Alice's Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Alice’s chocolate cake is the birthday cake that home bakers pass down through generations. The signature move is the cup of boiling water stirred into the batter at the end, which blooms the cocoa powder and makes the chocolate flavor sing far louder than recipes that skip this step.

The batter looks worryingly thin after the boiling water goes in. Don’t panic and don’t reach for more flour. That thinness is exactly what creates the moist, tender crumb that distinguishes this cake from dry boxed-mix versions.

The frosting is a true buttercream built with powdered sugar, cocoa, butter, and heavy cream. Adding the dry mix one cup at a time with cream between additions prevents lumps and gives the frosting its signature silky body.

Pro Tips

• Use unsweetened natural cocoa powder, not Dutch-processed. Natural cocoa reacts with the baking soda to give the cake lift, Dutch-process won’t.
• Sift the cocoa into the frosting bowl. Cocoa clumps stubbornly and unmixed lumps show up as bitter cocoa pockets in the finished frosting.
• Cool the cakes completely before frosting. Warm cakes melt buttercream into a puddle that runs right off the sides.
• Use parchment rounds on the bottom of greased pans for clean release. Skip this and the cake bottom sticks no matter how much butter and flour you use.

Variations

• Add a teaspoon of espresso powder to the batter to deepen the chocolate flavor without making it taste like coffee.
• Fold a half cup of mini chocolate chips into the batter for extra chocolate pockets.
• Top the finished cake with chocolate shavings, fresh raspberries, or sprinkles for special occasion presentation.