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The Hayes are in town this week, staying at the house with us, so I used the occasion as an excuse to make the chocolate cake I wanted to make for my birthday last week. I refrained at the time, because Joshua and I didn't need to eat an entire chocolate cake (and you know we would've, given the chance). But now there are additional people around to help us out with the eating, so happy belated birthday to me! So I wanted to share the recipe.

I found this recipe on Pinterest awhile ago and pinned it because it said it was the BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE EVER. Well, it's pretty freaking amazing, I'm not going to lie. I made the cake as directed according to addapinch.com but changed up the icing just a bit. Next time you need to make a cake for a special occasion, definitely give this recipe a shot.

BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE EVER by Robyn Stone and adapted by me! :)

Cake Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used good ole Hershey's)
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. espresso powder (find it in the coffee aisle at the grocery store near the instant coffee)
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water

Cake Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray and lightly flouring.
2. Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until well-combined.
3. Add milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and beat on medium speed until well-combined. Note to self: Put the splatter shield on the mixer bowl to prevent chocolate batter from spraying all over the kitchen.
4. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter. Beat on high speed for about 1 minute to add air to the batter. The batter will be really runny at this point, but don't worry!
5. Distribute batter evenly between prepared cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean.
6. Remove cakes from the oven and allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes. Then remove cakes from pans and cool completely on wire rack before icing.

Frosting Ingredients:
- 3 sticks salted butter, softened
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 5 cups confectioner's sugar
- 2 tbsp. buttermilk
- 3 tbsp. milk
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. espresso powder

Frosting Directions:
1. Add cocoa to bowl of stand mixer and use paddle attachment to stir through the powder to remove any large lumps.
2. Cream together butter and cocoa powder until well-combined.
3. Add sugar and buttermilk/milk to cocoa mixture by adding one cup of sugar followed by one tbsp.  of buttermilk/milk. After each addition has been combined on a low speed, turn mixer onto a high speed for one minute. Repeat until all sugar and milk has been added.
4. Add vanilla extract and espresso powder and combine well on high speed.
5. If frosting is too dry, add more milk, a tbsp. at a time until it reaches the correct consistency. If it's too wet and doesn't hold its form, add more confectioner's sugar a tbsp. at a time until it reached the correct consistency.

This cake is moist and rich, and the icing is light, sweet, and the perfect complement to the cake. I'm not a big fan of icing (usually I scrape most of it off and leave it on my plate), but I ate every bit of this. And it has a lovely pearlescent quality to it, too.

Two thumbs up and a hearty recommendation from my kitchen to yours!