When you have many birthdays to celebrate in your home like mine, you might want to learn to make your homemade birthday cakes.
I am happy that chocolate cake happens to be a family favorite. I have repeatedly made this Amish recipe since my children were small and they shout ‘yummy’ when they taste it.
All I do is vary the shape of the cake, frosting recipe, and decoration.
Why this Amish Chocolate Recipe Standouts
The Amish Culinary Heritage
The Amish are a group of people that migrated from Europe to the United States back in the 1800s. They were fleeing Europe in search of religious freedom. Their strong beliefs that contradicted the Church and the States in Europe made their forefathers face severe persecution.
The Amish settled in various parts of America mainly in the area of Lancaster Pennsylvania. The Amish are a very conservative group of religious people who keep away from modern conveniences such as vehicles, electrical appliances, phones, and many others.
The Amish have maintained their strong cultural traditions, handing them down from one generation to the other. They are discouraged from mingling with the ‘world’ and therefore keep the close community and family ties.
The Amish have church services every Sunday and will always have a meal together after the service. The Amish women have perfected their culinary skills because of having to prepare delicious meals that to be served to a big number of members after the service.
Some of their famous dishes are inspired by European recipes. For instance, this Amish Chocolate cake is a close relative to the famous German chocolate cake.
Also, check out: Amish Pretzels Recipe
Simple ingredients and steps
Amish recipes are becoming popular because of their delicious simplicity. Amish bakeries and restaurants receive visitors traveling from various parts of America to try their treats.
Apart from their delicacies, a visit to Lancaster, PA will see you enjoy a buggy ride, an Amish Country tour as well as a chance to purchase beautiful handcrafted items such as furniture and quilts.
This Amish Chocolate Cake is made of flour, vegetable oil, eggs, cocoa powder, and hot coffee. The ingredients are items that you probably have in your kitchen pantry already.
The steps involved in making this cake do not require you to be a skilled baker. The steps are simple and yet yield an amazingly moist and sweet cake.
I come from a family of passionate home chefs, my great grandmother's biscuits cakes are fondly remembered by her children till this day. As a family tradition recipe books are handed from mother to daughter.
I gladly inherited the Weavertown school family cookbook among other Amish and Mennonite Cookbooks. Amish and Mennonite cookbooks are among my top-rated, containing the most practical recipes.
This is the most classic chocolate cake you could ever bake at home. The amish Chocolate Cake can be enjoyed in various forms :
- As a dessert with a scoop of ice cream.
- As a birthday cake or any special occasion
- As a delicious coffee cake
All you need to do is bake the Amish Chocolate Cake in the right kind of pan, frost and decorate it according to the purpose of your cake.
Let us discuss the ingredients and equipment required in detail:
Ingredients And Substitutions
All-purpose flour
All-purpose flour forms the base of the recipe. You substitute this with a chocolate cake box mix.
Sugar
Sugar sweetens the cake batter. Brown sugar adds a tone of molasses flavor to the cake. You may substitute with white sugar or stevia powder, a healthier version.
Unsweetened cocoa powder
Unsweetened Cocoa powder is a key ingredient in the recipe. Cocoa powder possesses a rich earthy and almost bitter flavor. The Cocoa adds a dark rich color to the chocolate cake and balances beautifully with the sugar in the cake batter.
Eggs
Eggs enrich the cake batter, emulsifying the crumbs of the cake and making them tender and moist.
Vegetable oil
Vegetable oil moisturizes the Amish Chocolate Cake batter. Oil is light making the cake more airy and light. You could substitute vegetable oil with melted butter.
Baking Soda and Baking Powder
Baking soda and baking powder are the leavening agents in the recipe, making the cake rise.
Milk
Milk enriches the cake as it is rich in fat, and whole milk gives the best results. You can substitute milk with buttermilk or sour cream which contains higher amounts of fat.
Hot Coffee
Brewed coffee introduces a unique flavor to the Chocolate batter, some chocolate recipes call for plain hot water but the coffee flavor blends amazingly with sweetened chocolate. Cocoa tends to absorb moisture from the cake batter, adding a hot liquid ensures the cake is perfectly moisturized.
Salt
A small amount will make a notable difference in the overall flavor of the chocolate cake batter.
Vanilla Extract
Vanilla’s mild and sweet flavor elevates the deliciousness of Amish Chocolate Cake batter.
EQUIPMENT
Stand mixer or hand held electric mixer
Electric mixers increase your efficiency when mixing the ingredients.
Mixing bowls
Measuring cups and spoons
Accurate measurement of ingredients eventually contributes to the overall result of your cake.
Sieves
Sieves help in breaking the lumps that could be found in the flour and cocoa powder.
Baking pans
You will select the pan according to the purpose of the cake. Round 9” inch baking tins will give you beautiful birthday cakes. If you are making a cake for a picnic cake or potluck, a sheet pan will work fine. It is easy to carry the cake in a pan with a thick layer of your favorite frosting spread on top of the cake.
Rubber spatula
A rubber spatula is essential when pouring the cake batter from the mixing bowl into the baking pan, ensuring there is no wastage of cake batter that sticks on the sides of the bowl.
Parchment paper
It will keep your cake from sticking in the pan when your cake is done baking.
FAQ CHOCOLATE AMISH CAKE
How do I keep my Amish Chocolate Cake fresh and moist?
Keep your cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The moisture and chocolate flavor are trapped and the cake can stay fresh for about 5 days.
The decadent cake freezes wonderfully for about 2 months in a freezer-friendly container or wrapped tightly with plastic wrap.
What is special about the Amish Chocolate Cake?
The fact that you can find almost all the ingredients in your pantry makes the cake very special. This simple recipe uses common pantry ingredients yet yields a moist, classic, and spongy chocolate cake.
With a frosting that takes less than 10 minutes to prepare, you will have a beautiful delicious cake for a birthday party.
PRO TIPS
The following are valuable tips if you are new to cake making
- Use room temperature, especially eggs. Cold ingredients do not mix well with other ingredients, changing the overall texture of your cake.
- Measure your ingredients accurately. Scoop and level your flour and cocoa powder. When you have excess flour or cocoa powder added to your batter, the level of moisture will be altered making your cake dry and unpleasant.
- Invest in an oven thermometer. An oven thermometer is very key in maintaining the right temperature as the cake is baking. Very high temperatures cause your cake to reach the dome at the center.
- To get a more airy and lighter cake, beat the egg whites till you form white peaks then add the other ingredients as described in the recipe.
- The beauty of making Amish chocolate cake batter, is that any leftover batter can be used to make cake-like cookies known as Amish Chocolate Whoopie pies.
RECIPE CARD
SIMPLE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
This recipe guarantees a rich chocolate buttercream frosting that combines beautifully with the moist Amish Chocolate Cake. It takes less than 8 minutes to make it.
What you need
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 ½ vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
How to make the chocolate buttercream frosting
In a mixing bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat to ensure the flavor is fully absorbed into the chocolate cake butter.
Sift in the cocoa powder and powdered sugar and beat until the powdered sugar, cocoa, and butter mix. Keep adding little milk if your buttercream is too thick.
Once your cake is completely cooled, spread a thick layer of rich chocolate buttercream on top of your cake. This time we made a cake-in-pan for a camping trip my daughter was attending with some girl scouts.
Amish Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups Brown sugar
- ½ cup Granulated white sugar
- 2 large Eggs at room temperature
- ¾ cup Vegetable oil
- 1 cup Coffee
- 1 cup Milk
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare your baking pan by greasing and lining it with parchment paper.
- Preheat the oven to 300 F or 150 F.
- Measure your ingredients accurately and set them aside.
- In a bowl of the stand mixer beat egg whites until white and fluffy with soft peaks.
- Gradually add the sugar as the egg whites are beating. Beat until the sugar is fully incorporated.
- Add the egg yolks, vegetable oil, and vanilla, and keep beating until all the ingredients are combined.
- Sift half of the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder into the mixing bowl containing the egg mixture.
- Fold in the flour and cocoa mixture, add the milk, and lastly the final batch of the dry ingredients. Mix gently and stop as soon as all the dry ingredients are fully combined with the wet ingredients. Add the hot coffee and mix, the batter will be runny from this point.
- Pour the Amish cake batter into your prepared baking tin or tins. Bake the chocolate for 30 - 40 minutes until a toothpick or wooden skewer inserted at the center comes out clean.
- Let the baked cake cool on the wire rack. You can be preparing the frosting of your choice.
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