Better known by her title as the “Barefoot Contessa”, Garten has been a key figure in food for more than 20 years, thanks to her popular TV program and cook books.
She specializes in all kinds of delicious dishes, but one of her very best has to be her scrumptious chocolate cake.
When it comes to mouth watering desserts, a rich chocolate cake is going to be one of the best! Whether you’re baking one for your family to enjoy, or you’re whipping one up for a party, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a tastier chocolate cake than Ina Garten’s. But how can you make it yourself?
We’re starting our list with the recipe for a totally light, fluffy, and rich double chocolate layer cake.
This cake is so delicious that Ina Garten described it as the “most fabulous chocolate cake” that she had ever made, and now you can enjoy it yourself!
With this scrumptious chocolate cake, you get two layers of light and moist chocolate sponge, accompanied with a brilliant chocolate frosting to make it extra rich.
Both the sponge and the frosting have hints of coffee in them, a flavor that pairs particularly well with chocolate, and it makes the dessert even sweeter.
In terms of effort, this chocolate cake will take about 40 minutes for you to prepare, and then the two cake layers only take about 35 minutes to bake in a preheated oven.
The chocolate cake sponge uses all the ingredients you’d expect, with all kinds of cake baking staples. For example, you’ll need eggs, vanilla extract, baking powder, sugar, and so on.
Unsweetened cocoa powder gives the sponge its rich chocolate flavoring, and 1 cup of freshly brewed hot coffee injects it with some serious coffee tastiness.
Our next recipe takes another look at one of Ina Garten’s most delicious chocolate cakes, utilizing two delicious layers of chocolate sponge, all covered with an indulgent and delicious chocolate frosting.
This is a tried and tested recipe that Ina loves. How tried and tested? Well, she says she got it from a friend’s grandmother, so it’s clearly one that’s been around a while!
It’s understandable that it has stood the test of time, too, since it’s so fabulously tasty.
You’ll need a variety of ingredients to make the sponge and the frosting, but they’re mostly baking staples you’ll have in your kitchen anyway (baking soda, all-purpose flour, sugar, and so on).
The secret ingredient to the tastiness of Ina Garten’s chocolate cake, however, is the coffee.
By using coffee not only in the sponge, but also the chocolate frosting, it adds a double dose of coffee goodness to the cake – giving it a subtle edge of extra flavor that sets it apart from so many regular chocolate cakes.
While the cake sponge uses 1 cup of hot coffee (freshly brewed!), the frosting uses 1 tablespoon of instant coffee powder instead.
One slice won’t be enough when you try the temptingly tasty chocolate cake from this recipe, another classic from Ina Garten.
This dessert is perfect for any occasion, whether you’re enjoying it with your family, or you’re bringing it out at a celebration. It’s totally homey, a real comfort treat, and it’s rich and delicious on top of that.
Since the chocolate cake has two layers, you’ll need two cake pans for it. These should be round in shape and measure 8 inches.
Since the cake layers are thick, the pans need to be a minimum of 2 inches in height just to accommodate all of the batter!
Though this recipe uses hot coffee for the chocolate sponge, it doesn’t use any coffee for the chocolate frosting, making it a little different than the Ina Garten recipes we’ve looked at so far. However, it won’t be any less delicious!
You see, the frosting uses some sour cream this time instead, which adds a hint of tasty tanginess to the cake instead. It complements the richness really well!
Our next pick is another mouth watering chocolate cake from the always-reliable Ina Garten, and this cake from the Barefoot Contesse is sure to tickle the taste buds of anybody who tries it.
Once again, the cake has two layers of chocolate sponge goodness, giving you a dessert that’s tall and packed with rich, sweet flavoring.
The cake is covered in a scrumptious chocolate frosting, which it tells you how to make, and you can apply this frosting to the layers by first frosting the top of the base layer and then applying more to the second layer.
Finally, wipe it all over the outside too!
The result is a chocolate cake that’s totally rich and delicious, full of chocolate flavoring.
This chocolate comes from not only the use of cocoa powder, but also some melted and cooled dark chocolate (which is especially rich!).
Additionally, you can decorate the cake with chopped walnuts to give it an edge of crunchy nuttiness. However, make sure that nobody eating it has a nut allergy!
This next recipe will tell how to make Ina Garten’s perfectly rich, perfectly moist chocolate cake.
This delicious dessert really stands apart from the competition, particularly thanks to its secret ingredient of coffee, which is used instead of boiling water.
The use of coffee instead, with all its tasty bitterness, really helps to enforce the chocolate flavor, emphasizing it and making you enjoy it even more.
The chocolate cake achieves its extra chocolateness thanks to the chocolate frosting that’s lathered inside and over it, and the recipe tells you how to make this easy yet delicious frosting.
The frosting uses melted high-quality chocolate, so be sure to buy a fancy brand of chocolate because it’ll really make a difference to the taste.
Our next recipe will guide you through making a slightly tweaked version of Ina Garten’s wildly famous double layer chocolate cake, with all its deliciously moist sponge and its rich buttercream frosting.
It’s a cake that’s perfect for any occasion, and it doesn’t take as much effort to make as you might think. At least, the effort is absolutely worth it once you taste the final results!
The chocolate cake uses all the typical ingredients that you’d expect now, such as cocoa powder for the chocolate flavoring and some hot coffee to give it a bitter edge that brings out the primary rich flavoring better.
However, this recipe actually tweaks things a little, adding to Ina Garten’s already-delicious recipe. How so?
Well, the recipe adds a layer of raspberry jam to the cake, giving it a burst of refreshing and sweet fruitiness.
In addition to that, the recipe replaces the chocolate buttercream frosting with a Nutella buttercream frosting.
This brilliant changs adds a strong edge of nuttiness to the cake, while you’ll still get plenty of chocolate flavoring from the main sponges!
Our final recipe tells you how to make Ina Garten’s tall, rich, and moist chocolate cake, but adds a slight twist to it.
While Ina Garten’s original recipe uses a buttercream frosting, this uses a simple ganache instead, bringing a new flavor to the cake and transforming it into something slightly different – yet still totally delicious.
For the cocoa of the cake, the recipe uses Bournville, which is a particularly rich and deliciously dark chocolate bar.
This is a great pick, because intensely rich dark chocolate makes the cake’s chocolate flavoring extra strong and noticeable.
Even if you don’t like dark chocolate in bar form, try using it for the cake – you won’t be disappointed!
Meanwhile, the chocolate cake still uses freshly brewed coffee, giving the cake an edge of bitterness that helps to enhance the chocolate’s taste. Delicious!
Final Thoughts
Ina Garten has been a famous cook for decades, so you can bet that her intensely delicious double layer chocolate cake is a winning recipe!
If you follow any of the recipes in our guide, you’re bound to get a rich, moist cake that simply melts in your mouth.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Brand Of Chocolate Does Ina Garten Use?
Though you can use whatever brand you want, Ina Garten likes to use Lindt when baking with chocolate. It isn’t hard to see why!
Lindy has a unique chocolate flavoring to it that’s wonderfully rich and tasty, and it’ll make any Ina Garten chocolate cake taste extra delicious.
I'm Barbara Hunt, the founder of WomenChefs.org. Being a mom of two, I understand the challenges of meal planning and the monotony it can bring.
That's why I created WomenChefs.org, a platform dedicated to showcasing the skills and delicious dishes crafted by amazing women. My goal is to provide a space where women can find delectable recipes that tantalize their taste buds and ignite their senses.
I hope you'll join me in exploring WomenChefs.org and discovering your next favorite recipe. Let's embrace culinary diversity and try something new together!
