Busy Nothings: CHOCOLATEchocolate Cake

This year I decided to make myself a birthday cake. I hadn't planned on it. But on my birthday, I woke up and wanted a cake. A chocolate cake. A BIG chocolate cake.

So, I stuck my son in his highchair for breakfast and began the search.

Didn't take me too long...I already knew what frosting I would be using. I came across the recipe on Our Best Bites a while back and have been looking for an excuse-er...reason...to use it ever since.

The cake recipe came from the ever wonderful Allrecipes. I quickly got to work.

Chocolate Cake
Recipe and photos by Busy Nothings
Original recipe from Allrecipes.com
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 C brown sugar
1 1/4 C granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 cup sour cream
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter or margarine and sugars until well mixed. Add eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla and melted chocolate squares. Add 1/2 the sour cream and then 1/2 the dry ingredients to the butter mixture until well blended.
Add the remaining sour cream and dry ingredients to the batter. Stir in boiling water.
Bake in two 8-inch round greased pans for 25-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of the cake comes out clean.

Chocolate Frosting
Recipe from Our Best Bites Photos by Busy Nothings.
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup milk
1 cup real butter, softened
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
Optional: Additional cocoa powder as needed

Melt your chocolate chips if you haven't already and set aside to cool. You obviously don't want it so cool that it hardens, but you can get it close to room temperature and still have it be soft and stir-able.

In a small saucepan, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, and milk; bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Boil 1-3 minutes or until thickened like a thinned pudding. Remove pan from heat and strain mixture into a small bowl. Cool completely in the refrigerator or freezer.

When chocolate flour mixture is cooled, beat the butter until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in the cooled chocolate mixture until well combined fluffy, about 1 minute. Finally add in melted chocolate and beat again until well combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes. If desired, add additional cocoa powder to taste, up to 4 tablespoons more. Spread or pipe frosting on to cupcakes or cake.

**I doubled the frosting recipe so I'd have enough to frost and fill a double layered cake.

Once cake is completely cool, level out the layers so they are even using either a cake leveler or a knife if you are brave.