Carolann posts regularly over at Sassy Townhouse Living. This post was originally featured there.
The Best Chocolate Cake You’ll Ever Have – Is it a bold claim to make?
It might be, but after a single slice, I can attest to it! And the homemade icing is just as delicious. Why buy a store-bought cake when you can make the best chocolate cake yourself?
Whenever I bake a chocolate cake, I know the one thing I’m guaranteed to see is eyes wide open and ear to ear smiles. Chocolate cake has always been one of my hubby’s favorite desserts – they always seem to be a slam dunk way to make your company happy, too.
One of the reasons this cake is so scrumptious is because of the buttermilk. It’s dense and satisfying, yet light enough to digest without that heavy overly chocolate taste.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1/3 cup boiling water
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
- Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat butter and brown and granulated sugars until blended. Increase speed to high; beat 5 minutes or until pale and fluffy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to medium-low; add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla until blended. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture; beat just until batter is smooth, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula.
- Prepare frosting: In small bowl, combine cocoa and boiling water, stirring until smooth. In large bowl, with mixer at medium-high speed, beat butter and confectioners’ sugar 5 minutes or until fluffy. Reduce speed to medium-low; add melted chocolate, then cocoa mixture, beating until smooth and occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. If frosting is too runny, refrigerate until just stiff enough to spread.
- I baked this at 400°F for about 40 minutes. Be sure to do the toothpick test at about 30 minutes in to see how it’s coming along. Since every oven varies, I always recommend doing this. You can always lower the temp as well – the original recipe said to bake at 350°F but that was for the layer cake so I adjusted the time and temp.
Carolann Iadarola
Hi! I'm Carolann, the owner and author of Sassy Townhouse Living! I'm very passionate about DIY projects, cooking, baking, makeup tutorials, decor, design, writing articles, and technology reviews. My mission statement: Sharing The Best Of Everything! Instagram: sassytownhouseliving
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Denise
Sunday 2nd of October 2016
Only 2 T powdered sugar with that much cocoa powered and bittersweet chocolate just doesn't sound right. Is it really only 2T? I would have guessed more like 2 cups ...