Double Chocolate Cake

I bake fun things for kiddos for when they come home from school. This week I pulled out an oldie but goodie: my Double Chocolate Cake.

I know I modified this recipe a long time ago, but can't remember from what, or if I simply made this up from scratch. This recipe makes a dense, seriously chocolate cake reminiscent of brownies although not as gooey.

I still have to try this low carb :-) using Carbquick and/or ground almonds for flour, maltilol for sugar (blended in blender for powdered sugar), and sugar-free chocolate chips.

OK, here's the recipe:

Amy's Double Chocolate Cake

Cake:

1 cup oil, butter, or combination
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3/4 cup (12 T) cocoa*
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Put parchment paper in 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan, or grease it.

Mix oil, sugar, vanilla, and eggs until uniform. Sift and add cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until smooth and completely blended. Mix in chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into pan. Bake for about 30-40 minutes --> don't undercook this, but when it's finished the cake should still be a little soft to retain moisture. A toothpick stuck in may not come out completely clean, but should be pretty clean. I'm sorry I can't be more specific, I do this on instinct.

Frosting:

powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
8 T or so cocoa* or 2-3 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup melted butter
vanilla
milk

Frosting is best made using a hand mixer rather than mixing with a fork. Put about 1-2 cups powdered sugar in mixing bowl. Add salt and cocoa (dry ingredients) and stir together. Add unsweetened chocolate if you're using this instead of cocoa, butter, and vanilla. Mix together -- the mixture will be very crumbly.

***Be extremely cautious as you add milk, since a little goes a long way.***

Splash in milk a tablespoon or two at a time, and blend well after each addition. Keep alternating powdered sugar and milk until correct volume and consistency is achieved. You don't need to make as much frosting as you do for a cake.

Once it's ready, frost the cake. You can sprinkle jimmies or coconut on top if you wish.

I never said this was diet cake! But it's incredibly good.

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*note on cocoa

I never ever cook with regular cocoa because it is insipid, yielding only a dark color but no taste to whatever is made. Cocoa that is Dutch-processed (processed with alkali) is the only way to go because it has a deep, rich chocolate taste. Dutch-processed cocoa is hard to find and you'll likely have to locate some on the internet. An acceptable alternative is the Hershey's Special Dark cocoa, a blend of alkali and regular, in a box with a red and brown label. (Hershey's used to make special dark in a silver box, but I guess it became too expensive? THAT stuff was awesome).