This is a great everyday cake. Because other people make cakes just because, right? It’s also a great birthday cake, retirement cake, anniversary cake, Valentine’s Day cake, Arbor Day cake, Brewers finally won today cake, you had a hard day at work cake… See, you can come up with a cake reason any day of the year. Plus, this cake is so easy to make. Mix dry ingredients, dump in wet, mix. That’s it.

For me, it’s only made from pantry ingredients that I normally have on hand anyway, so I really can bake it up whenever the mood strikes for chocolate. The cakes bake up light and springy with a high dome. Most people cut off the dome to even it out for easier layering, but to me that’s just wasted cake. I just keep the dome and fill in where I need to with extra frosting glue. Plus I don’t care how it looks when it’s done; if it’s domed on top, fine, just means more cake. If you’re feeling fancy, cut that dome off.

This is one of those boiling water cakes, which means at the very end of the recipe, you add an amount of boiling water to the lovely batter to make it a thin watery mess. I’m not sure how it works, but it does work, and it bakes up like any other cake batter. I used to make a similar boiling water chocolate cake recipe when I was younger and it was delicious, so I guess that’s what drew me toward this recipe. For once I don’t know the science behind the boiling water in these cakes, I just trust in the cake. 

If you have a favorite chocolate frosting recipe, use that. I just made a generic chocolate buttercream because I can’t be bothered to make a fancy frosting. It’s still fluffy and rich and thick enough for a layer cake and that’s all I really need. This would also be great with a different flavored frosting, like salted caramel, or coconut, or frosted with ricotta cannoli filling. (That last one is ridiculously delicious.)

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