Homestyle Chocolate Cake from Scratch

By srumbel

Our Homestyle Chocolate Cake from Scratch is super moist, has rich chocolate flavors, and it looks impressive but is easily decorated with a homemade creamy chocolate frosting and a spoon. It's an explosion of chocolate decadence for sure and the BEST chocolate cake you may ever make from scratch!
Author: Heather Carter - MySweetMission.com

Ingredients

• Chocolate Frosting:
• 2 cups flour, unbleached or all-purpose
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup butter, slightly melted
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 4 1/2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Details

Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 110mins

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350º F. Generously grease (2) 9" round pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper, then lightly grease the bottom of the pans again.

Put all the cake ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix on low speed for a minute, scraping occasionally. Then beat on high speed for 3 minutes, scraping occasionally again.

Evenly divide the batter between the two prepared pans and smooth.

Bake in a preheated 350º F oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out a little sticky, but not wet or dry.

Cool cakes 20-30 minutes. Remove from pans and allow to cool completely on cooling racks. *Leave the papers on the bottoms for easier handling.

For the frosting: In a large bowl add the softened butter, sift the confectioner's sugar and cocoa powder over the bowl, then add the remaining ingredients.

Mix on low speed until blended, scraping occasionally. Then mix on medium speed a minute, scraping occasionally. Beat on high speed approximately 3 minutes, or until extra smooth and creamy, scraping occasionally again.

Decorating: Place one cooled cake on a platter and put small pieces of wax or parchment paper just under the edges. This will keep your platter nice and clean.

Top with approximately ⅓ of the frosting and evenly smooth.

Put the second cooled cake on top of the frosting, remove the paper and add another ⅓ of the frosting, smoothing across the top again.

Next, place spoonfuls of frosting around the outer edge of the top of the cake and work it down the sides, smoothing all the sides of the cake.

Create pretty swirls on top with the back of a large spoon. Carefully remove the wax or parchment papers under the edge of the cake by gently lifting the cake with a large knife while pulling out the papers.


Notes
Place the pans on parchment paper and trace around the bottom of the pans, cut out the circles and place them in the greased pans, lightly grease again. This will help your cakes come out of the pans perfectly every time.

Use a kitchen scale to weigh the batter filled cake pans. It's a great way to ensure your cakes are the same weight and your layers will be even. I LOVE my WeighMax kitchen scale and use it all the time because it's compact and very accurate. The weight shown above is including the pan, but you can tare items too, to get the exact weight of your batter.

Serves: 12-16