Super Duper Chocolate Cake

My younger brother is a chocoholic. Naturally, for his birthday each year he gets some version of a deluxe chocolate cake. This year I made him a 2-layer chocolate cake with chocolate icing. I know his first response will probably be, "does it have chocolate chips?" but the richness of these flavors should suffice.

This cake recipe comes from the "Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook" and was recommended by my mom. First make the cake.

Ingredients:
3 eggs (room temperature)
1 1/2 sticks butter, 3/4 c (room temperature)
2 c sugar
2 t vanilla
2 c flour
3/4  t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3/4 c cocoa powder
1 1/2 c milk

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, & cocoa powder into a bowl. Cream the butter in another bowl. Then add the sugar and blend together. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating for about a minute after each addition. Then add the vanilla. Now alternate adding in the dry ingredients and milk, mixing slowly after each pour until combined. Once everything is added, mix quickly for 20 seconds to add some air.

Prepare 2 9''x9'' or 8''x8'' pans by lining the bottom with parchment paper/wax paper and coating with nonstick spray. Pour half the batter in each pan & bake 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven & let sit 5 minutes in the pan before flipping onto a wire rack.

While the cake is cooling, make the icing. The icing recipe comes from "The Fannie Farmer Cookbook". This is enough to frost 2 layers of an 8'' x 8'' or 9'' x 9'' cake.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c sugar
4 T butter
2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate*
1/4 t salt
1/2 c milk
1 t vanilla
*1 square unsweetened baking chocolate = 1 T butter + 3 T cocoa powder

Combine all ingredients, except vanilla, in a heavy-bottomed pan and heat until the mixture starts to simmer. Stir constantly for 1 minute then let cool. After it is cooled, add the vanilla & whip either by hand or with a mixer until light & fluffy. Ice the cake & serve.

RESULT:
Very delicious, BUT the icing was definitely NOT what anyone would call traditional "frosting". It was more like chocolate sauce. It never solidified, and though I thought it gained a bit of volume after whipping a long time in the mixer, as soon as I turned off the mixer, everything collapsed into a runny chocolate mess. So my cake quickly became two layers oozing with chocolate goo. Though this was supposed to "frost" a 9'' x 9'' cake, there was definitely plenty left over. My brother celebrated the fact that even when refrigerated, this icing did not freeze, making it the perfect fudge sauce for ice cream. Phew, at least it's not a total loss!

The icing was so runny, it almost dripped off the plate!

Needless to say, the cake came out perfectly (I've never made this recipe before), it was incredibly moist, and super chocolatey. The very runny icing complemented the cake nicely, and the flavors just melted on the tongue.