The Ultimate Chocolate Cake for my number one chocolate lover. Turning three is lots of fun.
Our youngest daughter Maliana was born on October 30th. Her due date was October 31st but she obviously wanted her own holiday so she came a little bit early. Since she was born she has definitely showed us her personality and lets us know what she wants. For her third birthday this year she wanted a PJ Masks birthday party with a big chocolate cake. We found her party supplies at Zurcher’s.
The morning of her birthday she woke up to her room decorated by her sister Larissa. It was super cute and thoughtful and she loved it. We spent the morning hanging out and started baking her cake, we surprised her when we told her to get her swimming suit on. She is a little fish and was so happy to go swimming. We broke Larissa out of school early for an appointment (shhh…they don’t need to know she just went swimming with sisters) and went over to our local recreation center. It was a great afternoon to go because we pretty much had the pool to ourselves, there were only 3 other little kiddos there with us.
She swam and swam until she couldn’t go any longer. We stopped for lunch and she fell asleep on the way home.
While she was napping her sisters decorated for her little party. It wasn’t anything fancy, just some good old crepe paper and balloons. As much as I love a good party and decorations, sometimes the little simple, basic things are the best. It is much less stressful and loved just as much. My big girls laughed and talked while they were getting things ready for their baby sister and were so excited for her to wake up and see it. I finished up her cake and next things we knew it was just about party time.
For her birthday party she had her five little cousins come over for pizza and cake and ice cream. It was a very low key night but she had a blast. I didn’t get too many photos of the night because we were just enjoying each others company. I guess that’s a good thing, right?
Larissa came up with some games for the party. They unwrapped the big ball of saran wrap filled with toys and candy, they shot villains outside with silly string (and each other) and popped balloon bombs filled with candy. We ended the night with freeze dance and opening presents.
Of all the things she wanted that day she reminded me about a trillion times that she was three and having a chocolate cake. So chocolate cake she got with some of her favorite chocolate candies on the top. I always make my girls cakes for their birthdays, I’m not the best cake decorator but it was something my mom did for my sisters and I and we loved it. So I carried on the tradition and make their cake each year. She was in heaven and so was everyone else because the cake is so delicious.
This Ultimate Chocolate Cake is no secret and you probably have made it yourself. I usually get it off of the back of the Hershey cocoa powder. It is fool proof and always a crowd pleaser. I made it in three 8″ cake pans and layered them. I doubled the frosting recipe to cover the three layers and pipe around the edges. Filled the top with her favorite chocolate candy and called it good. It was a total mom win and I was her super best friend when she saw it. Keep scrolling down for the recipe.
I love this recipe because it is easy to make and you can jazz it up with your favorite candy on top to make it extra special. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
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servings
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- 2 cups sugar
- 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine 1 stick
- 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Ingredients
FROSTING
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- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
- Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with CHOCOLATE FROSTING.
- ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.
- THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.
- BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.
- CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.
- Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
- Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.
