Chocolate Cake

This cake is so so simple, yet delicious. It is very moist and was suprisingly easy to work with and to decorate. The cake barely shed any crumbs as I was icing it and the cake layers were fairly symmetrical! I iced it with a chocolate buttercream and decorated it with chocolate pieces and chocolate leaves.

Ingredients:

Cake

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (or cake flour)

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup water 

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chocolate Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened

3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Decorations

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3 non-poisonous leaves (I used blackberry leaves from the yard, but you can use any leaves from a non poisonous plants. If you have nothing in your yard, herbs such as basil and bay leaf work well too.)

Directions:

Cake

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9 inch cake pans - I do this by first buttering the pans, then lining the bottom with parchment paper, buttering the parchment paper, and then covering the whole pan in a light layer of flour (the cake always comes straight out with no problems).

Combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl - remember to sift the flour first if you aren't using cake flour. Add eggs, buttermilk, water, oil, and vanilla. Beat with a whick or electric mixer for two minutes - the batter should be thin.

Pour the batter evenly into the two pans and bake for 30 - 35 minutes. Let the cakes cool and then remove from pans.

Chocolate Buttercream

Cream butter for a few minutes with a mixer. Sift 3 cups of powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl and mix until the sugar is absorbed (the icing should be pretty dry and lumpy at this stage). Continue mixing while adding the vanilla extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. You have to be patient/ probably mix for longer than three minutes because it takes a while for the icing to become smooth and creamy. I added in a few extra tablespoons of butter and cream after my icing refused to smoothen.

Chocolate Decorations

Obtain a baking sheet and line it with wax paper. Melt a cup of semisweet chocolate chips in a double boiler. I then used a silicone basting brush to brush some of the melted chocolate over the leaves, but pastry brushes work as well (they are basically the same thing). Pour the rest of the chocolate onto the wax paper covered baking sheet and spread into a very thin layer. Put the leaves on an unoccupied corner of the baking sheet and then stick the baking sheet in the freezer. After the chocolate has hardened, peal the leaves carefully away from the chocolate, and tada you have chocolate leaves! Then break up the rest of the chocolate into small pieces and place on the sides and top of the cake.

The original cake recipe called for 1 cup of coffee, but I used 1/2 cup water and increased the milk from 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups instead since I am not a big fan of coffee. 

Original Recipes can be found at the following links:

http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/the-best-chocolate-cake-recipe/

http://savorysweetlife.com/2011/04/chocolate-buttercream-frosting/