The Perfect Chocolate Birthday Cake

Someone around here has a milestone birthday this week (it's me!) so over the weekend we had some of our best friends over to celebrate. It was my kind of celebration - yummy snacks, good friends, delicious cake, and some awesome gifts. I even got a happy birthday serenade accompanied by David on the ukulele.

The centerpiece of any good birthday celebration is the cake, and I knew exactly which cake I wanted for my birthday. We've always celebrated birthdays in my family with chocolate cake, and this is the absolute best recipe I've found for the perfect chocolate birthday cake.

Perfectly Chocolate Birthday Cake
Recipe slightly adapted from Hershey's

Ingredients:
For the cake -
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 1/2 t instant espresso powder
2 eggs
1 cup milk (I use soy or almond milk)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 t vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

For the frosting -
1 stick of butter
2/3 cup dark cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk (I use soy or almond milk here as well)
1 t vanilla extract

Directions:
1) Heat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour your baking pan of choice (I used a 13x9x2" glass cake pan).
2) Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pan.
3) Bake 35 - 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely.
4) For the frosting, melt butter and stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add vanilla and additional milk if needed.
5) Spread frosting over cake evenly and top with rainbow sprinkles.

The amazing thing about this cake is that it actually gets better the longer it sits. The chocolate flavor intensifies and the cake gets even more moist as time goes on. I think I've eaten this cake up to a week after it was baked and it was still delicious. Keeping it tightly covered at room temperature does the trick.

What is your favorite birthday cake?

~Tammy