The Box's Fav. Chocolate Cake Recipe

A talented gal pal of mine just started a cake blog called Catastrophic Cakes. I was thinking of her on Friday when I was putting the finishing touches on a week long project-my first fondant cake. It truly was catastrophic. I felt like anything wrong that could have happened happened. My headboard broke (see pict. The bed, blocks and words are fondant. The toys are toys.) and I had to use the footboard instead. The text "Happy" broke and I had to piece it together like a puzzle for the presentation. Okay it really wasn't that bad in the grand scheme of things...especially since it was the first time I have literally EVER touched fondant. The part that was catastrophic was the cake part. I had no clue how to level, fill, etc. (Soon to be resolved...taking a great class in a few weeks and I will share what I learn.) My frosting recipe I chose turned out pretty crusty after spreading it out and you can see little cracks across the whole top. Oh Well! I gave it to them for cost and lesson learned! I should not be overly confident in my capabilities until I take some more classes!

Also, this last weekend, I did some bridal gown cookies that were to die for and these cupcakes. Aren't they cute? I will teach you how to make the stars later this week.

But for both projects...I used this recipe. My fav. chocolate cake recipe by far...and I have tried alot! This recipe stays moist for DAYS! We love it!

The Box's Favorite Chocolate Cake Recipe...so far

Source: My Kitchen Cafe

Makes two 8-inch or 9-inch cake layers , 1 9X13-inch pan

Makes about 2.5 dozen cupcakes

Put the following ingredients into your cart...

1 ¼ cups unsweetened cocoa powder

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

2 ½ cups sugar

2 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

1 ¼ teaspoons salt

2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk

1 ¼ cups warm water

1 ¼ cups buttermilk

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Put your apron on and get busy...

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, making sure the baking rack is in the middle of the oven.

Prepare your cake pans by cutting out a piece of parchment or wax paper to line the bottom of the pan. Grease the pans, place the parchment or wax paper in the bottom of the pan and lightly grease again. Dust the pans with flour (or cocoa powder if you don’t want the white dusting on the finished cakes). Set the pans aside.

Using a fine mesh strainer, sift together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add the eggs, yolk, warm water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Mix on low speed (with a handheld mixer or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer) until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake the cakes for about 32-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Do not overbake! Remove the pans from the oven and set the pans on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Gently run a thin knife around the edges of the pans and unmold the cakes, removing the parchment paper liners from the bottom of the cakes. Let them cool completely, top sides ups, on a wire rack.

Trim the tops of the cake layers with a long serrated knife to make them level.