u/Huge-Acanthisitta485

Made this recipe for the first time today. It was for my MIL husband's birthday (yesterday but celebrated today).

This is a straightforward cake with a rich classic chocolate butter cream. The cake texture was moist and not too airy/light. The buttercream was good but definitely improved by taste and texture of the cake itself. I found the inclusion of boiling water unusual and felt it likely contributed to the mositness of the cake. The ingredients list has some wiggle room but for my cake I measured by weight and used buttermilk and canola oil where applicable. For the buttercream I used heavy whipping cream and salted butter.

Sorry for no cross section.

Cake:

https://addapinch.com/the-best-chocolate-cake-recipe-ever/#wprm-recipe-container-31552

Buttercream:

https://addapinch.com/perfect-chocolate-buttercream-frosting-recipe/

I see this more and more nowadays and I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to food in some respects. I feel like a dessert or even food item should have it's own identity. The cookie you made and stuck a Biscoff cookie on top or Oreo is not made better because of this addition. It's the opposite. You're adding more sugar and muddying the flavors of all the quality ingredients you put into the recipe. Why put forth all that effort if you're just going to plop something else in at the end?

Cheesecake brownies for example. You took two perfectly good desserts and combined them to make a brownie that isn't as rich as it could be because the cream cheese in the cheese cake is slightly tart and offsets the chocolate. The cheesecake doesn't bake nearly as well as it could have being in a pan on it's own. Maybe a chocolate cheesecake brownie would make this desser better? I don't know. I've never seen them made with anything other than vanilla or swirled.

Red Velvet cookie bars suck. They're a mid cookie at best and an awful version of a decent cake flavor.

Two Layer Chocolate Cake

Combining Two or More Desserts Doesn't Make a Better Tasting Dessert. It's Just a Lesser Version of Both Desserts.