Prep time: 2 hours
Cook time: 30 mins
Total time: 2 hours 30 mins
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 2 tbsp for cake pans
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1¾ cups sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
- Grease two 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray or butter.
- Add 1 tbsp flour to each cake pan, and rotate like a steering wheel over a sink until the flour completely coats the pan. Shake out excess flour into the sink.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Add flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a standalone mixer bowl fitted with paddle attachment (you can also use an electric mixer and add ingredients to a large bowl).
- Mix the dry ingredients on low speed for 30 seconds.
- Add eggs, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla to the flour mixture and mix on medium speed about 2 minutes.
- In the meantime, boil 1 cup of water.
- Turn off the mixer and add the boiling water.
- Beat on medium speed for 1 minute.
- Use a spatula to transfer the batter evenly between the two 9-inch cake pans.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes, then loosen carefully with a thin spatula or knife and turn over onto a wire cooling rack.
- Cool for 30 minutes before frosting.
- While waiting for the cake to cool, prepare mousse and frosting (see recipes above, or use store-bought).
- Add the mousse to a cake decorating bag (or ziplock bag with a 1-inch hole in the corner) and chill in the freezer for 7 minutes.
- If the cake layers are not flat on each side, use a large serrated knife to cut a thin layer off. Tape a piece of parchment paper around one layer of cake (should be three times the height of one cake layer).
- Pipe the mousse over the cake layer in a circle, until it completely covers the layer and is about 1 to 1½ inches in height.
- Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour.
- Place the other layer of cake on top of the mousse and carefully unwrap the parchment paper from the cake.
- Frost and decorate as desired.
Makes one double layered 9-inch cake
Recipe by My San Francisco Kitchen at https://www.mysanfranciscokitchen.com/chocolate-birthday-cake/
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