DARK chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting

TWO new recipes today! First time making this chocolate cake and first time making this frosting. The cake recipe is from the Cookie Madness blog. Her cake was made in a bundt pan and glazed with a chocolate ganache. I'm not too fond of making cakes in a bundt pan so I chose my 13x9 inch pan and made a kind of snack cake. After I made the cake batter, I just could not get over how DARK chocolate it was and it was not sweet at all! In fact, I had to glance at the recipe a few different times after I had completed the batter just to make sure I got the sugar amount correct. I must admit, I did add an extra half cup sugar in the end because I didn't think anyone in my family would eat it if it wasn't a bit sweeter. The extra 1/2 cup helped a small amount but the cake was still plenty dark and not very sweet. BUT I must say that it's a delicious flavor and so moist and very easy to put together. That was what initially drew me to the recipe - you could just hand stir it in one bowl. No mixer needed. I like that kind of recipe! So after I baked the cake and removed it from the oven, I figured that the frosting that I would use should be somewhat sweet to offset the darkness of the cake. I first thought about buttercream but then I remembered a "marshmallow frosting" recipe out of my new Cupcakes book by Shelly Kaldunski (which by the way is a totally awesome book that I recommend you purchase if you are into making cupcakes). The frosting recipe is not the well known 7 minute frosting (the book contains that recipe also). The marshmallow frosting recipe starts out like the 7 minute recipe but then you add minature marshmallows while the meringue type icing is still warm and the marshmallows are supposed to melt and become all smooth and glossy. SUPPOSED to melt. My marshmallows would not fully melt. The book says it should take about 2 minutes. Well, 10 minutes later I'm still beating and the marshmallows are smaller but still evident. I even put the double boiler pan back on the heat. Hmmm.... not sure what I did wrong but in the end, the frosting was delicious but had little bits of marshmallow still in it. And what a mess! So sticky! I found little splashes of it everywhere! But even though the frosting was delcious, I think it tasted like 7 minutes icing. I don't think I'd be able to tell the difference but it was nice to try a new recipe. I like any recipe with marshmallows in it. I don't care for marshmallows by themselves but I love marshmallows as an ingredient.

But back to the cake.....if you like DARK chocolate, then give this cake a whirl for sure! Really! This is for dark chocolate lovers. It's a beautiful color and so moist! The frosting is wonderful but 7 minute icing would be just as great ( or buttercream , or chocolate glaze, or cream cheese icing....).

Chocolate Cake

Cake:
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (56 grams)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar (192 grams)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (270 grams)
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup strong-brewed coffee
1 cup room temperature buttermilk

Melt chocolate in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Scrape it into a mixing bowl and let cool slightly. Whisk in the oil and sugar until smooth, then whisk in the egg and vanilla. Another way of doing this is to just melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe mixing bowl, let it cool a bit, then whisk in the oil, sugar and egg. That’s how I did it.

Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together in another bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture along with 1/2 cup of the coffee and 1/2 cup of the buttermilk; whisk until smooth. Add the remaining dry ingredients, coffee and buttermilk and whisk until smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the lower third (I baked mine on bottom rack) of the oven for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Let the cake cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn it out and let cool completely.

Marshmallow Frosting

2 large egg whites

1 cup sugar

6 tbsp water

1 tbsp light corn syrup

½ tsp cream of tartar

Pinch of salt

1 cup miniature marshmallows

1 tsp vanilla extract

In a large, clean heatproof bowl, combine the egg whites, sugar, water, corn syrup, cream of tartar, and salt. Set the bowl over (but not touching) simmering water in a saucepan and heat the mixture, whisking constantly, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is very warm to the touch (about 160°F on an instant-read thermometer), about 3 minutes. Remove the bowl from the saucepan. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the mixture until it is very warm and soft (but not dry) peaks form, about 2 minutes. Reduce the mixer to low and add the marshmallows and vanilla. Continue beating until the marshmallows are melted and the frosting is completely smooth, about 2 minutes more. Use right away.