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Chocolate Obsession Cake

The moistest most delicious cake you'll ever find. It's also the easiest, which is the best part!

Course Dessert
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 16
Author Chris Scheuer

Ingredients

  • Ingredients for the cake:
  • 2 sticks butter
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup cocoa
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • Ingredients for the icing:
  • 1 stick butter
  • 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate 4 1-ounce squares
  • ½ cup milk
  • 4 cups powdered sugar approximately
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350˚.
  2. Place butter, water, and cocoa in microwave safe dish. Microwave 3 minutes, stirring once about halfway through.
  3. Add sugar and flour and whisk until smooth.
  4. Add eggs and buttermilk, salt and soda and mix well. Stir in vanilla.
  5. Prepare pan (or pans) by spraying generously with baking spray.
  6. Pour batter into pan or pans. (For muffin pans, I used about ¼ cup batter per cake.) Bake 25-30 minutes for 11" x15" pan or 15-25 minutes for cake pans or muffin pans. When the cake is done, it will bounce back when lightly touched. Another way to tell if it is done is to insert a toothpick into the middle of the cake and pull it out. If the cake is done, the toothpick will come out clean or with a few crumbs, not coated with batter.
  7. Remove from oven and frost as directed below.
  8. For the frosting, place butter and baking chocolate in microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high for 1 ½ minutes or until chocolate is melted. Stir until blended with a wire whisk.
  9. Add milk and vanilla. Mix well. Slowly add powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Frosting should be thick but still pourable when warm. If too thin add a bit more powdered sugar. If too thick add a little extra milk.

Recipe Notes

I used square muffin pans for my cakes in the pictures above.

For sheet pan-type cake use a 11" x15" pan.

For round cakes use two 9" cake pans.

For individual cakes use two (12 cup) muffin pans.

For sheet cake - Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes, then pour warm frosting over cake in pan and spread with an off-set knife to distribute evenly. If you can stand to wait :), allow to cool before cutting into squares and serving.

For round cakes - Allow cakes to cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto cooling rack and allow to cool for another 30 minutes. Set cooling rack with cakes on top of a large piece of foil. Pour about one quarter of the frosting out onto each cake and spread with an off set knife to spread frosting across top and over edges of cake. Add a bit more frosting if needed to completely cover top and sides of cake. Excess frosting will drip through wire rack onto foil (Try to do this when your husband, children or best friend isn't around!) Allow frosted cake to sit for 10 minutes, then decoratively drizzle more frosting back and forth across top of cake. Repeat as desired until frosting is used up or desired thickness of frosting is achieved. If necessary, scrape excess frosting off of foil into bowl. If frosting gets too thick to drizzle at any point, return to microwave for 20-30 seconds, then whisk well until smooth.

For individual cakes, allow cakes to cool for 10 minutes then invert onto cooling racks placed on top of large sheets of foil; proceed to frost as directed above - using about 1½-2 tablespoons of frosting per cupcake and drizzling second layer as directed.