Chocolate Cake

I made this cake for my stepdad's 75th birthday yesterday. He enjoys cakes that are not too sweet, especially the frosting. I searched high and low for a good chocolate frosting recipe and what I discovered was that there are lots of chocolate frosting recipes out there that are very expensive to make. One recipe I came across called for chocolate that would have cost me $5 for the two bars alone! I was almost tempted to pick up a can of frosting for a little over $1 but I held myself back!!! I did spend a bit on the chocolate and I'll use that for another time because I finally came across a recipe that was a 5 star one on recipezaar. It had tons of 5 star reviews and only used cocoa! I've made ones before that only use cocoa and found them all to be so sweet. Well I figured all these people could not be wrong plus it showed 3 ways to adjust the cocoa according to your taste. That sold me! Well, I will definitely give it 5 stars! It is excellent and my stepdad loved it. He said the frosting was perfect! I did have to adjust it after making the dark, rich version. It was still too sweet for me so I added one large tablespoon of cocoa and it was perfect. You just have to give this a try. It's excellent and inexpensive. You can find it here. It is recipe #89207.

The cake recipe I used was a basic yellow cake from Better Homes and Gardens New Baking Book. What intrigued me about it was that it was first published in 1930!!! Yet it is still popular and delicious today.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk

Grease and flour either 2 8 in or 9 in round cake pans or one large 13x9x2 inch baking pan; set aside. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating one minute after each. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to beaten mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Pour batter into pans.

Bake in 375 F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool cakes layers in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks. Frost with desired frosting.