Easiest Chocolate Birthday Cake (Bon Appetite)

This recipe is based on one from Bon Appetit, and it harkens to the Most Dangerous Chocolate Cake recipe:  it uses oil instead of butter and it incorporates milk. (The Bon Appetit link has some lovely short videos of each of the major steps.)


NOTES:

1. The recipe called for 1-1/4 cup sugar but we reduced it to 1-1/8 cup
2. We used Dutch cocoa powder
3. The original recipe says you can substitute coarsely chopped chocolate bars (not more than 64% cacao) for the chocolate chips
4. Cream cheese to room temperature
5. Dry ingredients can be prepared ahead of time
6. Cooling time required for baked cake and ganache for frosting
7. Handheld mixer helps


INGREDIENTS:

Cake:
3/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for the pan
1-1/3 cup flour
1-1/8 cup sugar
1-3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1-1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup Dutch cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla


Cream cheese frosting:
4 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup cream
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp kosher salt


PREPARATION of the cake:

1. Prepare a 9" round cake tin by first cutting a circle of parchment paper to fit into the bottom of the tin: place pan on parchment, trace with a pencil, cut the circle out.  Set aside.

2. Except for the cocoa, measure dry ingredients for the cake into a large bowl and whisk together.

3. Sift the cocoa into the dry ingredients (cocoa tends to have lumps).

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the two eggs, oil, and vanilla until creamy, about 30 seconds.

5. Using a spatula, mix the egg mixture into the dry ingredients until incorporated. The batter should be thick, shiny, and granular. Set aside.

6. Preheat oven to 325, with a rack in the middle of the oven.

7. Pour a small bit of oil into the cake tin; spread the oil around; and place the parchment circle into the bottom of the tin, smoothing it out to remove air bubbles.

8. In a small sauce pan, warm the milk on the stove on medium heat until it barely begins to steam and simmer. Be careful not to scald the milk.

9. Whisk the warm milk directly into the batter and stir just until there are no lumps and the batter is smooth and uniform.

10. Quickly transfer the batter to the prepared cake tin and tap it on the counter a few times to release air bubbles in the batter.

11. Bake the cake for 40-50 minutes, turning halfway through. Test for doneness by using a toothpick or cake tester, which should come out clean when the cake is done.

12. Cool cake in the tin on a cooling rack.


Preparation of the frosting:

1. While the cake is cooling, use one of two methods to prepare the chocolate ganache.

• Stove top method:

1. Fill a medium saucepan with 1" water and on medium heat, heating until it barely begins to steam and simmer. 
2. While the water is coming to a simmer, combine the cream and chocolate chips into a medium heatproof bowl that can sit comfortably on the saucepan. 
3. When the water is ready, turn down the heat to low, place the chocolate and cream onto the saucepan (make sure the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the water), and stir occasionally with a spatula until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is homogeneous and thick. 
4. Remove bowl and chill the ganache until cool to the touch, about 25 minutes (stirring the mixture with a spatula will encourage cooling).

• Microwave method:

1. Mix the chocolate and cream in a microwave-safe bowl.
2. Heat in microwave in 10-second increments, stirring after each 10 secs, until melted and combined.
3. Chill the ganache until cool to the touch, about 25 minutes (stirring mixture will encourage cooling).

2. After the ganache is cooled, in a large bowl and using a handheld mixer on medium-high, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, kosher salt, and vanilla until smooth.

3. Beat in cooled ganache on medium, until frosting is well combined, is a little thicker, and just holds its peak, about 1 minute (scape the sides of the bowl as needed. Be careful not to overheat the frosting because it can become too stiff).


Putting it together!

1. Run a butter knife around the edges of the cooled cake. Invert cake onto a large plate, remove parchment, and invert again onto a platter so the bottom of the cake sits on the platter.

2. Use an offset spatula to spread the frosting.