Moist Chocolate Cake

Since my family is so large, we draw names once a year to see who gets to make whose cake. This past time I got my Dad, but since I was sick on his birthday, my mom graciously swapped with me. I ended up getting my older brother, Mike, which I didn't mind one bit. Some people in my family (I won't mention names) request extravagant and multi-step cakes, so I was happy with Mike's request of chocolate cake with a marshmallow filling. Simple enough!

I decided to use Ina Garten's chocolate cake recipe since it had such great reviews. I made a few tweaks to it and it still came out perfect. For the marshmallow filling he requested, I just made a batch of the filling I used when I made Whoopie Pies a while back. I already knew I liked it, so why mess with that? The chocolate buttercream frosting, which I'll post later this week, was thick and creamy and chocolately, but not overwhelmingly so. Just what I wanted. Enjoy!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• Cooking spray for greasing pans
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 9-inch x 2-inch round cake pans. Line bottom with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.

In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Source: Adapted from Food Network