Best Chocolate Cake

Hello everyone!

Over the break I wanted to make something but didn’t know what to make. My nephew passes by me and I stop him and ask “what do you want me to make you?” He says immediately “chocolate cake!” I thought about all the desserts I had been making and most if not all, have cinnamon in it. He does like cinnamon. I know, right. WHO DOESN’T LIKE CINNAMON! He doesn’t…

I pulled out one of my old cookbooks to see if there was a recipe for chocolate cake. Nothing in there, but I remembered there was a recipe I wanted to try on Pinterest. I had saved it months ago, and the title caught my attention: The most amazing chocolate cake recipe. Then I got SUPER excited! I gathered all the ingredients and I had my niece help me out. 

We made a two layer cake and the rest we made 18 cupcakes. It's a lot of batter left if you don't make 3 layers. As all of my family, friends, and readers know... I always make the recipe my own. This time I didn't have all the liquid ingredients so I had to make it my own!  I didn't have all the ingredients for the frosting either. I used a different recipe from my cookbook. But I didn't like this frosting with this cake. It's needed to be a buttercream frosting.

Author: Rachel Farnsworth

Yield: 3 9-inch rounds

Ingredients

The Most Amazing Chocolate Cake

• butter and flour for coating and dusting the cake pan
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1½ cups unsweetened Hershey's Specialty Dark cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cups buttermilk
• 1½ cups coffee
• ½ warm water
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/3 heavy cream
• 1/4  cups Hershey's Specialty Dark unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• about ¼ cup milk (as needed)

Instructions

The Most Amazing Chocolate Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter three 9-inch cake rounds. Dust with flour and tap out the excess. (see cooking lesson below)
3. Mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a stand mixer using a low speed until combined.
4. Add eggs, buttermilk, warm water, oil, and vanilla. Beat on a medium speed until smooth. This should take just a couple of minutes.
5. Divide batter among the three pans. I found that it took just over 3 cups of the batter to divide it evenly.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the cake meets the toothpick test (stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean).
7. Cool on wire racks for 15 minutes and then turn out the cakes onto the racks and allow to cool completely.
8. Frost with your favorite frosting and enjoy!

Chocolate Frosting

1. In a medium pot, melt together butter, cocoa powder, and heavy cream. Stir until well combined.
2. Remove from heat and powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until combined.
3. Beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. Add milk as necessary to make a spreadable consistency. The frosting should be very thick. This was not right for the cake. My family liked it but I wasn't here for this ganache type of frosting.