The only other time I've made a cake from scratch is when I contributed to making my Mom's German Chocolate Birthday Cake. Well, this year Clark said he didn't want a funfetti cake, he wanted a "real" chocolate cake. So, I made a REAL chocolate cake. The treat, though, is the icing. Mixing up some Coconut icing to stick in the middle and on top, while wrapping the rest in a normal chocolate frosting, was me making the cake unique.

Cake:

Supplies:

- 2 C Flour

- 1 tsp Baking Soda

- 3/4 tsp Baking Powder

- 1 C Cocoa Powder

- 1 C Butter

- 2 C Sugar

- 3 Eggs

- 1 tblsp Vanilla

- 1 1/2 C Milk

- Wax Paper (If using 9" Round Pans)

Directions (Cake):

- Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees

- Let the butter and eggs sit out to warm up to room temperature.

- While the butter and eggs are "thawing," cut out wax paper to coat the bottom of the 9" pans. If you're using a 9 x 13" pan, don't worry about the wax paper.

- In a medium bowl, mix the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. If you have a sifter, this is the best option. If you don't, mix as thoroughly as possible (not with beaters). Set mixture aside.

- In a large bowl, beat the butter for about 30 seconds until soft. Gradually add the sugar. I usually add 1/2 C at a time and mix it afterwards. After you've done this, add the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla.

- Add about a third of the cocoa/flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture. Mix, then add 1/2 C of milk. Do this until you've added all of the cocoa/flour mixture and the milk.

- Pour the batter evenly into each pan. I measured it out to be about 3 C into each pan. I would suggest doing 2 C in each pan each and then add 1/2 C to each pan until it's as even as possible.

- Put the pans in the oven and cook for 30 to 40 minutes. After 30 minutes, check the cake with a tooth pick to see if it's cooked through the middle. If not, continue to cook the cake until it's cooked all the way through.

- Remove from oven and move to a cooling rack. Let cool in the cake pans for about five minutes.

Then, very carefully, flip the cakes from the pans and let them cool on the cooling rack on their own. Make sure to remove the wax paper if it's sticking to the bottom of the cakes.


Icing:

Supplies:

- 1/2 C Butter

- 1 C Powdered Sugar

- 1/4 C Oil

- 4 Tbsp Cocoa Powder

- 6 Tbsp Milk

- 2 C Shredded Coconut

Directions (Icing):

- While the cake is in the oven, take a medium sauce pan and put/mix together the butter, powdered sugar, oil, cocoa powder, and milk. Bring the mixture to a full boil, mixing constantly.


- Keep stirring, and let it boil until it begins to thicken. Stir in the shredded Coconut and keep stirring until it's really thick.

-Let this mixture cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes.


Spread it over the cake while the cake is still semi-warm. I am just putting it in between the two layers and on the very top. For the sides, I'm using a normal chocolate frosting (store bought this time).