A dish from Laurie Colwin

Chocolate Cake

A dense, fudgy chocolate layer cake with a glossy chocolate frosting, the one Colwin baked for friends.

Serves 8

By Laurie Colwin

Colwin's chocolate cake is unfussy and deeply chocolatey, the sort of cake that gets better the next day. She baked it for birthdays and ordinary evenings alike, and wrote that a household without a chocolate cake recipe was incomplete.

Ingredients

Dairy & Eggs

  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup butter

Bakery

  • 2 cup flour

Pantry / Durable

  • 2 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp baking soda

Other

  • 3/4 cup cocoa

Method

  1. Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the eggs one at a time.

  2. Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together and fold them in alternately with the milk.

  3. Divide the batter between two buttered and floured pans and bake at 350°F for about thirty minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.

  4. Cool the layers, then sandwich and cover them with melted chocolate beaten into warm cream and butter. Let the frosting set before serving.

Adapted from Home Cooking. View a published recipe at BBC Good Food (opens in a new tab)

Served at

A summer supper at East Hampton · East Hampton, New York

A long lunch on Long Island · Long Island, New York

Home cooking in a small kitchen · New York, New York

More by Laurie Colwin