Chocolate Cake with ButterCream Frosting

Chocolate Cake with ButterCream Frosting

Today is my husband’s birthday. My husband’s favorite thing ever? Chocolate. Enter left: The Best Chocolate Cake, ever. Thank you Pinterest for the idea and the blog Add a Pinch for the recipe.

Seriously. If you need a cake for a birthday for someone who loooooves chocolate, this is it. Rich, decadent, chocolatey heaven on a plate. The cake is moist, the icing is light. And with my hack of adding Starbuck’s Dark Roast Instant Coffee, in place of the espresso powder, it’s over the top robust.

My husband said it tasted like something he would order in a restaurant and I agree. However, in a restaurant, we would have split a piece. (Splitting a piece for me means a few bites and that’s it, I’m so glad I don’t eat like this on a regular basis.) But, here at home, I “almost” ate a whole piece and to be honest, that was way too much. I feel terrible right now and am crashing from the sugar buzz… Thank goodness my hubby is taking the rest of it to work tomorrow for his co-workers to enjoy. Hope you like it as much as we did. Note: Highly recommend cutting small pieces if you make this. Go back for seconds if you dare.

Ingredients: 

2 cups- flour

2 cups-  organic sugar

3/4 cup- unsweetened cocoa (I used Ghiaradelli Cocoa Powder)

2- teaspoons- baking powder

1 and 1/2 teaspoons – baking soda

1 – teaspoon salt

1 – teaspoon espresso powder (Note: I looked everywhere within my small town to find this with no luck. I googled a hack and found that I could substitute a dark roast instant coffee in place of it since espresso powder is hard to find. So, I went to our Starbuck’s and got an Instant Italian Dark Roast that worked perfectly.)

1 cup – milk ( I used coconut milk)

1/2 cup- vegetable oil

2- eggs

2 teaspoons- vanilla extract (I used the pure Madagascar stuff) – yum!

1 cup – boiling water

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray your 2 – 9 inch round pans with cooking spray then flour lightly.

Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, espresso powder (or instant coffee) and salt to a large bowl. Mix with a spoon.

Add your wet ingredients: Oil, eggs, milk, vanilla and beat on medium till well blended. Add your boiling water and continue to beat until smooth.

Pour batter evenly between the two round pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Toothpick should come out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes or longer.

Frost with your Butter Cream Frosting. (See recipe below)

Butter Cream Frosting:

1 and 1/2 cup – butter (yeah… I can hear myself getting fatter… lol!)

1 cup – unsweetened cocoa

5 cups – confectioner’s sugar (Oy!)

1/2- cup milk ( I used coconut milk)

2 teaspoons – vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon – espresso powder (or instant coffee)

Directions:

Cream together butter and cocoa in a large bowl by hand

Then add sugar one cup at a time with 1 Tbsp. of milk and mix till smooth and beat with a hand mixer. Repeat with the next cup and the next cup and the next… till the milk and sugar are gone and mixed together well.

Add vanilla and espresso or instant coffee. Mix well.

If frosting is dry, add more milk a little at a time. If it’s too wet, add more sugar a tsp. at a time till it’s easy to work with.

Happy Birthday Honey! Tomorrow, we start juicing! LOL! 🙂

Birthday Boy!

 

Enjoy your birthday!