Ingredients
1 cup/240 ml neutral oil such as grapeseed plus a little oil to grease the baking pan
2 ½ cups/350 g all-purpose flour
½ cup/50 g unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp fine sea salt
3 Tbsp+ 1 tsp/50 ml boiling water
3 ½ oz/100 g semisweet chocolate chips (70% cacao or greater)
1 ½ cups/300 g packed light or dark brown sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup/120 g sour cream
2 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F/165C.
- Lightly grease a 9 inch by 13 inch /23cm by 33cm (the pan should be at least 2 inch/5cm deep) rectangular baking pan with a little oil and line with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, dry whisk the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center.
- Pour the boiling water over the chocolate chips in a small bowl and stir with a silicone spatula or whisk till the chocolate melts and is smooth and silky. Pour the melted chocolate into a blender, add the oil, sugar, eggs, sour cream, coffee, and vanilla. Pulse at high speed for a few seconds at intervals till the mixture is combined and emulsified. Don’t overdo the blending or your cake might turn dry.
- Pour all the liquid from the blender into the well you made earlier in the flour. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon, a spatula, or a whisk until combined and smooth, and there are no visible flecks of dry flour. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan, level the surface with an offset spatula, and bake in the preheated oven till a skewer or knife when inserted through the center of the cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 mins, then run a knife along the edges to help release the cake and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Keep the pan aside while the cake cools, once cooled return the cake to the pan. I find this makes it easy to store and transport the cake (if you were planning on sharing it).
Notes
- You can make the cake and frosting separately ahead of time and then put the cake together on the day it’s needed.
- You do not need to use grapeseed oil; canola is also a good option. You can use olive oil but I find that the flavor of good olive oil gets masked by the chocolate in this cake, for that reason, I recommend reserving that olive oil for another purpose where it can shine.
- The bourbon flavor in the frosting is very subtle, you can leave it out.
- On a related side note, there are multiple ways to line a cake tin, here’s how I line my cake pans. Pictured here is a loaf pan but the same idea applies to any rectangular, square, or circular pan. Check out my video here to see how I line my pans.
