Chocolate Cake

Originally I was going to make one post that included 2 cake recipes,  2 frosting recipes and a cake decorating tutorial.  I decided that was probably a little too much to include in one post so I'm breaking each piece up individually.  Unfortunately, all my photos are from when a made one cake so you'll have with them and use your imagination, a little.  

This recipe is for the black stripe in the cake pictured above.  I used Hersey's Special Dark cocoa powder and black food coloring to get the cake so dark.  If you aren't trying to turn your cake black, you can use whichever cocoa powder you like the best.

Chocolate Cake

Makes 2 8" cakes

• 1 1/3c flour
• 1 2/3c sugar
• 1/2c cocoa
• 1 1/3t baking soda
• 2/3t salt
• 2/3c oil
• 2/3c sour cream
• 1c water
• 4t vinegar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350'F and prepare your pans with cooking spray and wax paper.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  Whisk to combine.

Add the oil and the sour cream - this will be thick.

Gradually beat in the water.

Add vinegar and vanilla and blend.

Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divide evenly into 2 prepared pans, and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let sit for 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack, remove the wax paper, and invert again onto a wire rack to let cool completely.

***Note - while this recipe tastes really good, it is a bit sticky.  I found that the best way to handle inverting it back-and-forth was to cover the wire rack (and my hands) with plastic wrap.  The cake won't stick to it and you'll have a lot less grief because the top of your cake won't be stuck to your hands.***

Source: Fredellicious