Colleenoz's recipe for chocolate cake is excellent. I am no baker and it is perfect every time.

Colleen's Chocolate Cake

1 Cup caster sugar (called superfine sugar in the US)
1 Cup brown sugar
2 eggs
250 g margarine (8 ounces)
2/3 Cup cocoa
1 Cup sour milk*
2 Tsp vanilla
1 Cup boiling strong coffee
3 Cup plain flour
2 Tsp bicarbonate of soda

Preheat oven to 170C (325F), grease and line two 20cm (8") round cake tins.
Put ingredients into mixing bowl in order listed and turn on mixer. Beat until just combined. Pour into prepared tins and bake 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Remove from oven and leave to stand in tins for 20 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

Ice with chocolate icing.

*If you have not got sour milk, add a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to milk and leave in a warm place.

NOTES : This is a very rich, almost black chocolate cake which stays moist for days and freezes well.

This is the recipe , from another forum member, I use for the icing.

Della Dufour's Chocolate Icing (Dances)

1 1/2 Tbl butter
pinch salt
1 1/2 Cup sifted icing sugar
1 Tsp vanilla
5 Tbl cocoa
2 to 3 tbsp hot coffee
Cream butter. Add salt and vanilla. Gradually add cocoa. Add sifted icing sugar alternately with the coffee until the right consistency to spread over cake.

Is your oven temperature uneven (hot spots?)or not the right temp? Test the cake with a tester or toothpick near the center 5-10 minutes earlier than a recipe calls for. It should come out clean without crumbs sticking to it.
You can use a regular chocolate frosting with this if you prefer as I do:

DARK CHOCOLATE CAKE W/WHITE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
4 squares (4 oz) unsweetened chocolate
1/2 lb unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325° with the shelf positioned in the lower 1/3 of the oven. Line two 9" lightly greased & floured cake pans w/circles of parchment. (You can dust the pans w/cocoa instead if you like.)
Whisk together the flour, salt, nutmeg & baking soda & set aside. Melt the choclate in the top of a double boiler over hot, not boiling water. Remove the chocolate from the heat & stir until smooth. Let cool. Cream the butter & sugar until light & fluffy, stopping the mixer to scrape the bowl & beaters several times. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Add the flour mixture & buttermilk alternated to the batter, beginning & ending w/the flour mixture & mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla & cooled chocolate, blending just until the color is even.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Smooth the batter level, then spread it slightly from the center toward the edges of the pan so that the cake will rise evenly. Bake 35-45 minutes or until the top is lightly springy to the touch & a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the layers from the pan & cool completely on wire racks. Prepare the frosting. Center 1 of the cake layers on a serving plate & cover w/frosting. Place the 2nd later on top & frost the top & sides of the cake w/the remaining frosting. (Put the top of the layers upside down on the platter so the bottom is on top in case the cake "domes" a bit. You'll have a nice flat surface that way.)~~

WHITE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM
6 TBL heavy cream
4 oz white chocolate, chopped fine
1/4 cup creme de cacao
1/2 lb unsalted butter, softened
1 lb confectioners' sugar (4 cups)

Cream the cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour the hot cream over the chopped white chocolate & stir until completely smooth. Stir creme de cacao into the white chocolate into the white chocolate mixture. Col, stirring occasionally. Cream the butter in a large bowl. Add the confectioners' sugar & beat 5 minutes until light & fluffy. Add the white chocolate mixture to the butter mixture gradually, beating at low speed until the desired ocnsistency is reached. Decorate with dark chocolate shavings.~~Save the Brandywine Valley

From experience.... make sure you cream your sugars and butter well. Beat it until fluffly. Also make sure that all your ingredients are well incorporated. Don't beat too long though but at least about 2 minutes.

As for dryness, don't overcook. The amount of fat call for in the recipe, using buttermilk, sour cream, etc., all help to make a cake moist.

I found this recipe many years ago and have used it as my standby recipe for chocolate layer cake ever since.

BASIC CHOCOLATE CAKE

1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted & cooled
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
1 cup boiling water
Milk chocolate icing (recipe follows)

Beat butter and sugar together in large mixing bowl; add eggs; beat until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and chocolate. Sift together dry ingredients; add alternately with sour cream to butter mixture, beating well after each addition. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-inch layer cake pans. Bake in preheated 350 degree F. oven 35 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool in pan on wire racks 10 minutes. Turn out onto racks; cool completely. Fill and frost as desired. Yield: 12 servings.

I just made this old family favorite, which is a very moist, heavy cake, for my daughter's b'day... just like when she was a kid. I used Linda C's recipe for Marshmallow Frosting.
(Thanks Linda for the recipe. It was exactly what I was looking for.)

Fudge Oat Cake

1 1/2 cups Boiling water
1 cup Oatmeal
1 cup Butter or Margarine
3 squares Unsweetened Chocolate, melted
1 cup Granualted Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Vanilla

Pour boiling water over oatmeal, let sit to cool.
Preheat oven to 350º
Grease and flour 9 x 13" pan.
Cream butter and add slightly cooled, melted chocolate. Beat well. Add sugars and eggs. Beat until fluffy. Stir flour, salt, and soda together. Add to butter mixture. Add vanilla. Add cooled oats. Mix well.
Pour into pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean, (top will appear shiney.)

Yield: 12 3" squares; 24 cupcakes (30 minutes baking time.)

Frost or dust with powered sugar, OR, use linda's recipe below.
---------------------------------

My favorite frosting... Like old marshmallow recipe

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup white corn syrup
2 egg whites
2 T H2O
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
Flavoring ( 1 tsp vanilla)

put all in a double boiler...or a bowl that will fit over a pan of simmering water. Beat with a hand held mixer while cooking over simmering water until soft peaks form, turn off heat....and continue beating until firm enough...3 or 4 minutes more.
Linda C

lindac

Enjoy! Westelle

pat t - what do you do with the boiling water?

Well POOP! Here's the corrected recipe:

BASIC CHOCOLATE CAKE

1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted & cooled
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
1 cup boiling water (may use leftover coffee)
Milk chocolate icing (recipe follows)

Beat butter and sugar together in large mixing bowl; add eggs; beat until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and chocolate. Sift together dry ingredients; add alternately with sour cream to butter mixture, beating well after each addition. Add boiling water (batter will be very thin). Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-inch layer cake pans. Bake in preheated 350° F. oven 35 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool in pan on wire racks 10 minutes. Turn out onto racks; cool completely. Fill and frost as desired. Yield: 12 servings.

Thanks for getting back to me so quick!

this is my favorite cake to make when making choc cake it is the one that I do

Hot Water cake
2 c. sugar
1 C. oil
1 C. butter milk
3 C. flour
1/2 C. cocoa
1 tsp. salk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
mix add
1 Cup boiling water with 2 tsp. baking soda dissolved in it and mix.
bake at 350 degrees until done about 25-30 mins very moist if making cupcakes will make 3 doz. this is a thin batter and has a cooked frosting however never use it either frost with a cooked fudge frosting or choc butter cream or this is a good desert
1 C. whip cream whipped
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese
1 C. powdered sugar
mix the cream cheese and sugar blend in the whipped cream
cover the cake with mixture and chill
while chilling take some danish dessert mix and follow directions (pudding asle if you don't have use a glaze I find this hard to find)
mix either raspberries or strawberries into glaze and top the cream cheese topping
tempted to use pie filling it works but don't like it as well

Beatty's Chocolate Cake
By:Barefoot Contessa
Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Snowball: Your cake recipe sounds very much like an old, old family recipe that I make all the time. I've "tweaked" it over the years so it's like the Barefoot Contessa's, with hot coffee. It's a great recipe.

I'm interested in the recipe for the cooked frosting that you say you don't make. If it's the same one that I have with my cake recipe it has a marvelous flavor, but always seems to end up with little lumps, and possibly the method used in your recipe would be the answer to eliminating them.

Thanks so much.