Brooklyn Blackout Cake

My youngest brother is getting married really soon and our family wanted to throw a shower for his bride to be. They are out of state so it made it a little trickier, but we were able to host a bridal shower for her at her mom's house when they flew in to plan some things for the wedding. I was in charge of the desserts, which you know thrills me to death! I talked to my brother and he said that she loved chocolate... Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate. That's doable! Especially when the very next day this beauty of a recipe landed in my email inbox! Fate, the planets lining up, call it what you will but I knew that this would be one of the desserts that I made!

The pudding in this recipe was to die for, I almost want to make the effort to make pudding from the recipe for my kids all the time... A little too time consuming for me to do that, but it was that good! The cake was fabulous, albeit a little bit crumbly. I think that her mom is going to be finding cake crumbs throughout her house for a while! :)

Brooklyn Blackout Cake
(recipe found on tasteofhome.com)

PUDDING:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

CAKE:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup strong brewed coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

FROSTING:
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
1/3 cup hot water
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a small heavy saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisk in milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat to low; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Stir in chocolate until melted. Transfer to a bowl; stir in vanilla. Cool slightly, stirring occasionally. Press plastic wrap onto surface of pudding. Refrigerate, covered, 2 hours or until cold. Preheat oven to 325. Line bottoms of two greased 8-in. round baking pans with parchment paper; grease paper. In a small bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add cocoa; cook and stir until blended. Stir in sugars. Remove from heat; stir in buttermilk, coffee and vanilla. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until blended. Stir in flour mixture just until combined. Transfer batter to prepared pans. Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to wire racks; remove paper. Cool completely. For frosting, in double boiler method, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk in hot water, all at once. Whisk in corn syrup and vanilla. Refrigerate 25-30 minutes or just until spreadable. Using a long serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half. Place a cake layer on a serving plate. Spread with half of the pudding. Repeat layers. Top with a third cake layer. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Crumble remaining cake layer; sprinkle over top and sides of cake, pressing lightly to adhere. Refrigerate leftovers.