Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake

My much anticipated baking ingredient has arrived!

For some time now, I have been waiting for this to be in stock on the shelves of USA Foods - my only option for US brand food products. I have purchased from them on several occasions and it has been great. Online service, price, postage and overall service is fantastic. We have ordered Jiff Peanut Butter, Bisquick Pancakes, Ivory soaps, some Hershey's miniatures and Karo golden syrup. And finally, it has arrived! Ta da da da!

What's all this obsession with cocoa. It all started when I was searching far and wide for a good chocolate cupcake recipe - and 90% of those I read, printed, and saved from the internet required Dutch processed cocoa. It seems a lot of the recipes for most chocolate related concoctions require this type of cocoa. Although I am clueless as to how it is different from the normal supermarket variety cocoa (Nestle is the only one readily available locally), I can only rely on online information as to the obvious difference of unsweetened cocoa versus the Dutch processed cocoa. David Lebovitz enlightened me well with photos and the FAQ’s on his site relating to the third most exported crop in the world after sugar and coffee.

Alton Brown did an educational and entertaining piece on the Art of Darkness here.

It's amazing how this humble seed can become one of the most sought after crop in the world. As it turned out, the humble of beginnings of the Dutch process cocoa wasn't so humble after all. It was Coenraad Johannes van Houten the "Dutch chemist and chocolate maker who introduced the treatment of cocoa mass with alkaline salt to remove the bitter taste and make it more water-soluble" who's father is the owner of a chocolate factory in Amsterdam in 1815. So, the inclination to cocoa and chocolates was there in the beginning.

And so it goes - the circle of food shopping. See, buy, try, eat, eat, eat.......

Immediately after we received it (well not the immediate second, but a few hours after we came home, had dinner and was watching Masterchef), we used the cocoa and baked the chocolate cake recipe printed on the label of the container. Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate"Chocolate Cake . And as biased and expected, it was perfecto! Magnifico! Fantastico! Seriously, the best ever, simplest chocolate cake recipe. It is another one-bowl wonder!

In a span of 3 days, we have baked this twice already. Baked the cakes and ate it too. And we haven't even tried the frosting recipe yet! This is seriously good cake.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

2 cups sugar (we used caster sugar)

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (we used plain cake flour)

3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 vegetable oil

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour into pans.

3. Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting.

"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine

2/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Melt butter. Stir in cocoa.

2. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistency. Add more milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups.