For some reason, I am not getting notified of topic postings. I hope the site bugs get fixed soon!

Confessions and Jen - Awesome to hear that the reduction in sugar is working for you. I'm going to make the coco loco cupcakes again for my DD college room mates as a welcome gift. I think they will be requesting these a lot!

Well I can tell you how not to make the coco loco cake. Don't read the recipe and then mistakenly put in 5 ounces of melted chocolate and 5 ounces of cocoa. I was wondering why the batter was thicker. I didn't dawn on me until I took them out of the oven. That's when I remembered that it was the epicurious recipe and not the coco loco recipe that had cocoa powder and melted chocolate.

These cupcakes are unedible as is. But I was thinking I could freeze them and make cake balls in the future. What do y'all think? And should I add anything besides some frosting to moisten these babies up?

I haven't gotten updates either! Poo!

Jenn- So you're saying that the cakes weren't all gummy and crumbly? That would rock!

Linda- I would *think* that the frosting is all that is needed for the cake balls! Let us know (when you do them) how you like them! I've not tried any yet but there are definitely some mixed reviews, I'm very interested!

I made the epicurious recipe again yesterday but for a cupcake bouquet and they worked perfect! I was wondering if anyone had a recipe for a vanilla cake or a strawberry cake that is just as good as this and doesn't mind sharing. Thanks!

I'm so glad I found this! I wrote the recipe down a week ago from LorienSkye and I thought the table spoons were alot too. So before I baked it tonight and came on here just to double check and found the correction and saved myself a sinking cake! Yay!

Anyone?

Anyone what?

BTW, CC seems to be broken and I am not always getting notifications of new messages. It comes and goes. But I don't remember your original question and don't have time to reread 17 pages, so if you can post it again......

I was wondering if anyone has a cake recipe for something similar to Epicurious cake but in vanilla and wouldn't mind sharing. Thanks!

What exactly are you looking for in the epicurious in a white cake. You are comparing apples to oranges and it hard to say. Have you done a search for a vanilla recipe on the internet yet? There are a lot out there.

My personal vanilla recipe is one I formulated. As soon as I finally decide which direction I am going to take with these recipes, I'll know whether or not what to do with my recipes. But for now I don't want to share until I figure that part out.

I was looking for the same texture and moistness as the epicurious cake, thanks for your help anyways!

Hi all!
I was wondering what the heck was going on with this post. I too, was not getting the notifications. BUT as soon as I clicked on it and started reading (and there are new posts) it sent me a notice that there was a new one!!

So besides all of the site problems I am hoping that people have been happily making chocolate cake! I am slowly trying to read back into the posts to see what I have missed. Anyone make the coco loco and have success? Has anyone tried the black cocoa in their icing?

Hope to catch up this afternoon, happy baking!

So I made the epicurious chocolate cake with 1/8 less sugar and got great results. Baked up nicely, did not sink in the middle, and most importantly I was able to tort it with no problems. I am glad I found this post because it helped with 2 other recipes I was having issues with and it turns out there was too much sugar in them also.

I'm about to make the Epicurious recipe and I'm going to do it with less sugar as well! I will update!

I love these two recipes (vanilla and chocolate cakes) from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layers Cakes. They were featured in this blog:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/project-wedding-cake-the-cake-is-baked/

They both bake to perfection, no changes made to the recipes.

I made the coco loco recipe as a cake this week instead of cupcakes. It was absolutely super delicious! And moist too. I used it for my Wilton gumpaste and fondant class. I'll post a photo soon.

Yes, leave the cinnamon out. Other than that, I love the texture in that cake.

But, I just remembered. From the same book, I also absolutely adore this other recipe. I have never made it with the peanut butter frosting and the glaze, it is also moist and delicious (probably due to the sour cream and the oil). It gets requested now as the only chocolate cake my family would like to have...

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/chocolate-peanut-butter-cake/

I mix it in one bowl in 15 min. (less if you're experienced, lol). Sometimes, no mixer.

I love and continue to use Lindy Smiths chocolate cake and madiera cake receipes - they taste great, carve great, are dense and weightbearing and you can add lemon, orange, rosewater, coconut, etc etc to change either receipt up a bit. The chocolate cake is really really lovely and the trimmings make great cake balls.

Suzi I just had to let you know that I used your cupcake recipe for the first time at the weekend for a friend of mine who has an egg allergy. It was actually my sons birthday and she was one of our guests. When I told her that all of the food at the party was egg-free, including the cupcakes, she almost cried. Everyone at the party thought they were delicious and my friend took the spare ones home. She just emailed me again to thank me for the cupcakes so I thought I'd better give you feedback.

Thanks again for the recipe! I'll definitely be using it again

I have enjoyed reading all the posts for the "scratch chocolate cake". Being a beginner baker I have learned a lot of tips! I usually bake the "Hershey's Cake" and it comes out great everytime, however I am going to try the coco loco cake for my daughters birthday next week. I will bake and freeze this Sunday. I just have to make a decision whether to use the real chocolate or cocoa! Do you think I need to use a flower nail for baking the cake? I am baking 2-10" rounds -wll one batch fill these two pans?? I hope that I have too much batter so that I can make a mini cake to eat!! Wish me luck!

I forgot to ask one thing... for the coffee - do you use instant or brewed coffee from a coffee machine? Is one better than the other?

Thanks

Hi Toni -

I can't answer about the flower nail. I did make a 12" cake using bake even strips and no nail. It baked fine, it just took longer.

By far if you want a moist cake, freeze it in the pan within 10 minutes of taking it out of the oven. I can't believe what a difference this made. I will do this with every cake from now on.

I used coffee straight from the pot, not i stant. IMO this is really a mocha cake. I can taste the coffee with it as written. I used a local roasted coffee once and the coffee taste was stronger. Now i use 1 cup coffee and 1 cup water. I get the chocolate enhancement and no coffee taste. When i want mocha cake, i use 2 cups.
Enjoy and let us know hpw you like it.

So I decided to make the cake tonight instead of tomorrow morning .... man I like stressing myself out! lol... I bought the Glad press'n'seal wrap - do you think that would be ok instead of the regular seran wrap? I am really nervous about freezing it so warm.

I am sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I was very busy making a cake. Seriously, I was making my first wedding cake, but that is unimportant.


I freeze right in the pan. I don't make a lot of cakes, so it wasn't important if my pans were not available. I used press n seal and then did another layer in foil too. they weren't not that hot, that I couldn't handle. The idea actually came from the book Cakes to Dream On where the Coco Laka is published. The cakes came out moist with no extra condensation.

I thawed the cakes on my kitchen table. I took them out of the freezer, unwrapped them, took them out of the pan, covered them back up in the press n seal and let them sit for the day while I went to work. When I came home they were thawed.

I hope I wasn't too late in helping you.

Thanks Linda! You got me in time! lol.... and by the way your "first wedding cake| is important! Hope everything is going well! The "loco's" are in the oven.... and maybe I am going a bit loco waiting for them to come out! I have two pans with the flower nails and two without.... guess what - the pans with the nails are even (at least so far) and the other ones have domes. I am glad it's the ones I need for the weekend that look good so far! Thanks again... I will keep you posted!!

Cakes are done, in the freezer and I'm off to bed! Taste test on Wednesday... looking forward to it!

I couldn't wait until Wednesday to try the CocoLoco cake.... so I put it on the counter from the freezer and let thaw. First observation was that it was sticky... not wet like I expected it to be. Now I am asuming that the unthawing causing it to be sticky. It came out nice and dark! The cake was very moist and from what I understand the freezing process added to the moisture. The texture to me seemed like a brownie. It was very good and my friend at work enjoyed it very much. I wanted to know from all the "Coco Loco" bakers out there if that is how the cake usually tastes! Any responses are greatly appreciated!