Beatty's chocolate cake from Barefoot Contessa at Home: Everyday Recipes You'll Make Over and Over Again (page 165) by Ina Garten

Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

  • angela_gnbj4y on April 13, 2026

    This is an excellent cake recipe. I usually frost it with Swiss meringue buttercream but the frosting recipe included is also good. This cake is moist, flavorful and rich without being overpowering. You can’t taste the coffee at all, it just tastes rich and chocolatey and fudgy. It’s delicious!

  • julie_c3yl67 on February 23, 2026

    Have made this cake so many times over the years, it’s a crown pleaser every time!! I increase the frosting by 50%. This happens to be my dad’s favorite cake.

  • tmitra on February 07, 2026

    In general, I don't love cake, and I find chocolate cake particularly disappointing. Additionally, I hate coffee, so I've avoided all of Ina's chocolate cakes for fear of tasting the coffee. As you can imagine, when a chef friend convinced me to try this recipe, it was a big leap of faith. And I have to say: I'm very impressed. The cake is the best I've ever made, and I don't taste the coffee. I do taste the coffee in the frosting, so I might explore other options, but even so, I don't dislike it. This will be my forever recipe, and I might even like cake now!

  • averythingcooks on September 16, 2025

    I made this cake years ago for the birthday of T's mother & her twin sister. We hadn't been dating long and while I found his mother a bit intimidating in those days (but of course she was a lovely person :) , her somewhat "imperious"? twin terrified me...until during dessert when she leaned across the table, clasped my hand in hers and said "my dear, this is simply the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten". Ina for the win!

  • julesamomof2 on September 15, 2025

    This cake is so good! I had to put the frosting in the fridge for 10-15 minutes for it to firm up but other than it was easy to make and deliciously moist.

  • ebs on October 23, 2022

    I make a chocolate cake every year for my birthday and every year I had resisted making this cake - I'm not sure why. But for my birthday this year, I made it and it was So Good. The very centers of the cake layers sank a little bit and I think it was because I used slightly too much buttermilk. i will not make that mistake again. For frosting, I made a chocolate sour cream frosting from the View from Great Island's website - delicious.

  • sgpinson on September 08, 2020

    I halved this recipe (including the frosting - omitted the egg yolk) to make 12 cupcakes...best chocolate cupcakes I've ever tasted! So moist (which often seems to be an issue with cupcakes), chocolatey, and best of all, easy. I can't wait to make the full recipe as a cake.

  • anya_sf on March 29, 2020

    This is the best chocolate cake recipe. I made 1.5x the recipe in 2 9"x13" pans for a party. Used Dutch-processed cocoa. The cake was amazingly moist and delicious without being oily. The texture was firm enough to slice easily, yet light, not overly dense. Fantastic!

  • GiselleMarie on March 01, 2020

    Fantastic cake! For the frosting I used Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” chocolate frosting. The recipe Ina includes in the book to frost this cake calls for a room temperature egg yolk, but I don’t like eating raw eggs in any form.

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