Favorite Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup best-quality cocoa
• 1 1/2 sticks soft unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons good-quality vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup sour cream

Ingredients for Frosting:

• 6 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate, broken into small pieces
• 3/4 stick unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon good-quality vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Take everything out of the refrigerator so that all ingredients can come room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Put all the cake ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream into a stnad mixer and whisk until you have a smooth, thick batter.
4. Divide batter evenly into two 8-inch round cake pans, greased and floured.
5. Bake 25-35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
6. To make the icing, melt the chocolate and butter in a large bowl in the microwave. Heat 30 seconds at a time, so you don’t burn or seize the chocolate
7. Let the chocolate and butter cool just a little bit.
8. Add the corn syrup to the cooled chocolate mixture, followed by the sour cream and vanilla and then when all this is combined whisk in the sieved confectioners’ sugar (using a stand mixer is recommended).
9. You may need to add a little boiling water, say a teaspoon or so, or some more confectioners’ sugar, depending on whether you need the frosting to be thinner or thicker.
10. Spoon about 1/3 of the frosting onto the center of oen cake-half and spread with a knife or spatula until you cover the top of it evenly. Sit the other cake on top, pressing gently to sandwich the 2 together.
11. Spread the remaining frosting on the outside of the cake.

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