The Best Chocolate Cake Ever. Seriously.

Okay girls. I'm giving you my hallowed and much envied chocolate cake recipe (Aubrie, pretend you don't already have it.) The key to this recipe is precise measurements; it doesn't turn out as well if you aren't accurate. Here goes. . .


Cake Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I always use Canola oil. It works the same)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water


Directions

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make sure the cocoa is packed tightly in the measuring cup. Also, be sure to spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level off with a butter knife or whatever. I always whisk/stir the ingredients as well as I can first and then use a KitchenAid or an electric mixer for a couple of minutes to make sure that all the lumps-if any-are gone and that everything is perfectly mixed together.
Add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Now here's where my "Precise Measurements" rule is an exception. I always let my teaspoons of vanilla overflow just slightly while adding it to the dry ingredients. Mix the batter on high for 3-4 minutes.
Boil the water and add to the mix. The batter is going to be a little thin. Pour batter into pan. I always use a flat 9' by 13' Stainless Steel pan or two rounded pans depending on if I want to be fancy or not :) A metal pan is best for this recipe because the cake is so dense.
Cook for 35 minutes. Make sure the cake has cooled completely before frosting.


Frosting Ingredients

6 tablespoons butter (I usually use one stick. It's a little more than is called for, but you can never have too much butter.)
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla


Directions

Make sure the butter is softened before starting. After it is, beat the butter with an electric mixer until creamy.
Add the powdered sugar, cocoa, milk and vanilla. Again, make sure you've packed the cocoa into the measuring cup and let the vanilla overflow a little.
Start off by mixing on the lowest speed so you don't get powdered sugar everywhere and after exploding white dust isn't a threat, mix the frosting on high until it's completely mixed. You're done! Slap that frosting on the cake and enjoy!