Now THIS is Chocolate Cake!

My sweet niece Sophia celebrated turning two years old a few weeks ago with a family party. When asked how old she is, she says, “My Two!” So because of her two, I had to bake a cake. She takes after her mom and auntie, therefore she loves chocolate. When asked if she wants chocolate or vanilla, she always says “choc-at” without hesitation. That’s my girl!

Chocolate cake it was! I decided to go for the powerful combination of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I’ve made chocolate cake from scratch before, but was never too impressed with the results. After doing some research, I found out that cakes made with vegetable oil instead of butter come out better. I’ve always made cakes with butter and they turn out dry and not very chocolaty. I wanted a CHOCOLATE cake! Deep, dark, and moist. I did a search on allrecipes and found this cake: One Bowl Chocolate Cake III. Despite its simplicity, it was the best chocolate cake I’ve made from scratch. Combined with Caroline’s Chocolate Fudge Frosting, it was a lethal combination. “Now this is chocolate cake!” my dad exclaimed while eating it at the birthday party.

While the cake tasted great, there was much to be desired on my decorating. For some reason I left the decorating to the last minute, so I was rushed. Plus, I hadn’t practiced in a while and messed it up. Usually the writing is the part I don’t have much trouble with, but I couldn’t get it right this time. I ended up scraping it off and trying to smooth out the top again. It looked OK. Sophie didn’t mind a bit! As you can see, she wholeheartedly enjoyed it.

My husband and I only got to eat one slice of cake each, but hubby loved it so much, he asked if I would make one for just us. So I relented. After the difficult week we had last week, I decided we deserved a little chocolate cake. I made half a cake and baked it in 8″ pans, with 3/4 recipe of the frosting (pictured in my first photo above). It made a cute little cake for just the two of us!