THE Chocolate Cake

No, my fingers didn't slip. This is THE Chocolate Cake, capital
T-H-E. Here's Why:

1. This cake is so famous, you could probably play six degrees of separation with it: if you don't know about it, you probably know someone who does within six people. It is one of the most frequently reviewed and highly-rated recipes on epicurious.com, the official website for Gourmet and Bon Apetit magazines. Click on the link at the bottom to see the staggering number of positive reviews it has.

2. This was one of the first cakes my Aunt made when she and I began baking a few years ago. However, my Aunt forgot the flour, and the cake came out as mush. We joked about her "flourless" chocolate cake and quietly put away the recipe for a few years, waiting for the day when THE Chocolate Cake would make it's triumphant return to our kitchen.

Chocolate Layer Cakes are, by definition, crowd pleasers. This one is very moist with a pleasent, and surprisingly not overwhelming, chocolate/coffee taste. The beautiful shiny glaze hardened at room temperature, but regained its shine after a stint in the microwave. Even though my layers came out too thick to combine, I could tell why the Gourmet editors were so enchanted with it. This cake is goodwill on a platter.

Was it the best chocolate cake I had ever had? Not quite. It wasn't specific enough for that. This is the one size fits all of cakes -- it will please everyone, but it won't neccessarily be everyone's favorite. That's the trade off I guess. Yet I will keep this recipe on hand, and you probably should keep it in mind. If you ever need a cake that will please 800 people, why not choose a recipe that already has?

Double Chocolate Layer Cake