My Favorite Food Ever

And no, to the surprise of many, it is NOT a burrito. Rather, it's my mom's chocolate cake. For my roommate's birthday, I figured it was time to attempt to attack this recipe. It's actually a really simple recipe, but I don't think I quite made it as well as my mom...perhaps because she's got about 15+ years experience on me :) The cream cheese icing adds a tangy and not-so-sweet accent to the taste of the cake.

Best Chocolate Cake Ever
2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. cocoa powder
4 tsp baking powder
2 c. sugar
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 c. oil
1 tsp coffee
1 c. hot water (for coffee)
1 c. cold water

Preheat oven 325F. Butter and flour a 9x13 baking pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and cocoa. Resift, while adding sugar and salt. Add eggs and oil, and beat with electric mixer. Dissolve coffee in the hot water. While continuously mixing the batter, add the coffee until smooth. Then add the cold water and blend until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for ~40 min, or until the center is set and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Best Cream Cheese Icing Ever
8 oz (1 package) cream cheese (full-fat or 1/3 fat), at room temperature
8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1+ c. confectioner's sugar

Cream the cream cheese wiht an electric mixer until fluffy. Slowly add the butter and continue creaming. The mixter should be incredibly light and fluffy. It'll take a while, but it will be worth it! Slowly sift confectioner's sugar into the mixture while continuously beating (honestly, a stand mixer helps for this a lot, but I'm too cheap so I made do with the hand mixer). Mix in as much sugar as necessary to create the desired sweetness. If desired, sift in some cocoa powder to make chocolate frosting. Feel free to add food color for decorative purposes. This frosting freezes as well, but just let it thaw at room temperature and DO NOT place it in the microwave because it will melt and be ruined :( Re-beat the thawed icing if necessary.

For frosting the cake, make sure the cake is completely cooled. It should feel room temperature when you touch the cake. Be super patient about this. If that means leaving the cake overnight, then do so (but cover with plastic wrap to make sure you don't lose all the moisture). You can also freeze the cake at this point, which might make it easier to frost. Once the cake is completely cooled, take about 1/3 of the frosting and place into a separate bowl. Frost the cake with a thin layer of the icing. It's ok if crumbs mess up the look of this coat; it's just a "crumb coat" and we'll be covering it later. Make sure you don't let any crumbs get into the majority of the frosting; you won't be able to use decorating tips because the crumbs will clog the tips.

After frosting the cake with the crumb coat, place the cake in the freezer. Let it freeze overnight if possible, or as long as possible. Then use the remaining frosting to create the top layer of icing on the cake. My roommate loves tennis, so the cake became a tennis court with obnoxiously green frosting and pirates playing tennis...and a flaming candle net :D