The best chocolate cake ever.

Two weekends ago I made the best chocolate cake ever. Seriously.

It all started with a Williams-Sonoma cake mix given to me by the lovely Christina (I suppose her husband was involved as well). I made some chocolate buttercream from Martha Stewart's Cooking School and it was to die for!

 Yum yum yum yum yum

 Please use good cocoa!

 Here is the mix if you'd like to make this yourself (I recommend it). It's really like a cake from scratch, not a mix...the box contains the dry ingredients and you add eggs and butter.

 The page from Martha's Cooking School (thanks, Kate!)

Easy Chocolate Buttercream:
6 sticks of unsalted butter
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3/4 C. unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder
5 1/4 C. sifted confectioner's sugar

Cream butter with electric mixer until fluffy. Ad vanilla. Add cocoa. Add sugar (slowly!) Whip it for a long long time. Taste some. Frost.

Of course I brought it to a party so I could not take pictures of a slice, but I took the half of my piece home and thought I'd throw a picture in...

Notes on the mix: this cake was dense and delicious. It also weighed a TON. Next time I'd make it in THREE 9" round pans (although it says you can use two). It took a long time to bake. But it was worth it!

Notes on the frosting: since it's mostly butter, it can do great things. For example, I frosted a "crumb coat" first, then refrigerated that, then actually frosted the cake. You can refrigerate the frosting and it will set. If you refrigerate it in the bowl, remember to let it sit at room temperature and then whip it up again when you're done. I do not recommend making this without the aid of a Kitchen Aid or other stand mixer.