Eat This Chocolate Cake... I Dare You

The fifth of July was my Mom's birthday. I did something special, of course. Something deliciously special. Something called chocolate cake. Oh, yes. My Mom's favorite. My younger brother Robert's favorite, too, but on July 5th, this baby was all Mom's.

When I say it's her favourite, I mean she loves, loves, LOVES it. While my Dad raves to people about the coconut cream pie I make, my Mom raves about this chocolate cake. She's a chocoholic to the extreme... and this just so happens to be the most extreme chocolate cake in existence. I wholeheartedly believe that you could scour the entire universe in search and never find a better one. Hence, this was my cake of choice for my Mom's 48th.

Daredevil's Chocolate Cake

         Yeah, so I kind of forgot to take a picture of the cake before we got to it (oops). I love pictures of started cakes, anyway, and my cake decorating is not what made this cake really shine. The in-your-face chocolate flavor is what you'll remember--a moist, layered cake topped complete with a fudgy and not overly sweet frosting for the full chocolatey experience.

As an experimentation with food photography, I also took some shots with the flash on. It produced an interesting result. I must confess: I don't much like using flash, and I rarely do. It often casts unnatural shadows where they shouldn't be while it pools light in unnecessary places. It does seem to enhance the chocolatey appearance of this cake, though.

The dangerous amounts of cocoa in the cake give it a lovely red tinge. One cannot describe how rich, moist, and delectably chocolately it is. At Robert's birthday party a few months before, I had stowed the last quarter of this cake (which I had made a day or two earlier, independent of the party) in my cellar. Mom had been raving about the cake to many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. When she told them I still had some left, my live-to-eat relatives commanded I bring some up for them to try. I did, and behold, they all thought it was amazing... even better than the coconut cream pie and the pecan pie I'd made for the party. Let me tell you, they'd raved about those pies as well, so that's saying a lot.

Be warned. If you like chocolate, you had best stay beyond a hundred mile radius and arm yourself with a hell of a lot of willpower. If you love chocolate... save yourself. Flee the country and stay away until the very last crumb has been consumed. NO. ONE. IS. SAFE.

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Daredevil's Chocolate Cake
adapted from Allrecipes


(Yield: 1 4-layer 9-inch Cake)


Print This Recipe


Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
•  
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 to 2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans.
2. Use the first set of ingredients to make the cake. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 3 minutes with an electric mixer. Stir in the boiling water by hand. Don't be discouraged by the runny batter; it will bake beautifully. Pour evenly into the two prepared pans.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.
4. To make the frosting, use the second set of ingredients. Cream butter until light and fluffy. Stir in the cocoa and confectioners' sugar alternately with the milk and vanilla. Beat to a spreading consistency.
5. Split the layers of cooled cake horizontally, cover the top of each layer with frosting, then stack them onto a serving plate. Frost the outside of the cake.