To make this easy and delicious cake, all you need to do is measure, stir, and bake.
This cake recipe is of the 'dump, stir, and bake' category. Dump ingredients into a bowl, stir for a couple of minutes, and bake until it's done to perfection. As long as you measure the ingredients correctly, your cake will be tender, flavorful, and delicious. Flour is the most important ingredients in most baked goods. It provides structure for the cake and a place to trap the carbon dioxide released by leavening ingredients. Measuring flour correctly is essential.
The frosting for this cake is also very simple; it's made in a saucepan. You can bake this cake in two 9" round layer cake pans for about 20 minutes. If you choose that shape, don't use this frosting; it's not thick and stiff enough to work on a two layer cake. Combine a can of milk chocolate frosting with 1/2 cup of sour cream and use that to frost your layer cake.
Easy Chocolate Cake
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2 Tbsp. oil
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups flour
- 1-1/2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1/2 cup milk
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large heavy saucepan, combine cocoa powder, butter, oil, and 1 cup milk. Place over medium heat and cook until butter melts and mixture comes to a boil. As soon as the mixture boils, remove it from the heat and beat with a wire whisk.
Add flour, sugars, salt, and baking soda. Beat well (batter will be thick at this point). Then add buttermilk, eggs, and 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla and beat again until batter is smooth and shiny.
Spray 13x9" pan with flour based cooking spray. Pour batter (batter will be thin) into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-35 minutes, until cake has risen and edges begin to pull away from sides of pan. Toothpick inserted in center will come out clean.
Let cake cool for 30 minutes. Then prepare frosting. In a heavy saucepan, combine 1/3 cup cocoa with 1/3 cup butter. Place over low heat and cook until butter melts and mixture is smooth, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup milk, powdered sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla and beat until smooth. Immediately pour over cake. Frosting should level itself, but you may need to even it off with a knife. Let cool completely, then cut into squares. Serves 12
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