Double Chocolate Cake

J's Double Chocolate Delight.

We are moving...ACROSS THE COUNTRY!

It is very exciting, but I was quite sad to pack up my kitchen tools and call it quits until we are settled into our new place.

My sisters birthday only comes but once a year so I figured why not use up the rest of my ingredients and make a delicious cake.

I was working from scratch and had ZERO thoughts on the flavors and fillings.

What does a stumped mommy do when she wants an idea for a cake? She asks her two year old.

Me-"What kind of cake should mommy make for Aunty Kya?"
Munchkin-"Choc Choc"
Me-"OK good idea, what kind of frosting?"
Munchkin-"Choc Choc"
Me-"got it, so double chocolate?"
Munchkin-"YES!!! Double Choc Choc is my FAVORITE!!!"

There you have it folks, the next culinary genius...

Starting with a saucepan. Melt 1 and a half sticks unsalted butter and add in 1/4 cup of dark chocolate cocoa powder. I used basic grocery store cocoa but the better the cocoa the better this cake will be!

Pour in 1 cup of warm water once chocolate and melted butter have smoothed and remove from heat.

In a separate bowl combine 2 cups flour, 1 cup white sugar,1 cup brown sugar and 4 teaspoons baking powder.

While the butter/cocoa mixture cool down a bit, in the bowl of your electric mixer add in 2 eggs 1 cup milk and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract. If you want to "adultify" your cake, replace vanilla with Kahlua or rum or brandy.YUM!

Mix on low speed until milk, vanilla and eggs are well combined. Slowly add your butter/cocoa mixture to the flour mixture, once that is combined add in to your eggs/milk mixture.

Mix on low speed for about 5 minutes, until batter is smooth and resembles brownie batter.

Bake at 350. I used a 9x3 inch circular cake pan and baked for about 45 minutes. If you are using a bigger, flatter pan, it will cook for less time.

For the chocolate frosting, I used a combination of crisco and butter, as a full butter recipe is much more finicky and does not always hold a good shape. Most wedding cakes/bakery cakes use crisco so don't be turned off just yet :)

All ingredients in the bowl of your mixture, low speed until smooth and creamy-

1 stick butter,softened
8 tablespoons shortening(crisco)
3 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons heavy cream
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Once the cake is cooled, frost with a small layer (called a crumb coat) and refridgerate for 15 minutes or so, once that base layer has hardened a bit. continue frosting to your liking!

If you make a large round cake, you can even cut the cake in half and put a frosting layer inbetween for a more gourmet feel.

After I frosted I rolled used chopped walnuts to coat the sides. It was DELISH!
I even made little cupcakes using the same recipe.

If you decide to do cupcakes as well, fill your liners half way, bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes.

frost and enjoy!