Best Chocolate Cake Ever

The real name for this recipe is Beatty’s Chocolate Cake but I renamed it since, well, this is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. You could also call it Allison’s Pregnancy Cake since I made about 6 of them while I was pregnant with Cayce. So delicious.

ingredients

butter, for greasing pans
1 3/4 cups all purpose white flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup good cocoa powder
2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
chocolate frosting

directions

1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8 inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.
2
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
3
In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla. With mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With the mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
4
Place one layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

notes

The recipe calls for chocolate icing (that recipe is also in this book) but peanut butter icing and white chocolate or raspberry icing would be delicious as well.

Source: Allison Zimmer