2.5oznon alkalized cocoa powdersifted so it's free of lumps
1teaspoonbaking powder
¼teaspoonbaking soda
2Tablespoonsespresso powder(or instant coffee ground to a powder)
12oz3 sticks unsalted butter at cool room temperature
1 ¼teaspoonsfine sea salt
18ozlight brown sugar
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
5large eggslightly beaten
4ozsour cream
6ozwhole milk
For the Ganache
3ozsemi sweet chocolate(high quality chips are fine)
3ozhalf and half
For the Espresso Glaze
1cuppowdered sugar
small pinch fine sea salt
1teaspoonespresso powder or instant coffee ground to a powder
⅛teaspoonvanilla extract
enough milk to get it to drizzling consistencyabout 1-2 Tablespoons
Instructions
For the Cake
Thoroughly pan spray a 12-cup Bundt pan. Dust the inside liberally with sifted cocoa powder, knocking out excess. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, soda and espresso powder until well combined. Set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth and creamy.
Add the salt and brown sugar and cream on medium speed until very light and fluffy, scraping bowl as necessary. This will take about 10 minutes.
Whisk the vanilla into the beaten eggs and slowly drizzle the eggs into the batter with the mixer running. Do this gradually, a bit at a time, over about 5 minutes. Scrape bowl as necessary.
Whisk together the sour cream and milk.
With the mixer off, add 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the bowl. Mix on low for a few seconds and stream in about half of the milk/sour cream mixture. Scrape bowl as necessary.
Add another half of the dry ingredients followed by the rest of the milk/sour cream. End with the dry ingredients.
Fold batter by hand to make sure all the flour is incorporated.
Scrape into the prepared pan and bake on the center rack of the oven for about an hour. It takes 1 hour, 5 minutes in my oven for the cake to be done and register 200F on an instant read thermometer.
Remove from oven and cool in the pan for 20 to 30 minutes. Turn cake out onto a rack to cool completely before glazing.
For the Ganache
Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl.
Bring the half and half to a boil and pour over the chocolate chips. Let sit a minute and stir slowly until smooth and glossy.
Spoon evenly over the cooled cake. It won't give you full coverage, and that's just fine.
For the Espresso Glaze
Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add a tablespoon of milk and the vanilla. Stir well and check consistency. It should be a fairly thin glaze that will flow freely from the end of a spoon or the tines of a fork. Stir in milk, a teaspoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency.
Pull some glaze out of the bowl with a spoon or a fork and move it over the cake in a circular motion. Continue until you have pretty even coverage all over the top and about halfway down the sides of the cake.