Beatty's Chocolate Cake... the BEST Chocolate Cake EVER! (REDUCED Fat & 320 Calories)

There is a blizzard in affect in the New York City region!  We are expecting 12 to 18 inches of snow.  It started off all beautiful...

 
but OMG, look at what this turned into. I'm dreading shoveling tomorrow!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas 🙂  I think the blizzard kind of forced everyone to hang with family longer than we hoped for, which in my book is always a good thing... hanging with all my nieces and my adorable little nephew, Nikhil.  This Christmas, my husband, my brother-in-law (Abhi), and I went over to my sis-in-law and brother's home up in the boondocks.  Both my sisters and their families joined in the celebration of Christmas.  We missed my parents who are traveling at the moment.  
This Christmas we had a gathering of 16 people and each person pitched in and did their part in making this party possible.  My brother delegates tasks to each person so there isn't a tremendous amount of pressure on any one individual - I love how we all work as a team in the family.  At the end of the day, isn't it all about team effort?  

We started off with some appetizers and some amazing Cheese Fondue that my brother made.  It was phenomenal and I'm not sure he'll let me release his secret recipe, but maybe I'll think of creating something similar.   

This year we had a Thai feast... my sister, Mini, made her Veggie Coconut Red Curry which was incredible.  In addition, we had some Tom Yum Soup and Vegetable Manchurian.

My brother made delicious Asian Fried Rice which was to die for.  The other dish are Asian Noodles.

As always, I'm in charge of dessert, yeah baby!  I'm good at it and I'm not modest about it... haha!  This year I made a Cinnabon Cake and a Chocolate Cake I watched Ina Garten make on Food Network.  Y'all know how I love Ina and how her recipes never fail me, especially her desserts.  I baked Beatty's Chocolate Cake made with oil, hot coffee, and buttermilk... I knew instantly this recipe would be good, not to mention the amazing reviews on Food Network.         

TELL ME: How was your Christmas?  What did you guys make?

NUTRITION: Hmmm... honestly, there isn't anything good or healthy about this cake.  It is high in fat, the cake itself isn't terrible, but the frosting drives up the fat and saturated fat.  If you are watching your calories, you can skip the frosting portion of this cake.  Lastly, Unsweetened Cocoa Powder and Semisweet Chocolate Chips add some Antioxidants to this dessert.

MODIFICATIONS I MADE:

• I didn't make any modifications in the cake portion of the recipe - twas Christmas and plus the oil was the only bad ingredient!
• For the frosting, I halved the recipe and used 1 stick of butter to frost the cake, instead of 2 sticks.  The frosting was enough to frost the middle and top layers.  
• In addition, I skipped adding the egg yolk to the frosting, I don't know, I was weird about adding an uncooked egg to the frosting.  
• Lastly, although I halved the recipe, I used ¾ cup of confectioners sugar.  

APPROXIMATE NUTRITION PER SERVING (yields 16 slices)

• Calories: 320 cals
• Fat: 16 g
• Saturated Fat: 6 g
• Carbs: 46 g
• Protein: 3.4 g
• Fiber: 0.75 g

BEATTY'S CHOCOLATE CAKE (REDUCED FAT) (adapted by Ina Garten)
~ yields 16 slices @ 350 degrees using 2 round 9-inch baking trays

INGREDIENTS:

• All Purpose While Flour - 1 ¾ cups
• Sugar - 2 cups
• Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - ¾ cups
• Baking Soda - 2 tsp
• Baking Powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Buttermilk - 1 cup
• Canola Oil - ½ cup
• Eggs - 2 large (room temperature)
• Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
• Freshly Brewed Hot Coffee - 1 cup 

DIRECTIONS:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM (REDUCED FAT) (adapted by Ina Garten)
~ frosts 16 slices - middle and top layers - I halved the recipe.  

INGREDIENTS:

• Semisweet Chocolate Chips - 3 ounces (6 tbsp) - melted
• Unsalted Butter - 1 stick (8 tbsp) - room temperature
• Vanilla Extract - ½ tsp
• Confectioners Sugar - ¾ cup
• Coffee Powder - ½ tablespoon (or 1 ½ tsp)... used Medaglia D'oro Instant Espresso 
• Hot Tap Water - 1 teaspoon (dissolve coffee in this)

DIRECTIONS
1. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler.  Once melted, set aside to cool.

2. In a mixing bowl, blend the butter until light and fluffy.

3. Add vanilla extract.  Blend.

4. Add confectioners sugar.  Blend. 

5. Combine coffee powder and hot tap water.  Dissolve.

6. Add coffee powder to the butter.

7. And now you have Mocha Buttercream.

8. Add chocolate to the frosting.  

FROST CAKE - middle and top layers.

FROSTING RATING: 5 / 5 
The frosting was OMG, amazing, incredible, delicious!  Before adding the chocolate, this frosting tasted like Mocha Buttercream, it was so so good!  If I hadn't melted the chocolate, I probably would have gone with a Mocha Buttercream frosting instead.  Keep in mind, the Mocha Buttercream frosting is also lower in fat.  

OVERALL RATING: 5 / 5
Now although I'm not a huge fan of Chocolate Cake - yeah, can you believe it - I thought this cake tasted amazing.  Every single person who tried this cake absolutely loved it.  My bro-in-law, Raj, who adores Chocolate Cakes said this was 10 times better than the Everyday Chocolate Cake I recently made during Thanksgiving.  He said it was lighter and moister.  In addition, my niece, Sonia, who is another Chocolate fan loved this cake and actually asked me to make it again today.  Obviously, I didn't comply!  The key to this delicious cake is using oil, hot coffee, and buttermilk. 
Texture: The texture of this cake was soft and crumbly.  It was just right, it held up.
Moistness: This cake was extremely moist, and I'm tellin' ya, you can't go wrong with it!  

TELL ME: How was your Christmas?  What did you guys make?