Ingredients
2 cups white sugar
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two nine-inch round pans. OR line a half sheet pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray if you want to bake a sheet cake.
In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. Stir in the boiling water last. Batter will be thin. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake tests done with a toothpick. OR if you’re baking a sheet cake, bake for only 15 minutes. Cool in the pan(s) for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Top Tips
The recipe says to mix all of the ingredients together in one bowl, but Nicole chose to mix the wet ingredients in a large glass measuring cup before adding it to the dry ingredients. She also used a simple wire whisk to mix the cake batter instead of using a hand-held electric mixer.
If you’re making this easy homemade cake, you’d probably like an easy homemade frosting to go with it. Try this 5-star recipe for Best Chocolate Frosting. It whips up quickly and takes only 5 ingredients to make. Tip: If you’re making a layered sheet cake, you’ll want to double the recipe.
To remove the sheet cake from the pan, cover it with a sheet of parchment paper, lay a cutting board over the pan, then invert the whole thing.
Let the cake cool completely before cutting in half (if you’re making a layered sheet cake) and/or frosting.
Tuck strips of parchment or waxed paper all around the cake before frosting to protect your platter and make for a cleaner presentation. Then when you’re finished frosting the cake, just slide out the strips and feel like a genius.
Adapted from Allrecipes
