Place a strainer over a large mixing bowl. Measure in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and sugar. Sift/shake the dry ingredients through the strainer into a mixing bowl, to eliminate any lumps.

Add the butter and mix at low speed for 1 minutes. With the mixer running, add the oil and continue mixing until the mixture looks like sands.

Combine the vanilla with the milk and coffee or water, and add all at once. Mix 1 minutes at low speed, stop and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then mix for 30 seconds.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well at medium-high speed between additions. The batter will be thin.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan of you choice (one 9” x 13” pan, two 9” round pans, or three 8” round pans). Bake in preheated 350 degrees F oven for 34 minutes for a 9” x 13” pan; 28 to 30 minutes for 9” layers; or 24 to 26 minutes for 8” layers. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack before frosting.

Yield: three 8” round, two 9” rounds, or a 9” x 13” sheet.

My add-ons: 1 tablespoon homemade vanilla extract, 1 – 2 tablespoons Rum Barbancourt or Coconut Rum (depending on how I feel), carnation milk instead of regular milk (3/4 cup carnation milk with ¼ cup water), organic sugar instead of regular sugar, sea salt or kosher salt instead of regular salt and 2 – 3 dashes of powdered ginger. I use water instead of coffee.

Chocolate Ganache is used to decorate the cake.