I knew I shouldn't have opened this thread!

Years ago, my BFF baked me a cake for my bday. She bought a bag of minature candy, broke some of it up to put on the top and used the wrappers around the cake base. It was really cute. Candy was easy to remove, if not wanted. We call her Mini Martha because there is nothng she can't do.

My grandmothers chocolate cake was delicious. Found out in my adult years that she used a Duncan Hines box mix but substituted whatever water it called for with the same amount of coffee (made up with water, for example a cup of cold coffee vs a cup of water) she made her icing from the herseys cocoa recipe (on the container). Rich and decadent!

Whenever, I need a chocolate cake, I make the Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake that @lascatx posted, the 9 x 13 version. The cinnamon makes it. Don't leave it out. You know, I've never tried to make it in a springform pan. I wonder if that would work when you want a round version?

I‘ve made plenty of chocolate cakes before, but this is hands-down the best recipe i’ve tried:

https://addapinch.com/the-best-chocolate-cake-recipe-ever/

For frosting I used the chocolate buttercream icing listed on that page:

https://addapinch.com/perfect-chocolate-buttercream-frosting-recipe/

Ii’ll be making it again for my son’s birthday next week!

Omg, I have 2. My DS1 is a chocoholic.

Hersheys Perfect Chocolate Cake and Frosting are excellent. https://www.hersheyland.com/recipes/hersheys-perfectly-chocolate-chocolate-cake.html

This yellowed recipe is more complicated, but worth it if you have the time.

Note, for my son i have also used a filling of peanut butter mousse on occassion.

I've made this one several times now - it's fast and easy and not too big. The frosting is very yummy. Tips below the recipe say you can leave out the nuts, but I haven't tried that yet.

https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/brownie-nut-cake-with-chocolate-cream-cheese-frosting/87cd4951-9e01-438e-a5e3-28bb2a03c3d6

Though I like to, there is really no need to bake a cake from scratch. Many good options … it’s just having someone else do the measuring !

Fun2BHere, I have made the Texas Sheet cake as cupcakes for easy serving a couple of times. You just have to underfill the cups so you can pour icing and fill them. I've made a half batch in an 8 in sq pan, but I was thinking last night that a springform and then the icing poured over would make a fancier presentation. Maybe press finely chopped nuts around the side. I'm going to have to try it!

I've not made this one (Stella Park's One Bowl Devil's Food Cake from Bravetart) yet -- mostly because the boys aren't home at the same time much these days and I don't make many cakes now, but it gets rave reviews among the serious baking crowd.

If you do go for a box, Duncan Hines Devil's Food was my go to for quick school cupcakes and the pound cake bundt my boys liked growing up. It's the only mix I bought and was better than the majority of purchased cakes. It's amazing how tasteless and dry so many great looking chocolate cakes are.

If you don't need a layer cake, I fell in love with this simple yet so delish choc cake recipe: https://www.budgetbytes.com/chocolate-depression-cake/

I suppose you could double it to make layers.

For the easiest and best choc frosting ever, it's blender frosting like this one: chocolate, sugar and evap milk...that's it.

https://www.marthastewart.com/1543027/chocolate-blender-frosting

This is coming from someone who is a dyed-in-the-wool chocolate hound.

@lascatx, if you do try the TCS cake in a springform, please post and let me know how it goes and any tips. Cupcakes might be the perfect form for COVID-friendly desserts! Thanks for sharing that tip.

It seems many of us love the Texas Hot Cocoa/Texas Sheet Cake! It really is yummy and very moist.

It's sweet of you to make your friend a cake - I'm sure she will love it! Really, a cake from scratch is not hard (especially some of these posted, and I find a sheet cake easiest) and it will be so worth it. Good luck! Whatever you make is going to be yummy!

PS - I've had the hershey chocolate cake before and it is very good too! Whoever mentioned chocolate cream cheese frosting - that is divine!

Thanks everyone! A sheet cake is always delicious but they have been done before so much here in Texas. I think I will likely use a boxed cake mix and add milk or coffee instead of water and I also read it is good to use butter instead of oil.

I am definitely going to make the frosting myself.

Mtn, I would not want chocolate on chocolate either. In fact I like a yellow cake with a white icing. I am not huge on chocolate.

My mouth is watering reading all you yummy recipes! I will let you know how things go!

If you go the boxed mix route, definitely sub coffee for the water, and use hot coffee. The heat helps. Also add a teaspoon of vanilla and an extra egg.

How to Make a Boxed Mix Taste Like a Bakery Cake:

• The only directions to note are that whatever the back of the box directs you to use, you have to:
• Add an additional egg.
• Replace the water with milk, same amounts.
• Replace the oil with melted butter. DOUBLE the amount.
• Cook with the same directions that are printed on the box.

I also read it is good to use butter instead of oil.

Some mixes are now designed to be made w butter; i prefer those.

Just google Ina Garten chocolate cake.

I see that you're going with a box mix, but lmk if you want a good recipe for a chocolate sour cream cake w/ chocolate sour cream frosting. :) And, for something decadent but simple, I was going to suggest a flourless chocolate cake. iirc, I've used the recipe at King Arthur Flour,. Flourless Chocolate Cake

Folks will scoff at this one, and I’ll hang my head in shame, but it gets rave reviews every.single.time. It is from the book Being Dead Is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral. I always make it in a 9x13 pan, never in a bundt pan.

P.S. The last time I made it, I found that the pudding sizes have changed. Get as close as you can.

oh my, I don't make box cakes, but how can you go wrong with chocolate pudding, kahlua, and vodka?! lol! I might have to try that....

ETA: I didn't see that you were in Texas in Sheet Cake Heaven.

I like box cakes, and you're friend would be thrilled to have one, I'm sure. However, I'm with Tina. You can't beat a Texas Sheet Cake.

It's a fast cake to make if you get all the ingredients ready beforehand and the frosting goes on the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. Good texture and a chocolate lover's dream.

Bonus cake for you if you bake it in two half size sheet cake pans, and give one to her while you keep the other. :)

I love the Texas Sheet Cake, too! Chocolate on chocolate is great; you can never have too much chocolate. :) My fave is the thin layer chocolate cake w/ the cooked chocolate icing well known hereein the South, but I don't have a recipe for it. I just buy it when I see it. It has many thin layers of yellow cake, too much work for me; besides, I'd eat the whole thing if I made it, LOL.

EDIT: found this on Southern Living: https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/little-layer-chocolate-cake-recipe

I had never had, or heard of, Texas sheet cake but now I want one.

I found some yummy looking recipes using sweetened condensed milk. I could drink a can of that in one sitting. haha

I'm in California and we love Texas sheet cake. It's such a fun and easy recipe.

I would never put cinnamon in a chocolate cake. I don't like other flavors with chocolate.

I listen to Christopher Kimball's Milk Street podcasts. A couple of weeks ago they had a caller who wondered why some chocolate cake recipes called for butter and others for oil. Chris and Sara both said oil is better for moist fudginess in a chocolate cake.

Bunny, the cinnamon is really good and not as strong as the Mexican chocolate you can buy, by far. The first time I had the cake, I wasn't sure what it was that was different and I'm a big cinnamon fan. I suspect it was made with grocery store cinnamon that wasn't that strong. If I were still in CA, I'd make one so you could try it with.

Sueb -- I'm working up to a craving myself. I may have to try making one in a springform pan.

Straightlover, I've seen that type of cake under a different name -- which I am trying to remember. My older son made one for the girl he was dating in high school as a 16th birthday cake and did 16 layers -- pretty amazing cake. And a great excuse for eating a little cake with your frosting. Turns out VERY rich!

lascatx, I wish you could make me a cake to try too! :) I'd be willing to try it, but I'm skeptical of any flavors (other than vanilla extract) added to chocolate. Orange is the worst.

I'm curious about the sour cream recipe above?

My family loves chocolate, and I don't much at all (esp not a choc cake w choc icing too). It would be a perfect holiday treat, since it won't tempt me at all!

I forgot which famous baker advised this but he said he always puts a couple of tablespoons of mayonnaise in a chocolate cake to make it moister. Chocolate mayonnaise cake is a recipe that's been around for a few decades. If you found a butter recipe you like, you could add a little mayonnaise, which is really just oil and eggs.

My chocolate cake recipe calls for hot coffee instead of the boiling water in the Hershey chocolate cake recipe. I highly recommend using espresso powder in the frosting.

Akt, Paul Prudhomme had a recipe called, ”Creme d’Ange,” IIRC. It was a can of sweetened condensed milk poured into a pie plate set in a pan of water and baked at 400/425/450 for an hour and twenty minutes. It needed whipped cream to cut the sweetness!

bbtx, I used to live in Chile and they dulce de leche everywhere. So I made it myself by cooking the can of sweetened condensed milk still in the can in a low boil simmer for hours in a pan of water. Such yumminess!

Eileen, I read the same about mayo.

Mtn, will these do?

eta: the soda is baking soda, and the melted choc. in the cake is unsweetened choc. I haven’t seen unsweetened chocolate in stores around here in years. :p And the frosted cake should be refrigerated!

Love the Texas Chocolate Sheet cake. It’s a family favorite for sure and it’s been a long time since I made it. I have a fairly easy Christmas menu planned and this will be a reat addition.

Aktillery, I loved making dulce de leche the same way in the can until … . I had it simmering on the stove to top an apple pound cake for my book club that I was hosting. The book and conversation was so interestiingping,that I forgot about it. The water boiled off and the can exploded — a very big explosion, What a mess and embarrasing as well! Luckily the cake was good with just whipped cream and the ceiling needed repainting anyway.

Party - yum! Thank you for taking the time to do that.

Mojo, Wow! I can not imagine how difficult it was to clean up after such an incident! That stuff is so sticky.

I make chocolate mayonnaise cake all the time. Delicious and super moist.

If you are going to be hosting your friend at your house for her birthday, you could also try crockpot chocolate mud cake. It's warm chocolate cake in a chocolate pudding sauce. Over the top delicious with vanilla ice cream. MMMMM.

I also always substitute coffee for the liquid in both recipes.

MMmm....I have to ditto the Add A Pinch "Best Chocolate Cake Ever" recipe mentioned above. It has been my go to chocolate cake for a few years now. I can make it as is, or dairy free for a niece who is lactose intolerant.

I have made this a bunch of times. It is very good. I found the recipe in The Cake Bible. Make sure to use a quality butter cream frosting on top though.

Give it a chance

Another vote for the Add a Pinch recipe. It's become my go to for all of our birthdays and everyone loves it. I made it a few weeks ago for my youngest's birthday and my other son thought it was a bakery cake : ) . Moist, delicious, and quick and easy. I do add the pinch of espresso powder in the recipe.

I've been making a ganache frosting for the past year or so -- heat up heavy cream, add grated semisweet or bitterchocolate (or choc chips), chill in the fridge for a while, then whip.

Just for the record -- it is possible to bake the Texas Sheet cake in a springform pan. I envisioned it enrobed in the frosting with chopped nuts around the side, so I took the collar off while still warm and poured the icing over the still warm cake. The cake domed s little, but you don't want to level a warm cake (loses moisture and is messy), so I poured in two layers to make sure it covered. If I were to do it again, I might just make half the icing and pour in over with the collar still on, then remove the collar after the icing is set. No nuts on the side that way though.

An update on my chocolate cake and chocolate frosting. I used the Ghiradelli Double chocolate cake mix and the same brand for the icing.

I added an extra egg, butter instead of oil and milk instead of water. Thanks Tina and Mtn!

The cake turned out amazing and my friend loved it. I actually thought it was delicious as well (given I am not a big fan of chocolate).

I have never made chocolate frosting before. I used loads of butter, half and half, cocoa powder and confectioner's sugar and vanilla extract. It turned out perfectly.

My friend loved the cake and took it home. I would share a photo but it wasn't a pretty cake.

I did a bit of decorating in the limited time I had (and I live in a small apartment) and made her wear this banner which she loved. We drank champagne and played some silly games and we had a blast. It is so wonderful when you and your best friend get together and it feels like you had a huge party!

Thanks so much for everyone's input!

Thanks for the update - it sounds like your cake was a big hit. And champagne makes everything better.

I've been avoiding this thread for days I don't need an excuse to bake a cake but after reading the descriptions and seeing mdln's photos - guess what I'll be doing this afternoon. Choc cake with choc frosting is my favorite - but the choc can't be too dense nor the icing too sweet. Yesterday DDIL and DS brought cupcakes from a bakery near them and they were wonderful. Fortunately I don't happen to go near that bakery too often.

Maire

And then I opened the NYT this morning featuring yet another choc cake recipe. This time for a praline topped devil's food.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/10/dining/ottolenghi-chocolate-devils-food-cake.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Food

Glad you had a good celebration. I think there is a rule that the best looking chocolate cakes usually don't taste very good, so I wouldn't worry about that. Also good to know the Ghirardelli mix is good -- my mom and dad liked their brownie mix.

I'm so happy to hear it turned out well!

It all sounds wonderful!

A funny story. The following night my friend went to their neighbors with her husband for her birthday as well. They had purchased a gourmet cake from a high end bakery and she said it did not compare to mine! That made me feel good!

I am craving chocolate cake! However, yesterday I had part of a brownie with both hot fudge and caramel drizzled on it, so no more treats for me!!

I don't really like sweet things. I am much more a savory person; hold me back from chips and cheese, but this cake!!!! My friend made it for a friends' weekend, and I'm making it with a family favorite rum pudding for Christmas dinner. I've read through the reviews: sift the cake mix; use semi-sweet morsels. You only have to dust with powdered sugar. Bake in a bundt pan. You can make and freeze ahead.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17572/easy-chocolate-chip-pound-cake/