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Brooklyn Blackout Cake

Rich and fudge-y, this vintage recipe takes the cake!

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Brooklyn Blackout Cake
Via: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

Rich, dark, addictive, soft, creamy, and most importantly: filled with layers of chocolate flavor. This Brooklyn Blackout Cake is so dark you might think that’s where the name comes from. But, that’s only part of the story of this phenomenal vintage cake.

Brooklyn Blackout Cake
Via: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

In Brooklyn Ebinger’s Bakery churned out this amazing cake in the first half of the 1900s, filled with dark chocolate pudding and a rich frosting on top that complimented the moist cake under it all. The bakery was a mom and pop place opened by German immigrants in 1898. But, this popular bakery was next to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and in the 1940s after the US joined World War II this area underwent mandatory blackouts to protect the naval equipment from potential threats. Now blackouts weren’t a common event all over the US during WWII, but they certainly did happen on the coasts where there was a increased threat.

WWII Blackout Poster
Via: W.P.A. Art Program/Library of Congress

This recipe, while very rich, does use water and coffee for various steps of the process. This is because milk wouldn’t have been as easy to get in the city during the shortages caused by the war and rationing. It was nowhere near as bad as in the UK and Europe, but there were shortages. Just like during the Great Depression, cities were hit harder for dairy shortages than rural areas since people living in the country had access to their own cows or had neighbors with dairy cows.

Brooklyn Blackout Cake
Via: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

This cake does have quite a few steps because it was developed at a bakery. But, if you have a few goodies in the pantry you can simplify the process quite a bit. This recipe calls for making your own pudding filling and while I love the flavor this gives, you can use boxed instant chocolate pudding to make the whole thing go a lot quicker.

Use either chocolate fudge or dark chocolate pudding flavors to most closely replicate the deep flavor of the original from-scratch pudding.

Brooklyn Blackout Cake
Via: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

And, if you want to save some time for the cake crumbs you can blitz some Oreos or other chocolate sandwich cookies in the food processor instead of making some extra cupcakes and then crumbling those. The flavor will be slightly different, but still quite good.

Brooklyn Blackout Cake
Via: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

Once you have the pudding in between the cake layers and on the edges it’s time to make a mess. This cake requires you to get those cake crumbs to stick to the sides of the cake. This is easier said than done and it reminded me of playing in the dirt as a kid. Prepare to get a little messy and clean up the loose crumbs before moving onto the frosting.

Brooklyn Blackout Cake
Via: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

The frosting only goes on the top of this cake and you follow that with some more of those moist cake crumbs. You can dig in at this point, but this pudding cake is best served cold to keep it stable. Plus, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as chomping down into some cold chocolate frosting.

Brooklyn Blackout Cake
Via: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

This Brooklyn Blackout Cake hasn’t been served by Ebinger’s in decades since they closed down in 1972. There are still some New York bakeries that make this cake, but if you’re not headed to the Big Apple anytime soon why not make it yourself and enjoy the deep, rich flavor from the comfort of home.

Brooklyn Blackout Cake
Via: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

Yield(s): Serves 16

2h prep time

35m cook time

447 calories

3.0
Rated by 1 reviewers

Allergens: Eggs, Milk, Wheat, Gluten

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For the cake:
  • 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup hot coffee
For the filling:
  • 2 tablespoons Dutch cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup hot coffee
  • 1/2 cup hot water
  • 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
For the frosting:
  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 12 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1/4 cup hot water
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons Dutch cocoa powder
For the cake:
  1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Whisk together dry ingredients for cake. In a separate bowl stir together wet ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until uniform in color. Pour batter between 2 greased and lined 8” cake pans and two greased compartments of a muffin tin.
  2. Bake cakes for 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Bake cupcakes for 15 minutes or a knife inserted in center comes out clean.
  3. Allow to sit for 15 minutes before removing from pans to fully cool. Add cupcakes to food processor and pulse until only crumbs remain.
  4. Trim larger cakes (using a bread knife) to be level if needed. Make tops into crumbs as well and set aside separately.
For the filling:
  1. While the cakes bake add coffee, water, and cocoa powder to medium saucepan. Whisk together then stir in sugar, chocolate, and salt. Combine cornstarch with milk and mix until slurry is formed without lumps. Stir into chocolate mixture. Boil for 1 minute then whisk vanilla and butter.
  2. Pour into bowl and place in refrigerator to chill for 1 hour.
For the frosting and assembly:
  1. Melt butter and chocolate in bowl together in microwave using 30-second intervals. Using an electric mixer add remaining frosting ingredients and whip until thickened. Place bowl in refrigerator to chill for at least 10 minutes. Whip again just before spreading.
  2. When ready to assemble place one cake on plate. Spread 1/3 to 1/2 of the pudding over the first layer. Place second cake on top. Spread pudding all over the sides of cake. Press cupcake crumbs into side of cake.
  3. Spread frosting top on cake and cover with crumbs from cake tops. Cut into 16 slices. Best served chilled.

Recipe adapted from The View from Great Island.