Chocolate cake has always been a tricky one to make! I always had trouble finding a chocolate frosting that was rich and easy to spread, and a cake that didn't turn out sort of dry. And then I tried this cake! It is NOT DRY AT ALL and the frosting is scrumptious all on its own! If you live for chocolate, you will absolutely LOVE this cake!
Just in case you think I'm biased, I always test my recipes on other people and this cake was universally loved by all of my very opinionated family members. However, be prepared to share this cake because it is HUGE! My family can E-A-T, and 8 of us ate it over 4 days (two of those people are giants so technically 10 people). My 10-year-old brother kept saying, "this cake just gets better and better!" and he was right! Day after day the cake became harder to resist. And, if a 10 year old thinks that, it MUST be true.
Recipe adapted from The Stay at Home Chef.
Death by Chocolate Cake
For the Cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups granulated white sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the Frosting:
1 cup butter
1 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl add all of the dry ingredients together. Mix until thoroughly combined.
3. Using a stand or electric mixer, add in the eggs, buttermilk, oil, water and vanilla extract. The batter should be pretty runny.
4. Grease three 9-in cake rounds, (if you don't have three separate rounds, just cook the batter in batches) and evenly pour in the batter (about three or so cups per cake round).
5. Bake fro 30-35 minutes or until an inserted knife or toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
6. Cool cake rounds for at least 20 minutes, preferably on a wire rack.
7. While the cake is cooling, make the frosting!
8. In a small pot, melt the butter. Add cocoa powder and vanilla, mixing until smooth.
9. Transfer the butter and cocoa powder mixture into a mixing bowl.
10. Add the powdered sugar in increments of 1/2 cup, and add the heavy cream in increments of 1 tablespoon at a time. (NOTE: I usually eye-ball this step, adding sugar until the frosting reaches the sweetness I like and adding heavy cream until the frosting reaches a spreadable consistency. You may find you need slightly more or less of the measurements listed for the powdered sugar and heavy cream.)
11. Once the cake is fully cooled, frost away! Dust with cocoa powder and enjoy!
