My first ever three-layer cake (chocolate of course!)

For birthdays one through eight I do my best to make my kids super cool cakes. I’ve done everything from a gut-filled spider to a castle to a treat-filled train. I’ve even done Curious George, Winnie the Pooh and Blue from Blue’s Clues. For George’s recent birthday I pulled out all the stops for some seriously lifelike (who am I kidding?) shark cupcakes. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing for Livi’s birthday in August but it better be good!

After the age of eight I scale back the cake making and simply make whatever flavor cake they choose. We’ve had Funfetti, spice, yellow and even Ferrero Rocher cupcakes. I was jonesing for some chocolate cake (my favorite) so Lauren immediately became my favorite child when she asked for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for her recent birthday. Though I don’t do Guggenheim-worthy creations from the age of nine on up, I do try to do something a bit more special than boxed cake mix and canned frosting. Don’t get me wrong, 99% of the time that’s what I use, but a birthday gives me a really good reason to do the from-scratch thing.

I found Sandy’s Chocolate Cake on Allrecipes.com and knew THIS was the cake I had to make: three layers of chocolate cakeyness topped with highly rated (via the reviews) chocolate frosting. So I bought the ingredients, most of which I already had on hand, baked the cake, cooled it, frosted it and topped it. Before I go into the details, here are some helpful thoughts if you plan on making this cake:

• The cake was super moist and very chocolaty. Though my favorite chocolate cake is a cake similar to this one, Sandy’s came up a close second. Of course, it tasted just as good as Betty Crocker’s Triple Chocolate Fudge cake mix, so I might take a shortcut and use that next time.
• Everyone raved about the cake and the frosting, but I found the frosting to be a bit “tangy” for my taste. Perhaps it was due to the sour cream or perhaps it was simply due to my loving super fudgy chocolate; whatever the reason, I might try a different frosting next time. I’d love to find a recipe for that restaurant-style frosting that’s like solid fudge—any suggestions?
• Though I had enough frosting to frost between the layers and over the entire cake, if you choose to go with this frosting I’d 1 1/2 the frosting recipe.
• DO NOT use Regency Evenbake Cake Strips thinking they’ll be oh so helpful. They did help my cakes rise evenly (i.e., I didn’t have to even a rounded top) but they also made it so the sides of the cake didn’t set as well or pull away from the inside of the pan. When I went to remove them from the pan after sliding that plastic knife around the sides a few times, they still stuck. The one pan without the cake strips came out swimmingly (see photos below).
• A couple reviews suggested making the cake the day before so it tastes even better. Though we ate it the same day I did find it to taste even better on day two. I’d tell you how it tasted on days three and four but it didn’t last that long!

…
And now for the recipe!

Sandy’s Chocolate Cake
3 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups sour cream
1 1/3 cups boiling water

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
3 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened
chocolate
3 (1 ounce) squares semisweet
chocolate
5 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 9″ round baking pans.

{I included this picture to show you my mad greasing and flouring skills.}

WARNING: DO NOT use THESE!

In a mixing bowl, cream brown sugar and butter.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Blend in vanilla.

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

Add alternately with sour cream to creamed mixture. Mix on low just until combined. Stir in water until blended.

WARNING: Combine water by hand before turning on mixer to seal the deal, otherwise your Kitchen Aid will end up looking like this.

{Note: This picture doesn’t do the disaster justice. Liquid was everywhere!}

Pour into three greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. If you have Evenbake Cake Strips on your pans, REMOVE THEM! Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes.

Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

The pics I took while making the frosting didn’t turn out so well (lucky you!) but it’s fairly easy. For frosting, in a medium saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat. Cool several minutes. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, sour cream and vanilla. Add chocolate mixture and beat until smooth. Frost cooled cake.

And then because it definitely lacked something, I topped the cake with chopped Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chunks and semi-sweet chocolate curls. The hot pink candles were icing on the cake so to speak:

I think it was a hit!

For making the chocolate curls I found a great little how-to on About.com here. I thought it would be fun to do our own how-to. Lauren was the videographer and George was, well, George. Enjoy!