The Rookie's Cookies: Chocolate cake

Okay, this chocolate cake was really good. I'm having trouble comparing it with the other chocolate cake I made for my mom's birthday though. They're SO similar and both SO good. I do know that Nick and I liked the mocha icing with it better than with plain white icing that we had this time. Anyway, the cake is pretty similar to the last one I made. Also from foodnetwork.com. The only differences are the amounts of baking soda and baking powder, and using 1 cup of coffee instead of 1 cup boiling water. Oh, and this one wants buttermilk instead of milk. As usual, I add a tad of vinegar instead of buying buttermilk.

What I learned about vanilla icing: When you're adding flavor, add half vanilla and half almond extract. The almond extract tastes so good!!!

Side note: the recipe on the food network website says to use "good" cocoa powder. I think this is really funny. I remember my Grandma telling my Mom to buy her "good buns" from the store. What kind of buns are "good buns"? In this case, at least my mom probably knew what she liked. What is "good cocoa powder"? Is mine not good enough? Oh well! I took this out of my version of the recipe. I'm sure whatever cocoa powder you have is good enough.

Chocolate cake recipe:
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.* Makes 6 cups of batter.
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing on low speed until combined. Add the coffee and stir just to combine. Pour the batter into the pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn onto a cooling rack and cool completely. Do not ice until it is completely cool!

*As I noted in my last cake post, I am now measuring how much batter each cake recipe makes. My round cake pan collection currently includes two 9x1 1/2 inch cake pans, one 9x2 inch cake pan, and one 6x2 inch cake pan. I like the 9x2 cakes, so I wanted to know how much batter each recipe makes so I know how much extra I'll have if I make a 9x2. This made approx. 6 cups of batter... which I made into 2 cakes... about 4 cups went into my 9x2 and about 2 cups went into my 6x2. Phew! That's way too many number is one paragraph.

Here's some pictures of my and Mom's final cakes!