Chocolate Cake (with Warm Milk)

Notes

• Edges have a great crispiness to them. Good for a single-layer cake.

Yield

• One 9” cake layer: 40-50 minutes at 325 ºF
• One very tall 8” layer: ~55 minutes at 325 ºF
• Two 8” cake layers, suitable for a standard layer cake: ~22 minutes at 350 ºF

Ingredients

• ¾ cup (175 mL) vegetable oil, plus more for pan
• 1⅓ cups (160 g) all-purpose flour
• 1¼ cups (250 g) granulated sugar
• 1¾ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ½ cup (50 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup (235 mL) milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Steps

1. Place a rack in center of oven; preheat to 325°. Using your fingertips, grease bottom and sides of a 9” round cake pan with vegetable oil. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper, smoothing to eliminate air bubbles.
2. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Sift cocoa powder into bowl, then whisk to combine.
3. Whisk eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until well combined and creamy, about 30 seconds. Using a spatula, mix egg mixture into dry ingredients until fully incorporated. It will be thick and pasty, that’s okay!
4. Warm milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to just a bare simmer—make sure it doesn’t come to a boil. Whisk warmed milk into batter until lump-free and just combined; do not overmix.
5. Immediately transfer batter to prepared pan. Tap pan a few times on work surface to encourage some of the bubbles to escape.
6. Bake cake, turning pan halfway through, until a cake tester (or toothpick!) inserted into the center of cake comes out clean, 40–50 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan.

Source

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/easiest-chocolate-birthday-cake