The Best Chocolate Cake You Will Ever Make
The Best Chocolate Cake You Will Ever Make is this luscious Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake recipe your family will love. One of the best cakes you can make for Valentine’s Day and the holidays.
Today is not about condiments, meat, poultry, hot sauce, or even the Caribbean. It is about Chocolate Cake. No, it is not the holidays yet! But you should make sure you bookmark this recipe or, better again, print it.
Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake is by far the best chocolate cake you will ever bake. For some odd reason, I never thought to look at the Hershey’s Chocolate Powder Box to check out the recipes. Maybe I did and ignored it. Come to think of it, and I probably did millions of times. I have been using Hershey’s Chocolate for years, and my sisters also. It has become a staple in our cupboard for chocolate icing, cookies, and cakes.
It so happened that my sister Erika accidentally bought a new Hershey’s Chocolate box before the old finished. Looking at the expiration, she panicked. She wanted to make everything chocolate as we all know, good chocolate is expensive.
We started looking at chocolate cheesecakes online, then cookies, then brownies. I could not find one recipe that was interesting and different. Everything seemed the same and smelled the same as if I had smell-o-vision. Remember that line from Emeril Lagasse and his show on the Food Network?
Not that I wanted to have my show at that time, but it so happened that I decided to examine the chocolate box a little bit more. But first, I went on Hershey’s website for recipes and was not still convinced.
What’s in the chocolate cake recipe
Recipes are supposed to be fun. They should also be simple for people like you and me. I noticed these two words, “Hot Water.” Yes, hot water! I don’t remember seeing hot water in cake recipes. Or maybe I am getting too old to remember. I do remember seeing coffee. I was surprised by the simplicity of the recipe.
Ingredients for the Chocolate Cake
- Sugar
- All-Purpose Flour
- HERSHEY’S Cocoa Powder
- BakingPpowder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Ground Nutmeg
- Ground Cinnamon
- Ground Ginger
- Eggs
- Milk
- Vegetable Oil
- Vanilla Extract
- Dark Rum
- Boiling Water
Ingredients for Chocolate Frosting
- Butter or Margarine
- HERSHEY’S Cocoa Powder
- Powdered Sugar
- Milk
- Vanilla Extract
- Dark Rum
For the rum, we prefer using Rum Barbancourt. It is a very popular Haitian Rum known in the culinary world because of its aroma, taste, and color.
The ingredients are listed, but what about spices? In the Caribbean, we add spices to everything. I mean everything! Chocolate cakes are supposed to have spices. Caribbean Chocolate Cake usually contains rum, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Some people may choose only to add cinnamon and nutmeg. But a hint of ginger adds a spiciness taste that is more tolerant than cardamon.
You can also decorate your cake with fruits to make it more festive. Strawberries are perfect with chocolate cake.
The Best Chocolate Cake You Will Ever Make is this luscious Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake recipe. It is moist, full of flavor, and best of all, is perfect with the “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Frosting by Hershey’s.
The Best Chocolate Cake You Will Ever Make
Equipment
- Cake Tester
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cake
- 2 cups sugar
- 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon dark rum
- 1 cup boiling water
“PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE” Chocolate Frosting
- 1/2 cup 1 stick butter or margarine
- 2/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon dark rum
Instructions
For the Cake
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
- Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, rum, and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with “PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE” CHOCOLATE FROSTING. Makes 12 servings.
For the Frosting
- Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
- Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla and rum. About 2 cups frosting.
- Shave chocolate on top of cake. (optional)
Notes
VARIATIONS:
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost. BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost. CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.
Nutrition
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
Nutrition info is automatically generated and provided as a courtesy and as an estimate only.
Corn Allergy:
Always choose ingredients without corn or corn derivatives.
Originally published on October 11. 2018. Updated and republished with additional content.
