- Hey everyone, it's Dorothy,
and today I'm going to show you
how to make this chocolate cake.
It's just a basic chocolate cake.
You could make a layer cake
or sheet cake or cupcakes.
It's moist and rich and delicious.
And that frosting, oh, it's to die for.
You're not going to want
to miss this recipe.
(upbeat music)
Everyone needs a basic chocolate
cake recipe in their life.
And this one is my favorite.
I make it all the time.
You can make it as cupcakes or layer cake,
or however you want.
It's so easy and it's so delicious.
Today I'm going to show you how to make
this cake as a layer cake.
Now my friends, remember,
I'm not a perfectionist.
I'm not a professional cake decorator.
I struggle with making layer cakes.
But this one, it's gorgeous.
Look how pretty it is, it's easy.
Remember, if I can do it, you can do it.
For more delicious
desserts and easy recipes,
be sure to subscribe to my channel.
Now let's get in the kitchen.
To start we're going to gather
all of our dry ingredients.
So mix one and 3/4 cups of sugar.
3/4 cups of unsweetened cocoa powder.
One teaspoon of salt.
One and 1/2 teaspoons each of
baking powder and baking soda.
And two and 1/2 cups of all
purpose flour in a large bowl.
Just whisk that together and set it aside.
Now we're going to mix
together our wet ingredients.
I'm using a large four-cup
measuring cup for this,
but you could use a bowl as well.
You're going to mix together
one cup of hot water
with one cup of buttermilk,
1/2 of a cup of vegetable oil.
Two large eggs and a
teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Just whisk that together.
And then you're going to
add your wet ingredients
into your dry ingredients.
Just whisk the ingredients together
until the batter is formed.
It's going to be a
thin, chocolatey batter.
It's super simple and
easy, no mixer needed.
Now before I start my cake batter,
I'm going to prepare my pans.
I'm using nine-inch round cake pans today
that are three inches high.
You wouldn't want to use anything
that is shorter than that,
or it will spill over.
You could also use eight-inch rounds,
or 9 x 13 pan, or make
cupcakes, your choice.
To prepare the cake pans, I'm going to use
the nonstick cooking spray
that has flour in it,
but you could also butter or grease
and flour your cake pans.
I'm also preheating my
oven to 350 degrees.
I want to make sure
that my oven and my pans
are waiting for me and ready
when my batter is ready
because this cake has baking soda in it.
And when you have baking soda in a recipe,
you want to bake the dough
right away, in a cake recipe,
you want to bake the dough right
away because the baking soda
is going to start activating immediately.
And if you wait to bake it,
the cake won't rise as much.
All right, my cake's
all divided in the pans.
I'm now going to bake
it at a 350 degree oven
for about 30 to 35 minutes,
maybe a little bit longer,
maybe a little bit less, it just depends
on how even your cake layers are.
It also depends on what
size cake pan you're using.
You'll know that the cakes are done
when you put a toothpick
in and it comes out clean.
Then let the cakes completely
cool before removing them.
Once your cakes are cool,
it's time to remove them from the pan.
So I trick I have to loosen them is
I run a butter knife around the edges
and kind of lift up a little bit,
just to make sure that it's not stuck
to the bottom of the pan.
I'm going to use a
little sheet of wax paper
to cover the top of the cake
so that my hand doesn't get dirty,
and I flip the cake over onto my hand,
tap the bottom of the pan a few times
and the pan'll just release the cake.
And then I flip it back
over onto a cutting board.
No matter what I do, no matter
how even the cake batter is
in the pans or how I bake
the cakes in the oven,
I feel like my cakes always
come out a little bit lopsided.
So what I do is I flatten
the tops of the cake
by using a serrated bread knife
and just slicing horizontally
to level them out.
Place the bottom cake
layer on your cake plate,
and now it's time to make the frosting.
This is my favorite fudgy
chocolate frosting recipe.
The caveat is you can't
make it ahead of time
because it starts with melted butter.
So the butter's going to
harden if you let it sit,
and then you can't really spread it.
It gets kind of gloppy.
So I get the cake all
ready to get frosted,
and then I make my frosting.
To make the frosting, you're
going to whisk together
one cup of unsweetened cocoa powder.
Five cups of powdered sugar
and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Just whisk that together in a
large bowl and set it aside.
Then you're going to add two sticks
or one cup of unsalted butter
to a small bowl and
you're going to melt that.
Then add your melted butter
into your powdered sugar mixture.
And add a teaspoon of vanilla.
I'm going to mix this with a hand mixer
until it comes together.
It's going to be a little
bit chunky, that's all right.
And then I'm going to add five
tablespoons of whole milk.
Now it's really important
that you use whole milk
in this recipe and not heavy cream.
And then I'm going to beat this
at medium to medium-high speed
until it's nice and smooth.
Make sure to get as many
of those little lumps out
as you can by upping
the speed on your mixer.
And that's it, it's the perfect fudgy
chocolate frosting for this cake.
And now it's time to frost it.
To frost my cake, I first add
a layer of chocolate frosting
onto the bottom layer of the cake.
(gentle music)
And then I add the second layer.
And then you're just going to frost it.
This frosting is nice
and smooth and silky,
as long you're frosting
as soon as you've made it.
So go ahead and add some
frosting on the top.
And then frost the sides.
I like to use a spatula to add some,
like a chunk of frosting to the sides.
And then I'm using an offset
spatula to smooth it out.
It should go on nice and easy.
If your frosting hardens a little bit,
you can heat it up just
for a couple of seconds
in the microwave and then
mix it with your hand mixer.
If needed, if it gets a little bit runny,
you could add a little
bit more powdered sugar
to thicken it back up.
Once the cake's frosted, I like to add
a little bit of decoration around the top.
So I put the frosting in a pastry bag
that's fitted with a Wilton
1M tip, that's the star tip,
and I just pipe little
stars around the edges.
And then my favorite
part is the sprinkles.
I love going to my sprinkle
wall and deciding what kind
of sprinkles I'm going
to use, what colors.
Today I'm just using some
bright rainbow sprinkles.
Put them all around the top.
And sprinkle 'em all around the edges.
This cake is gorgeous.
And that's it, we have
our chocolate cake recipe.
Look at how pretty it is, it
smells (sniffing) amazing.
That fudgy frosting, I'm drooling.
I cannot wait to try it.
Let's cut it and have a taste.
(gentle music)
Mm, you guys,
if you're a chocoholic,
you're going to love this cake.
It's rich, and moist, and
that frosting is so fudgy,
oh, it's so good.
If you're in the mood for
chocolate or for cake,
this is the recipe for you.
I hope you love it as much as we do.
Leave me a comment below and let me know
what your favorite kind of cake is.
I can't wait for you to try this.
I am going to go enjoy this slice
of cake while you keep watching.
(upbeat music)
