You are reading our Cooking newsletter Sign up to get a taste of Los Angeles — and the world — in your own home and in your inbox every Friday By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads. Over the last couple of months, I’ve been in the business of making yellow cake — creating the perfect layers to stack with a lightened cream cheese frosting and fresh berries to crown as L.A.’s favorite birthday cake. In the process of this arduous research, I ate a lot of yellow cake. So much so that it genuinely began to seem like a reasonable breakfast option, or a sensible afternoon snack. At some point, the inevitable happened: I got a hankering for chocolate frosting.Although cream cheese frosting was the most popular in our recent birthday cake poll, yellow cake with chocolate frosting — along with classic chocolate-on-chocolate — came in right behind it. We’d be remiss not to give the people (that would be you) what they want.The cake I finally landed on is so buttery and simple that it functions as a delicious snacking cake all on its own. It’s light, with a tender crumb, serving as a wonderful base for straight-up whipped cream and fresh berries, especially in the height of summer. And extra egg yolks make for a rich and sturdy excuse to slather on the chocolate frosting.But here’s the thing about chocolate frosting: There are just so many dang ways to make it!There is chocolate frosting made with cocoa powder. There is chocolate frosting made with melted chocolate. There is frosting made with a combo of chocolate and cocoa powder. And there is “chocolate fudge” frosting, which is dark, fudgy and contains egg yolks(!), so it’s a bit like smearing brownie batter on your cake. And then there is the whole family of buttercreams.Buttercream is frosting based on whipped butter. All buttercream is frosting, but not all frosting is buttercream. Technically, those I listed above are buttercreams. The frosting on a wedding cake or other fancy, decorated cake is likely Swiss buttercream (meringue made with egg whites and melted sugar into which butter is added) or Italian buttercream (whipped egg whites into which molten sugar is drizzled, then whipped with butter). Both are known for being stable (they hold their shape when piped), glossy (they look beautiful!) and not overly sweet.There is also the lesser known French buttercream — which is made like Italian only with egg yolks instead of whites (fudge frosting falls here), and is often used more as a filling. German buttercream starts with cooked eggs and cream (i.e. custard) into which butter is whipped. (It sounds weird. Remind me to try it.) And then there is Russian buttercream, which involves whipping butter with sweetened condensed milk.“American buttercream” is — not surprisingly, being that we are in America — what you are most likely to see at your local homespun bakery, or on your favorite baking cooking blog. American buttercream is butter whipped with so much powdered sugar that the sugar itself is what gives the frosting structure. The upside: American buttercream is sweet and easy — and who doesn’t want more sweet and easy in their life? The downside? It can be too sweet, and it can have too buttery of a mouthfeel. It can also get a weird “crust” as a result of the sugar crystallizing when it’s exposed to air.But where was I? Chocolate frosting.Making a birthday cake, no matter how organized or experienced you are, is a project. So what I want in a frosting is that it’s easy to make. What I want in chocolate frosting is that it’s easy and chocolaty. And also that it is smooth and creamy, not so sweet that it hurts my teeth to bite into, and not so buttery that it’s like biting into chocolate butter.This frosting is that. Made with cocoa powder with just enough melted chocolate to give it sheen and depth of flavor, it is smooth, rich, chocolaty and goes perfectly with yellow or chocolate cake. Sour cream makes it creamy and keeps it from having too buttery a mouthfeel — and prevents that crust from forming.But the best part about this frosting? It comes out perfectly every time. And that’s something to celebrate.Eating out this week? Sign up for Tasting Notes to get our restaurant experts’ insights and off-the-cuff takes on where they’re dining right now.No-Fail Chocolate FrostingThis smooth, creamy, chocolate frosting is easy to make, with none of the potential pitfalls of fussy European buttercreams. It’s perfect for kids and adults, but if you want a super-kid-friendly milk chocolate version, substitute natural cocoa powder for the Dutch-processed in this recipe.Cooking time: 10 minutes. Makes enough for 1 (8-inch) 3-layer cake.Get the recipe. (Carolynn Carreño / For The Times)
