A chocolate cake is a fitting way for us to celebrate Otto's 6 month birthday ~ don't you think? Of course he won't be partaking ; in fact he wants nothing to do with anything beyond nursing as can be seen in this photo of him taking his first bites of rice cereal.
But for the rest of us, we're enjoying a bit of chocolate cake on Otto's behalf. I made it on Thursday, but its keeping so well in the fridge. Still ridiculously moist and it was even more ridiculously easy to make.
Here's the basic recipe from Bon Appetit magazine.
I used some ganache I already had on hand and sandwiched the layers between a spreading of Ikea's Lingonberry preserves.
2 cups flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 lg. eggs
Position racks in top and bottom third of oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Coat two 9 inch diameter cake pans with 2 inch high sides with nonstick spray. Line bottoms with parchment paper rounds. Spray rounds. Sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl.; whisk to blend and form well in center. Whisk 1 cup of water, buttermilk, oil, and eggs in medium bowl to blend. Pour wet ingredients into well in dry ingredients; whisk just to blend. Divide cake batter between pans. Bake about 30 minutes. Cool completely in pans.