips (about 1 cups)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine sugar, cocoa and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and whisk to mix. Slowly whisk in the cream and turn on the heat to medium. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, and add the butter and chocolate, stirring until they are melted and smooth. Let it come back to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until it reaches the soft-ball stage (234 to 240 degrees on a candy thermometer), about 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Let it cool, undisturbed, until it is just warm (no more than 110 degrees F).

Beat the frosting with a mixer or wooden spoon until it is thick enough to spread, and spread it immediately on the cake.

Makes 6 cups (enough to frost a two-layer cake)
Adapted from source: Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Baking