Claim Jumper's Chocolate Motherlode Cake

kmdipaolo's Note:

This recipe comes from the Claim Jumper Restaurant in Colorado. We ate there several years ago and my daughter loved this cake. Definitely something for the serious chocolate lover.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 10

• 6 eggs
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter (softened)
• 3 cups vegetable oil
• 1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 ½ cups buttermilk
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 ¾ cups flour
• 4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 4 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 3 cups boiling water
• 3 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Add first seven ingredients into a mixing bowl, mixing well in between each ingredient.
2. Sift flour, baking powder and soda, and salt and add to mixing bowl.
3. Fold the boilingwater into the ingredients in the mixing bowl.
4. Mix well.
5. Grease and flour six 8" round baking pans.
6. Pour batter equally into each of the pans.
7. Add 1/2 cup chocolate chips into each pan.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
9. Let cakes cool for 10 minutes on a rack, then remove from pans.
10. When completely cool, ice with Chocolate Motherlode Frosting (Chocolate Motherlode Frosting).
11. Coat with nuts if desired.
12. Cake will keep for 3 days if covered and chill.
13. Serve at room temperature.

Reviews

[Pale Rose]

This recipe has a five-star taste, but I rated it four stars because I needed to make some adjustments to make the recipe workable. Be forewarned, this cake is only for TRUE chocolate lovers. It is very rich, and very good.One of the fabulous things about this recipe is that all the ingredients are divisible by 6, so you can do as many layers as you want. I made a two-layer cake for my daughter's first birthday. (For a two-layer cake, use 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 cup boiling water, 1 cup chocolate chips). I only have two round cake pans, so I recommend that if someone wants to make a 6-layer cake and they only have two pans, that they make enough batter for two pans at a time, so all of the layer will be equal. One time, I tried making this recipe with all six layers, and my cake rounds weren't the same height. For baking the cake, poke both rounds with toothpicks in various places to check for doneness. If you cook them too long, they will be dry. If you don't cook them long enough, it will sink in the middle and and be doughy (it's not very tasty that way). I recommend checking them at about 20 minutes, as ovens may vary with cooking. When done just right, the cake is SUPER moist and very good. When removing the cakes from the pans, I found it impossible to get them out without messing up the chocolate chips (they would become a smudged mess). To retain the shape of the chocolate chips, first cool the cakes in their pans for about 15 minutes. Then, put the cake pans on a cookie sheet and put them in your freezer for an hour. After an hour, you should cover the cakes with plastic wrap or slide them inside ziploc bags (still in their pans) and let them stay in the freezer for at least another two hours after that. Then you should be able to remove them from the pans with minimal smudging of the chocolate chips. The cakes can be returned to the freezer in their ziploc bags or wrapped in plastic wrap if desired (like, if you plan to make more cake rounds). If your cake rounds are in the freezer, I would suggest removing them from the freezer and leaving them out at room temperature for about an hour before you plan to frost them (to take the chill off of them). If the cake is too cold, the frosting will harden like a candy bar shortly after spread it on. It's still tasty, but I personally prefer a frosting consistency. I'll review the frosting recipe as well. So look for that recipe if you want my opinion on that. :)

[Marikathryn]

I would give it 1/2 star if possible! Don't waste your time and energy and money on the ingredients! After spending the time to carefully follow the directions exactly this cake came out in crumbs when I cut it! There wasn't enough frosting to covernitmand it turnednhard as a rock even covered with a glass case! I was mortified as I made it for friends. I have NEVER had a cake turn out like this! Hedious. Don't waste your time and have the disappointment! DON'T MAKE THIS!!!!

[The QC]

This is almost exactly the same as the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate cake recipe. The only difference is the addition of buttermilk here. That said, both recipes are outstanding. And like another reviewer said, timing is very important here. If you do not bake it enough, it will fall, though I don't think that made it doughy per se (this happened to me the first time I made it) but rather makes it so fudgey it is almost like a brownie. The taste was wonderful regardless, but it made it messy and hard to frost.