Moist and airy chocolate cake with a creamy chocolate frosting.
It’s Birch Tree Baking’s 4 year anniversary today! It’s hard to believe that it was only 4 years ago that I was trapped inside on a snow day during high school! In the midst of college applications and BC calc, blogging somehow seemed like a new hobby to pick up! 4 years later and I’m about to graduate college and my blog is still tagging along! While I don’t post as frequently as I did that first year, I still make extra sure I have a fantastic blog birthday post for y’all. And boy is this one fantastic…
For past anniversary blog posts, I’ve made German Chocolate Cake, Funfetti Fudge, and Lemon Curd Cupcakes. But when looking at my cake recipes, I realized I didn’t have a good classic chocolate cake on here! And well that needed to be fixed immediately.
This chocolate cake is as simple as homemade gets! You don’t need a mixer and besides needing more ingredients on hand, it is as easy as a box mix. Unlike a box mix though, you can claim this as completely homemade!
At first I was a little ehhh about it only being one layer…. I mean one layer isn’t very whooooo 4 years! But I actually think it’s simplicity is really pretty … especially if you’ve got a cheerful cake platter! And it is so chocolatey and decadent that you only need one layer of it.
For the frosting, I used an offset spatula to make one smooth layer and then I used a Wilton 6B piping tip to add the little dollops on top!
^^ I had just finished taking pictures and was eating the slice of cake when my mom decided I needed to be in a picture with the cake!
Happy Birthday Birch Tree Baking!
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup natural cocoa
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 Tablespoon vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- ¼ cup natural cocoa, sifted
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan.
- In bowl whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together. Try to smoosh most of the lumps of cocoa until the dry ingredients are fully combined.
- In another small bowl, stir the oil, water, vinegar, and vanilla together.
- Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until fully combined.
- Pour the batter into the pan.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with a couple of sticky crumbs.
- Let cool in the pan.
- Beat the butter and cocoa with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Beat until fluffy. The color of the frosting will lighten up.
- Place the cake on a platter.
- Smear or pipe frosting onto the top of the cake. I used a Wilton 6B star piping tip.
Adapted from King Arthur
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Congratulations on 4 years! Great blog!
Thank you!
This was so easy and simply delicious! My husband said it was his favorite chocolate cake! Thank you for sharing.
I’m so glad it was a hit! It’s amazing how simple it is to throw together!