Chocolate Cake!

The highlight of my life is chocolate cake. It's cheap and easy, and it doesn't leave me feeling dirty or violated! (Yes, that was a sex joke. Probably not the last one, either. If it offends you, you're reading the wrong blog.)

Today is my sister's birthday, and my nephew's birthday party is tomorrow, so I'm making all kinds of cake today. My sister was a bit of a heathen and requested something besides chocolate, but I'm still using this recipe for the nephew!

Dark Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 1/4 cups cake and pastry flour (yes, it really makes a difference!)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened (also known as a 1/4 lb)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

1. Thoroughly mix the boiling water and cocoa. Set them aside to cool. (I have a milk frother, which does a wonderful job of mixing cocoa into things like this, or coffee. It's a cheap, small, battery-operated utensil that I find quite useful and highly recommend. I got mine at Ikea for less than $10. I've also seen them at some grocery stores.)
2. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. (If you have a KitchenAid stand mixer or equivalent, use it for this stuff. Keep the thing going until everything is in this bowl.)
3. Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter and sugar, mixing constantly.
4. Separately, mix together the dry ingredients. (Also known as all of the remaining ingredients.)
5. To the butter mixture, alternatively add the dry ingredients and the cocoa mixture. (If using the aforementioned stand mixer, make sure you scrape the sides down at some point, or you'll likely have some butter-sugar that didn't mix well with the rest.)
6. Pour the batter into a greased 11-inch cake pan. (Alternatively, a collection of smaller cake pans, or even a muffin pan for cupcakes! You'll want to reduce the baking time then)
7. Bake at 350F for 25-30min (check at 20min if you're making smaller ones.)
8. Let cool before frosting. Alternatively, lightly dust with icing sugar. Or just eat it plain.

*Note* This recipe makes 4 cups of cake batter. I used a mold that required 6 cups, so I whipped up some cheesecake to put in the middle. Had I known exactly how much it had made earlier, I would have made a double batch. Letting you know so you don't get stuck like I did.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to figure out something with gingerbread and apples for my heathen of a sister.... (grumble grumble) .... depending on how it turns out, I'll have another recipe for you soon! Don't blame me that it doesn't involve chocolate.