Chocolate Cake

February 2020 has passed and I just celebrated my birthday. This year, it felt appropriate that I make a chocolate cake since I had been craving one for a while. But I was not craving just any chocolate cake. I wanted a rich, decadent, and moist chocolate cake. This cake hits all of the marks and more.

DAIRY SUBSTITUTES

As always, the recipe is dairy allergy and lactose intolerant friendly but you can always use real butter and milk if you would like. The measurements are exactly the same

The recipe is easy and well worth the small amount of effort it requires versus purchasing a chocolate cake from your local grocery store. Therefore, gather your ingredients, put on your favorite music playlist, and get ready to create this delicious, chocolate masterpiece.

Chocolate Cake

Yield: 16-18 servings

Chocolate Cake (3 8 inch round cake layers)

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cocoa powder

1 tbsp baking soda

1 tbsp baking powder

2 tsp salt

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

3 cups sugar

4ozs unsweetened melted chocolate

2 tbsp vanilla extract

2 cups almond milk

2 cups hot water

Chocolate Icing (about 3 cups)

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) butter alternative (I used Earth Balance)

1 cup cocoa powder

4.5 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup almond milk

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour 3 8 x 2 inch round, cake pans. Sit them to the side.

Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Fill a small pot with 2 1/4 of water over high heat. In a mixing bowl, add the vegetable oil and eggs. Mix thoroughly. Add the sugar and mix until the sugar is saturated and wet. Melt the chocolate in a double broiler on the stove. Let cool slightly for about 3 minutes and add to the mixture by whisking speedily. Add the vanilla extract to the almond milk. Using a stand mixer or mixing by hand, add the dry flour and cocoa mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until the batter is completely wet. Do not over mix. Measure out 2 cups of the hot water and add to the cake batter. Immediately mix quickly until the batter is evenly saturated. The batter will be thin. Divide the batter evenly between the 3 prepped cake pans. add to the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake layers come out clean. Cool completely. If you do not cool the cake layers the icing will melt once you start to assemble the cake.

Melt butter alternative. Add cocoa and mix. Mix in the milk and follow by adding the powdered sugar. Mix thoroughly adding more milk if necessary or you desire for the consistently to be thinner. Stir in vanilla.

Fill the cooled cake layers with the icing and cover the cake with the remainder of the icing.