Super moist and rich chocolate cake

Friday we dropped a normal little boy off at school, and when I picked him up, he was possessed by Satan. I don't know what they did with Ethan but he was cranky, irritable, and just in a foul mood for most of the weekend. Saturday EJ wasn't feeling well and took a five hour nap. Ethan and I built a Radiator Springs, complete with Flo's cafe, Doc's garage, Ramon's body shop, Luigi's tire shop, Filmore's tent, and Mator's house. (I guess that's what it is. It was where Mator lives.) Then we built a race track. Then we set up his train set and brought water to the gardens, the pool, and OMG! The poor animals were thirsty so we had to build them a zoo and bring them some water too. We were lions and roared and wrestled.


Sunday, EJ was better (and in his defense, it's not like he ignored Ethan the whole weekend. I went out Saturday evening with some friends and they played then, plus he's home with him three days during the week) but even though he was feeling better, he was distracted because some grown men on the TV were tackling each other over a pointed ball. Ethan is not so into football. He is into baking so I thought what can I do to keep from building Radiator Springs and racing cars for another 3 hours? Bake a cake.


I reviewed the contents of our pantry and flipped through a few cookbooks trying to find a recipe that didn't require a trip to the store. Ethan used this as an opportunity to climb on my back, lift up my shirt, blow raspberries on my belly, push the books on the floor to make room on my lap. You know, the usual. In the end we made Deep Dark Chocolate Cake iced with One-Bowl Buttercream Frosting. It was the perfect ending to our dinner, which I'll tell you about later this week, and was enough cake to last us most of the week. (and I ate two pieces most nights.) See recipe below.



Deep Dark Chocolate Cake
from Hershey's Make It Chocolate! cookbook
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
One-Bowl Buttercream Frosting (recipe follows)

Heat oven to 350˚. Grease and flour 2 9-inch-round pans or 13x9x2 rectangular pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.* Remove from mixer; stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour into prepared pan(s). Bake 30-35 minutes for round pans, 35-40 minutes for rectangular, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in rounds for 10 minutes; remove from pans. Cool completely. Do not remove cake from rectangular pans. Frost with One-Bowl Buttercream Frosting.

One-Bowl Buttercream Frosting
6 tbsp butter, softened
Cocoa powder
1/3 cup for light flavor
1/2 cup for medium flavor**
3/4 cup for dark flavor
2 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a small mixer bowl, cream butter. Add cocoa and confectioners' sugar alternatively with milk. Beat to spreading consistency. Additional milk may be needed. Blend in vanilla.

*The best time to lick the cake batter off the spatula (my and Ethan's favorite part) is before you add in the hot water. Batter becomes thin and tastes almost watery after it is added.
**We used the medium flavor and it was the perfect level of chocolateness to go with the rich cake.