Nick used to always talk about his friend’s grandmother’s rockstar chocolate cake making abilities, so one day I got the nerve to call her and gank the recipe. Now I understand; he was right! This recipe is amazing…people love it. It’s very rich. I usually use the chocolate icing throughout, but in this picture I used yellow buttercream between the layers to create a bumble bee effect.
Cake
2c. sugar
1c. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. almond extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 c. cake flour
1 c. special dark baking cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/4 c. buttermilk
Beat sugar, butter, vanilla, and almond extract until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time.
In another bowl blend cake flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
Alternate pouring flour mixture and buttermilk into sugar mixture, starting with flour and ending with flour.
Blend for 1 minute.
Pour into three greased & floured 9″ cake pans.
Bake 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.
Cool completely before icing.
(Freeze layers for a few minutes if you’re going to slice them to make six thin layers, as seen in the picture…and to make six layers instead of three you’ll need more than one batch of icing.)
Icing
Cream the following ingredients:
6 c. powdered sugar
2 sticks of butter, softened
4-6 T. plain milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Once that’s creamed, slowly add:
1/2 c. special dark baking cocoa
1/4 c. regular hershey’s baking cocoa
(cocoa is difficult to blend in… it’s almost like it resists the icing. add slowly and be patient and it will work.)
*sometimes i add extra milk to make it easier to spread. the consistency should be spreadable like a thick frosting; you don’t want it to be crumbly or or so fudge-like you can’t spread it.
i usually cover the entire outside of this cake in mini-chocolate chips, as seen in the picture.
