Farmhouse Chocolate Cake

Fragrant vanilla cake layers with an abundance of fudge frosting. Simply perfect together.

Prep Time: 30 minutes Yield: 10 servings

VANILLA CAKE INGREDIENTS:

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup milk mixed with 1 tablespoon white vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt (you may prefer less)

In separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using stand or hand mixer, beat sugar and eggs, then add oil and vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, ending with flour.

Flour and grease 2 nine inch cake pans. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until browned and toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool pans on wire rack until warm to the touch, then remove cakes from pans. Continue to cool while making fudge frosting.

FUDGE FROSTING:

3/4 pound of unsalted butter, softened

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup warm milk

1 pound confectioner's (powdered) sugar

1/4 cup dark cocoa powder (preferable to Dutch processed for richer chocolate taste)

1 tsp espresso powder

Cream butter and salt until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and milk. In small amounts, add sifted mixture of powdered sugar, cocoa and espresso powder until smooth. Add more powdered sugar or milk, if needed, for correct consistency.

ASSEMBLE CAKE:

Cut cake layers in half, if desired, creating 4 layers. Fill and frost cake with fudge frosting, leaving sides unfrosted. If desired to frost sides of cake, double the fudge frosting recipe. Beginning with crumb coating, then putting cake in freezer for 15 minutes. Remove cake from freezer and apply second coat of icing to sides of cake.