Ahh chocolate cake, doesn't it just make life good? And what makes life really good? A moist, lightly fudgy, perfectly chocolaty, slightly dense, kissed with cinnamon piece of the perfect chocolate cake frosted in a rich, fudge-like frosting. Haha I'm kidding, kind of. I know if someone were to hand me a piece of this cake on "one of those days" it would rapidly change from being "one of those days" into being a fabulous day =).
I got this recipe from my sister, whom got it from allrecipes. I'm quite certain it's a recipe for chocolate cake that cannot be topped. There's not outdoing this one. It is simply as it's named "The Best Chocolate Cake You Ever Ate." I may call it The Best Chocolate Cake You Will Ever Eat, because it's likely to be a lifelong favorite. Everything about this cake is divine. I made several of my own adjustments to the recipe, just follow the allrecipes link above to view the original recipe.
I almost forgot to mention the best part of this recipe (after it's incredible taste of course), you frost it right out of the oven while it's hot. No waiting an hour for the cake to cool to frost it! Amazing no? Just one more reason this is truly the perfect chocolate cake.
Yields about 16 servings
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup applesauce
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Recipe Chocolate Fudge Frosting, recipe follows
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan then stir in applesauce, cocoa powder and water and bring mixture just to a boil, whisking constantly. Pour hot butter mixture into flour mixture and stir. Add in buttermilk, eggs and vanilla and whisk mixture until well combine. Pour mixture into a buttered 13x9 baking dish and bake 25-28 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, prepare frosting during the last 5 minutes of cake baking. Immediately after removing cake from oven, pour (or dollop frosting by the spoonfuls) over hot cake and gently spread over entire cake.
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine butter and cocoa powder and bring mixture just to a boil, stirring constantly to break up cocoa powder. Remove from heat and stir in milk, powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until well combine. If mixture is too thick to stir by hand beat it with an electric hand mixer on low speed until well blended. Immediately spread over hot cake before frosting begins to set. (Also, note if you are adding sprinkles the frosting does begin to set quickly so you will want to garnish with sprinkles immediately or they don't stick well).
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from allrecipes
