Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake

Name: Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake
Yield: Serves 10 to 12
Ingredients: 12 tablespoons, unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), very soft, plus extra for greasing pans; 1 3/4 cups, unbleached all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces; 248 grams), plus extra for dusting pans; 4 ounces (113 grams), unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped; 1/4 cup, Dutch-processed cocoa (3/4 ounce; 21 grams); 1/2 cup, hot water; 1 3/4 cups, sugar (12 1/4 ounces; 347 grams); 1 1/2 teaspoons, baking soda; 1 teaspoon, table salt; 1 cup, buttermilk; 2 teaspoons, vanilla extract; 4 , large eggs; 2 , large egg yolks; 16 ounces (454 grams), semisweet chocolate, finely chopped; 8 tablespoons, unsalted butter (1 stick); 1/3 cup, sugar; 2 tablespoons, corn syrup; 2 teaspoons, vanilla extract; 1/4 teaspoon, table salt; 1 1/4 cups, heavy cream (cold)

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated March/April 2006, America's Test Kitchen TV

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SERVES10 to 12

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WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

The mixing method was the key to getting the right texture for our chocolate layer cake recipe. After trying both creaming and "reverse creaming," we turned to ribboning— whipping eggs with sugar until they double in volume, then ...

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