Chocolate Cake

Today we are celebrating.

855 blog posts, thousands of pictures, and countless hours of work later, my blog is 10 years old today! Wowie, can you believe that? I can’t. This milestone calls for something extra special.

Last year’s blog-ivesary I made the most delicious mini cheesecake, but every other blog-iversary has been celebrated with a chocolate goodie… coffee chocolate chip cookie bars, chocolate chip doughnuts, single serving whole wheat chocolate chip cookie, chocolate cupcakes for two, banana bread doughnuts with chocolate glaze, warm chocolate fudge cakes, chocolate chip black and white cookies, then chocolate lava cakes. I’m back with something chocolate-y this year.

I made this two layer chocolate cake. Guys, that’s huge for me. A cake with two whole layers?! I don’t usually like to bake cakes because I don’t have the confidence that they’ll turn out good. You can ask my husband since he is unfortunately a witness to my constant questioning of every step. Did I over mix the batter? Undermix it? Did I over bake it? Under bake it? The shape of the layers seems wrong. Why is that so bumpy? I mean the list goes on. (I’m sure my husband can add to the list of how annoying I can be, as he’s editing this post.) However, when I found this recipe I knew that I had to step outside of my comfort zone and try it because it looked phenomenal. I’m so glad that I did because this chocolate cake is one of the best chocolate cakes, may even THE best I’ve ever had.

Guess what? Not only is this chocolate beauty out of this world tasty, it’s easy to make it. I almost feel silly for being intimidated by it, but here we are.

The cake is so moist and delicious with no box mix needed. The frosting is homemade too and is smooth and decadent. Sure you can buy these things at the grocery store, but this really isn’t any harder to make, tastes so much better and there are no weird ingredients in it.

Together the cake and frosting are perfection. It’s chocolatey but not too chocolatey. It’s sweet but not overly so. Bare with me that I’m sharing more photos and dialogue than usual, but I could not resist sharing all the possible angles of this decadent treat.

My husband and I don’t gravitate towards cake for dessert. Maybe because it takes a lot to impress us. This chocolate cake has blown our socks off and for us to say that about a cake says a lot about it. I made this cake when we hosted dinner for some friends and everyone oohed and aahed. It was music to my ears. In fact, they requested that they be allowed to take some of the leftovers home with them, even after they were full of appetizers, lasagna, and a first serving of chocolate cake.

Thank you all for a great 10 years. I continue to learn so much on this journey of cooking, baking, and blogging. Just like this cake, I was hesitant to start to start a blog, but boy I’m glad I did both because I would be missing out on some wonderful stuff. A special thank you to my husband for all of his support. I could not have done this without him. Here’s to 10+ years more!

Chocolate Cake Recipe
(Makes a 2 layer 9 inch round cake)

Ingredients for the Chocolate Cake:

1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour (equivalent to 210 grams)
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil (I used olive oil.)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Ingredients for the Chocolate Frosting:

1/2 cup butter (equivalent to 1 stick)
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions for the Chocolate Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and lightly flour two 9 inch round baking pans and set them aside.
In a big bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set these dry ingredients aside.
In another big bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. These are the wet ingredients.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat the ingredients on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
If you haven’t already boiled the water, do that now.
Add in the boiling water to the bowl and mix everything together. (The batter will be very thin.)
Evenly pour the cake batter into the 2 prepared baking pans.
Bake them in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Mine took 35 minutes.)
Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes. Then remove them from the pans and let them cool on wire racks.
Let the cakes cool completely before frosting.
Place one cake onto your serving platter and spread some of the chocolate frosting (recipe below) on top.
Place the second cake on top of the layer of frosting and spread some more chocolate frosting on top.
Spread the remainder of the frosting around the sides of the cake.

Directions for the Chocolate Frosting:

Melt the butter. (I melted it in the microwave.)
Pour the melted butter into a big bowl.
Add the cocoa powder and stir everything together. (I recommend using a stand or hand mixer for mixing the frosting because it will help get a smooth and fluffy consistency.)
Add half the powdered sugar and half the milk. Beat the frosting until they are incorporated.
Repeat with the rest of the powdered sugar and milk. Beat the frosting until they are incorporated.
Add the vanilla extract and beat the mixture again. Continue to beat until you get a smooth frosting consistency. This will take a few minutes.

Chocolate Cake Source: Hershey’s

Chocolate Frosting Source: Hershey’s