Rich Chocolate Cake

This next recipe that i will be sharing with you guys was the toughest recipes I've done for this Independent Reading Project so far. There was so many bumps (literally) and challenges that i faced doing this but through all those challenges, the outcome was better than ever. This recipe will feed about 4-5 people depending on how many slices a person wants. In the book, there was an option of doing this recipe as a cupcake or just as a whole cake but if you decided to, "this recipe would make 24 cupcakes as well" (Pansino 27).

The ingredients you will need are:
- 1 & 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting the pan
- 1 &1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 & 1/3 cups of granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1/3 cup of water
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 1 cup of sour cream
- 1/4 cup of vegetable oil

Directions:
1. The first thing you will need to do is gather your ingredients and
pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit then after that, grease a 9 x 13-inch metal pan. Now this was kind of weird for me because whenever i see a cake, i dont see it in a baking pan. I usually see it in a round baking pan so i decided to change that and use a round pan instead of a basic baking pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and dust some cocoa powder on the pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cin
namon, and salt. After those are all mixed, mix in the sugar in until evenly combined and then set that aside. A thing that was challenging for me was that i kept getting little "rocks" of brown sugar and you dont want those because you dont want to take a bite of just brown sugar in your cake. So, i got a pair of gloves and popped the brown sugars so i didn't have any bumps!
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, and vanilla and then after that is mixed, then add the sour cream and oil.  After the two mixtures are evenly mixed, your gonna make a hole in the dry mixture (this is called a well) and then you would add the wet mixture into the whole and then in a folding motion, mix the two mixtures until there is not more dry streaks of flour but DO NOT OVER MIX!
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly then tap the pan on the table to get rid of any bubbles. Bake for around 25-40 minutes or until a wooden pick is inserted and it comes out clean. For me, 37 minutes was fine.
5. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes and also in the book, the author says that if this necessary, you can loosen the cake from the sides of the pan with a small knife (Pansino 27). Carefully flip the cake upside down onto a wire rack or a plate that can fit the cake and peel off the parchment paper, and then flip the cake right side up and decorate (always optional)
NOTE: if making cupcakes with this recipe, line the 24 cupcake trays, fill them almost 3/4 full, bake for around 18-20 minutes, and then let them cool for 15 minutes and decorate (optional)

Final Presentation:

Although this was the hardest and most difficult recipe i made for this IRP, it was definitely the tastiest. The cake was super rich, rich to the point where it started to taste like dark chocolate. It was super fluffy and absolutely perfect and adding frosting made it 1000 times better. One tip that i do have for you if you ever do this is to make sure there are no bubbles or pieces of sugars because i did find one big chunk of brown sugar in one a slice that i took out. Just make sure to mix the dry ingredients carefully but other than that, it was amazing. If i had to chose which recipe i would do again out of all the recipes iv'e done so far, i would definitely chose those because the cake was seriously so good! In the end, there were some challenges to face along the way but the outcome was to die for!

Question: What's your favorite cake flavor and why?

Citation: Pansino, Rosanna. The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook: Sweet Treats for the Geek in All of Us. New York: Atria, 2015. Print.