In three words, TO DIE FOR. That sums it up. The best ever, moistest, chocolatiest (I doubted that that really is a word but I'm still gonna use it) tastiest, I want more chocolate cake you've got it here. None other than Hershey's Chocolate Cake takes the gold. Go save or copy the recipe and come back.
I think I've been using this recipe for the past 15 plus years both at work and at home. Besides being the best chocolate cake it is also the EASIEST and QUICKEST to make. You don't need to worry about having soft butter or pulling out the mixer or your arm to cream the mixture because there is none of that. The mixing method here is simple, two bowls, one dry and one wet, combine the two and pop in the oven.
Besides being super moist and delicious I love this recipe because the cake itself has a good structure. By that I mean that there are few crumbs and the cake doesn't fall apart when you cut it. I've made this recipe in round baking pans, square pans, 9x13, mini cupcakes, regular cupcakes, cookie sheets to cutout shapes you name it, it's great everytime. Today I was making a birthday cake using 2 8" round cake pans.
It goes without saying, always preheat your oven before you begin to bake otherwise you will have a deflated product.
Begin by greasing and flouring the pans. I usually save my butter wrappers for this specific job, I think Martha gave me that tip years ago. Add a tablespoon or so of flour and begin to swirl around in the pan by banging the sides with the heal of your hand.
The sides can get tricky but keep rotating the pan and tapping the sides of it.
Alternately, you could use parchment paper to line the bottom of the pans as I do at work but flour is cheaper. Your pans are ready to go and can be set aside.
Next up, sift all your dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Sifting helps to aerate the cake and remove any lumps. Have you ever bit into a piece of cake to find a sour clump of white stuff, that would be baking soda, not tasty!
In your second bowl begin to mix your wet ingredients, eggs and oil first. You want to emulsify the eggs and oil before you add the milk and vanilla so that you have a homogeneous mix.
Dump your wet into the dry mix and stir.
It will look like one big glob, don't worry!
That's okay because you now add boiling water and mix until smooth.
Pour into your prepared pans making sure you have roughly the same amount in each. Remember, scrape that bowl well! I usually just lift up the pans to see if the weights are the same. Pop it straight into your preheated oven.
About 25 minutes later, voila! Your cake is done when a knife or tester inserted comes out clean. Or the method I always use but had a hard time getting a photo of is to gently with your index finger touch the middle of the cake and if it springs back it's done. It must spring back right away otherwise your cake is not fully baked.
Let your cakes cool for about 5 minutes and remove from the pans.
I'll show you how to ice the cake in Part 2....until then can't you smell that!!!!
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