Etta's Prize-Winning Cake

The secret to this chocolate cake being impossibly moist is the cup of boiling water stirred into the batter at the very end. It sounds like a mistake, and the batter will be alarmingly thin. Pour it into the pans anyway. That water blooms the ¾ cup of cocoa powder, intensifying the chocolate flavor while creating a crumb so tender and wet it barely holds together on the fork.

This is a one-bowl, dump-and-stir cake at heart. All the dry ingredients get mixed together, then the milk, eggs, oil, and vanilla get beaten in for two minutes. The boiling water goes in last by hand. No creaming butter, no folding egg whites. Simple technique, extraordinary result.

The cocoa buttercream frosting matches the cake’s intensity. Four cups of powdered sugar, 7 tablespoons of cocoa, butter, and milk beaten on high for a full four minutes until it’s light and fluffy. The brandy flavoring adds a warm, sophisticated note that makes this frosting taste like something from a French patisserie.

Pro Tips

• Stir the boiling water in by hand with a spoon, not a mixer. The batter is thin enough that a mixer would splatter it everywhere.
• Don’t panic at how runny the batter is. That’s exactly how it’s supposed to look. Trust the process.
• The cake is done when the sides pull away from the pan and the center springs back. Don’t overbake or you’ll lose all that moisture.
• Beat the frosting a full four minutes on high. Undermixed frosting looks grainy and spreads poorly.

Variations

• Add a teaspoon of espresso powder to the dry ingredients. Coffee deepens chocolate flavor without making it taste like coffee.
• Use the frosting between layers and top with a simple chocolate ganache for an extra-glossy finish.