My Quest: Moist, fine crumb choc cake

i cook at home too, and after trying different chocolate cake recipes for years, i could never find one i was satisfied with.
now it may seem a little weird, but the chocolate cake recipe on the back of the hershey's cocoa powder can is amazing....definitly the best chocolate cake i've ever made. it comes out great every time and i believe the recipe uses veg. oil instead of butter or shortening. every time we use this recipe we get loads of compliments and several people have come up to my sister and i, and told us it's by far the best chocolate cake they have ever had. it's very moist, too.
i plan on writing my own chocolate cake recipe eventually, but for now i'm sticking with this one. the frosting is pretty amazing too.

The ultimate chocolate cake

My recipe is a cake, it does not have the fine crumb of a sponge, but it sure is super. If you want the recipe , let me know......

I know it sounds strange as it has Guinness in it, but you cannot detect it in the flavour..... it is just like eating a peice of chocolate. yum............ qahtan

try adding mayonaise or pudding mix.

Lacking emulsified shortening, it's necessary to provide emulsifiers from somewhere else. Egg yolks are good choice.

Here's what I do: (This makes one 1.5" by 9" cake, or one not-quite 2"X8", and scales to enough to make a full sheet, by simple multiplication). (Forgive the rather bizarre mixed units.)

Sugar 6 oz
Cake flour 4 oz
Cocoa powder (undutched) 1 1/3 oz
baking powder 2 g
baking soda 2 g
salt 1g
milk 3 fl oz
eggs 4oz (feel free to round that up to nearest whole egg, it works fine)
light corn syrup 1 oz
vanilla extract 1 teaspoon
butter 4 oz (you can use solid shortening, but butter tastes better)

Sift together dry ingredients
mix liquids together and whisk together
Blend the butter, dry ingredients and about half the liquid with a mixer (stand or hand works fine) at a medium speed for about 3 minutes (scrapping the bowl as required)
Add half the remaining liquid, blend 90 seconds to two minutes longer
Add rest of liquid, blend 90 to 120 seconds.
Bake at 350, until done (tooth pick in center is clean is fine test for this), about 30 minutes.

Cool in pan a few minutes, then transfer to rack to cool completely.

If you're making a layer cake, you can moisten the layers wit h a simple syrup solution. You can use a plain one, or flavor it in a way that complements (or contrasts with) the filling or frosting. (I just did this cake, with a raspberry syrup, stabilized whipped cream filling, and mint flavored chocolate ganache frosting. It went over quite well.)

I've had good luck with the "Mashed Potato Chocolate Cake" from James Beard's "Love and Kisses and a Halo of Truffles." I'll have to run downstairs and see if it's in any of his other books that I have.

ETA: It's also in "James Beard's American Cookery".

[quote=Vonne;233832] My cakes fall a touch, but no where near half. It's inevitable; cool air is more dense than the hot air that fills the bubbles when it's in the oven, and the cake doesn't have the strength to hold up to that.
2 g of baking powder and soda is about 2/3 teaspoon, so I'd cut that back a tad. Maybe increase the cooking time a tiny bit (a minute, to start with).