Can i use ganache instead of the ultimate frosting?

In the future, I will read the WHOLE recipe before attempting it. Mix by hand with a rubber spatula???? My grandmother used to but my arms are about dead now...hehehe I hope the taste equals or excedes the effort!

Oh, and by the way . . . I used a high quality cocoa rather than Valrhona cocoa. It turned out just fined. Just purchase the best quality cocoa available at your market.

I made this cake for my little brother's birthday. He adored it! This cake is so luscious and decadent and rich . . . the coffee is not overpowering, just a subtle flavor note that really deepens the flavor. Even though it is an ungodly amount of calories, don't hesitate to make this cake!

It's the best chocolate cake I've ever had! Delicioso!

easy and yummy!

What a luscious cake! The earthiness of the cocoa, the richness of the batter and the moist and tender final product gets five stars from me!

I first saw this on TV and made it last night, it was great. The only thing I changed was I used 9 x 2 inch pans, and it still filled up 3/4ths of the way, which was perfect. My layers had to bake an extra 15 minutes because I used insulated pans. When I removed the first layer from the pan after 20 minutes of cooling, I was too confident and the layer split in half.....No worries though, it still turned out delicious. I also refridgerated the frosting over night. Delicious!!!

i made this cake last night. delicious! i added a teaspoon each of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg to give it a bit of spice. tuned out really well.

OUTSTANDING CAKE. I used Nestle cocoa. If you want it to taste like dark chocolate, use less powder sugar in the frosting. I can't say enough about this cake. It's also beautiful. The frosting is perfect.

I made this cake for Thanksgiving and it was a big hit! This cake was awesome, and I must say was quite a turn on. It is extremely decadent and rich, the coffee just enhanced the chocolate flavor. Will make this again in December for my Breakfast at Tiffany's party.

Well, I made this cake for my daughter's first birthday and it was AWESOME!!!! Everyone loved it! Will absolutely make again! Sarah1..I used electric mixer.

This is my go-to chocolate cake recipe! It's very good, but it makes a ton of batter. I typically use two 9" pans and still have enough for 6-7 cupcakes on the side. Never fill a pan more than 3/4 of the way up the sides FYI! I also use regular flour with it and it turns out just fine!

HI, was just wondering, for those of you who have made this cake, did you mix both the cake recipe and the frosting recipe by hand or did you use an electric mixer? Thanks, really appreciate it:)

I am making this cake in a couple of days for the first time and I can't find cake flour anywhere! Please help! I have read where you just subtract 1/4 cup if using all purpose and sift twice and then I found something that said you add corn starch. Any advice?? Also, since I am new to baking I am assuming when you sift flour you do so after measuring it out first?

I made this cake and believe me, it didn't last long. It was light, delicious, and easy. The recipe calls for a 2 inch deep pan and all pans are not created equal. Check to be sure your pan is 2 inches deep, otherwise this may be why your cake overflowed. Any kind of dutch processed cocoa powder should be fine for this recipe. I used Droste, available from Amazon. It worked fine.

My daughter made this cake for my granddaughter's 3rd Birthday, it was a real hit with the guests. The taste was unbelievable. It was the best chocolate cake I have tasted. But then again its Martha's and Martha only makes the best, Martha you are phenomenal.``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Just made this for my son's 17th birthday. I used 3 x 9" pans and followed the recipe to the letter and it turned out so well. It was so rich and delicious, the best chocolate I have made so far. The frosting is great! Thank you Martha :)

I'm going to make this Saturday and put in a 11x7 pan for easier transport, I'll let you know how it goes!

I followed the directions, hand mixing, and Valrhona cocoa powder (from www.chocolatesource.com) and had to bake an extra 10 minutes in 8" pans. The cake was dense and fudgy, but very moist. The frosting was exactly what you would expect in a chocolate frosting - smooth, chocolatey, sweet and delicious! Everyone loved the cake. I will definitely make this again, but next time will cream the butter and sugar with a kitchenaid stand mixer to try to get a lighter texture.

Used cake flour and Rademaker dutch processed unsweetened cocoa - cake had intense chocolate flavor. Had to bake an extra 20 minutes, and cake rose and almost ran over sides of 8" pans. Trimmed off hard edges and leveled cake. Cake was still moist despite overbaking - recommended frosting was almost too chocolatey and sweet. I think I overmixed the batter with portable hand mixer instead of hand mixing. But my husband loves the cake.

Hi everyone who has made this cake, can you please ell me what went wrong. I followed the recipe to the letter, the cake are now in the oven. Now when I say that I really mean it, they are all over the oven they have spilled out of the pans, they have been in for almost an hour and not nearly done. This was suppose to be a tasting for my daughters wedding cake. YIKES!!!

I made this cake for my husband's birthday. Since I don't like the frosting that need a lot of powdered sugars (too sweet for me), I substituted the frosting with another frosting from this site (it supposed to be used with devil's food cake, the one that need one pound of chocolate) and the cake turned out so good! Everybody loved it. Definitely a keeper. Thanks Martha!

My daughter wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for her 9th birthday and does this cake deliver! I live in a small town and was unable to obtain high quality cocoa in time, so I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa. It turned out SO good. Rich, dark and VERY chocolaty.I found the baking time of 35 min to be just right.I recommend this recipe highly.

This cake was deliciously rich! I'm just wondering why the cooking time given is so short? Thirty-five minutes was clearly not long enough.

i wish the editors could've included a link to the video segment. i don't use comcast, so unfortunately I can't see these using that selection, and it isn't even on itunes (believe me, im subscribed to the podcast). hopefully it's on this site somewhere, but its not on this page. =(

For my first time baking a cake, it was excellent. Everyone loved it, even my mother-inlaw. Recipe was easy and sooooo good. With the frosting that comes with the recipe, it was devine.

a stick of butter is 1/2 cup

I made this cake for my daughter's seventh birthday. I would normally chose white cake over chocolate any day, but this is one of the best cakes I've ever eaten...dreamy texture and perfect chocolate flavor. (I used Ghardelli cocoa.) It was fun to make too. I might note that the amount of frosting is WAY more than I wanted to use. The remainder is in the freezer for later...

In response to marjoncookie's question about cake flour: You can sift your flour (not the high gluten kind used for baking bread), then measure. For every cup of flour, remove 2 tablespoons. That will approximate cake flour if you don't have anything specifically called cake flour.

Can anyone tell me what the best substitute for Valrhona Cocoa powder... we live in Mississippi and don't have it around here.

I baked this cake for my son's 12th birthday and it was a hit with everyone! Very rich and moist! Although I used plain flour instead of the cake flour and Van Houten's cocoa powder instead of Valrhona, the cake turned out really well. I have only one 8-inch pan so I baked twice in a 180 degrees C pre-heated convection oven for 55 minutes. 1 stick of butter is equivalent to 125g or 8 tablespoon or 1/2 cup. Cake flour refers to superfine flour suitable for cake making. Worth trying!

I made this cake for my son's 12th birthday and it was a hit with everyone! Very rich and chocolatey! Although I used plain flour instead of the cake flour and Van Houten's cocoa powder instead of Valrhona, the cake turned out really well. I have only one 8-inch pan so I baked twice in a 180n n n n C pre-heated convection oven for 55 minutes. 1 stick of butter is equivalent to 125g or 8 tablespoon or 1/2 cup. Cake flour refers to superfine flour suitable for cake making. Worth trying!

Sorry I'm new to this... what does your "sticks"of butter weigh. I'm the aussie trying some new recipes.

I'm in Australia and wondering what cake flour is? we have self raising flour and plain flour. should I use the plain flour and the baking soda.? Please help.