Practically Perfect Chocolate Cake

It doesn't get much better than Practically Perfect Chocolate Cake. This cake is tender and moist with plenty of chocolate frosting. This easy one bowl recipe is ideal for any party or event.

This post has the word perfect in it, but don't fret. I don't actually believe in perfection. I believe we should always strive for our best, but perfection is an illusion. Like, remember when Nadia Comaneci got all those perfect 10s and everyone freaked out? Then Simone Biles was probably doing all those same moves when she was 8 years old. That's what I'm talking about. Perfection is a constantly advancing target. You'll never reach it.

Though I'm always working hard to do better, I've definitely learned to live by the motto "done is better than perfect." Work that only lives in your mind is basically useless. What good is it to anyone to have such impossibly high standards for your work that no one ever sees it? It's not going to get you anywhere, and it's certainly never going to benefit the people you're trying to serve. Practically perfect is close enough.

What makes this chocolate cake so awesome?

Take this Practically Perfect Chocolate Cake for example. This is a damn good cake. It's moist and tender with lots of rich chocolate frosting. We ate the whole thing just the two of us, and it wasn't until the sixth day that it even had a hint of dryness. I would happily eat this every day. But it doesn't look perfect.

I've never let my poor cake decorating skills get in the way of making and sharing cake. Don't you dare let yourself be intimated by perfect cakes on Instagram. Most of the time, those perfectly decorated cakes don't taste that great anyway. Mostly, I'm too impatient to learn cake decorating. I just want to hurry up and get to cake eating. And when it's this good, can you blame me?

How to make Practically Perfect Chocolate Cake

The first thing you want to do is make sure your pans are well greased. The easiest way is to use a non-stick baking spray. This cake is tender, so you want to minimise resistance when turning them out.

But before you get to that nerve-wracking moment, we need to mix things up. The good news is, this is a simple one bowl method. Start by combining your dry ingredients to make sure everything is well-mixed. Then use your electric mixer on low to stir in the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Finally, we'll stir in some just boiled water. It's going to be a very thin batter.

If you have a scale to weigh your baking pans and make sure each one is filled fairly equally, that's ideal. Otherwise, just eyeball it. Bake them until they start to pull away from the side of the pan and spring back when pressed gently.

For the chocolate frosting, it will be easier to work with if your butter is totally soft. Of course, my Scottish kitchen in the winter is never going to get warm enough, hence why my frosting looks a bit stiff. There's no big secret here. Use an electric mixer to combine butter, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar. Then beat in some cream and vanilla to get your desired thickness. Slap it all on there in whatever way suits you. Actual perfection not required.

Make it magical

These days, many of us turn to chocolate to ward off dementors and help cheer us up when we feel all happines has been sucked from the world. But more traditionally, chocolate is associated with love, sex, friendship, romance and grounding. Chocolate is definitely sensuous, so it's perfect for love spells. It's earthy, grounding properties are also great for self-love. Use it whenever you want to bring a smile to your face. (Source: Plentiful Earth)

Perfection is overrated, but good cake can never be underestimated. This Practically Perfect Chocolate Cake is exactly what you need. It's gonna be awesome.

Looking for more awesome cake recipes? Try this Chocolate Peanut Butter Gooey Butter Cake or some Red Velvet Cake.

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This recipe is from Hershey's. The direct link is dead, but you can probably still find their method on the back of their cocoa powder container.