Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake

Every now and then you need... chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. And you just keep thinking about how much a good, rich chocolate cake sounds like perfection. Maybe with a cup of coffee, maybe with a scoop of ice cream. Maybe at 2:00pm in the afternoon. I'm not judging.

It was funny timing, because I had already been searching "perfect / best" chocolate cake recipes to try something new and then I got an out of the blue message from a friend asking for my favorite chocolate cake recommendation! That may, or may not, have pushed me over the edge to pull the trigger and make the house smell like the best place on the earth one evening.

My daughter has decided she only wants chocolate cake after trying this one. But she's fickle. She'll change her mind 5 more times by Friday.

This was a delicious cake recipe though - my only "critique" is that the texture is on the crumbly side - the flavor is wonderfully chocolate though, and that frosting is super "fudgy" and rich! You can thin as much as desired for a "creamier" texture with the milk. I left mine fairly stiff.

You definitely can't go wrong giving this one a try. Enjoy it with a glass of milk or scoop of vanilla ice cream - it's absolutely delicious!

Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake from Cafe Delites

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups white granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and granulated sugar.
3. Make a well in the center and add in the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Blend together for about 30 seconds on medium speed, until lump free.
4. Lastly blend in the boiling water, just until smooth. Batter will be thin.
5. Just before filling, generously spray 2 9-inch cake pans with baking spray (the one with flour in it). Divide batter between the 2 pans, and bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes, just until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool 10 minutes in the pan before carefully inverting pans to remove cakes, and allowing to complete cooling directly on a cooling rack.
7. Do not frost until completely cool.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

4 oz butter (1/2 cup or 1 stick)

2/3 cup Hershey's cocoa powder

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (sifted)

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Melt the butter. Pour into the bowl of your stand mixer, and add in the cocoa powder. Blend the two together until mostly combined, then add in your sifted powdered sugar and begin blending on low speed, add in vanilla extract, and enough milk to reach your preferred consistency. 
2. Once mixture is smooth, you can frost your cooled cake and enjoy!