Best Chocolate Cake -- EVER!

I want to share this recipe because not only is it THE tastiest chocolate cake I have ever made, it is super easy! I one-and-a-halfed the recipe to make my son's birthday cake (see previous post) and used buttercream frosting to decorate (side note -- ALWAYS add a bit of almond extract to buttercream frosting -- it just makes it so much better!). This one is for my mom's birthday celebration tonight, and is topped with fudge candy icing. The secret ingredient is coffee. You just can't go wrong with this one, unless you hate chocolate, in which case, I do not know how to relate to you! :)

Beatty's Chocolate Cake (from Barefoot Contessa):

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 359 degrees F. Grease 2 (8-inch) round cake pans or 1 bundt pan.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer filled with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.


See how moist it looks? It tastes that moist too. It's just YUM! If you are using a cooked fudge icing as I did today, do not forget to scrape the pan and share the scrapings with your little ones so they don't feel left out.