While grocery shopping the other day, Chris picked up a box of yellow cake mix, and requested I make it. I told him I would bake him one from scratch and to put the box back.

Ingredients: (For the cake)

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

(For the frosting)

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 5 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tsps. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. espresso powder

Preparation for the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degree. The recipe I used said to choose between a 9×13 pan, or 2 8 inch, or 2 9 inch pans so I opted for the 8 inch pans. Grease and flour, and tap the pans to remove excess flour off; set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Incorporate eggs one at a time, beating fully after each addition before adding the other. Repeat with the egg yolks.

In a large bowl, whisk together the salt, baking powder, and flour. Spoon half the dry ingredient mix into the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Pour in half of the buttermilk, stir, add in the remaining flour mixture, mix, and pour in the other half of the buttermilk, mixing to combine. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Divide the batter into the prepared pans. Since I selected the two 8 inch pans the instructions said to bake for 25 minutes (30 minutes for 2 9 inch pans & 35 minutes for a 9×13 pan). The pans were fairly full and I worried that they would spill over. They did not totally, but certainly baked out to the edges of the pans so that I had to trim it off. I ended up baking for 7-10 minutes longer before removing from the oven and allowing to sit for 8-10 minutes in the pans before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cakes have cooled completely, add the frosting.

Preparation for the frosting:

Add cocoa to a stand up mixer and run a whisk through it to ensure any clumps are broken up. Add butter and cream together until well combined.

Add sugar and milk to cocoa mixture by adding 1 cup of sugar followed by 1 tbsp. of milk. After each addition, beat on high for one minute, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Repeat process until all sugar and milk is used. Add vanilla extract and espresso powder. Blend well.

Note: this made so much frosting. It was only after the fact that I read through the recipe again that it noted it makes enough for 3 9 inch cake rounds. Nevertheless, I didn’t add all of the frosting and even so, we wound up scraping some of the frosting off. Both the cake and frosting were delicious. The cake was moist. In the future, I’ll use 2 9 inch cake pans and prepare about half of the frosting.

Source for the cake: http://addapinch.com/cooking/the-best-classic-yellow-cake-recipe/

Source for the frosting: http://addapinch.com/cooking/perfect-chocolate-buttercream-frosting-recipe/