In college, I dated a boy whose mother baked this absolutely perfect chocolate cake: moist and sweet and perfect. After a year, I left the guy but kept this recipe. By slightly tweaking the canonical Baker's Chocolate Cake recipe, I found perfection in Mrs. Kramer's recipe: a cake that is a little more chocolatey -- and that appeals to subsequent boyfriends. 

RECIPE

Cake Ingredients:

    •    2.5 oz. chocolate chips

    •    1/4 cup water

    •    2 eggs, separated

    •    1 cup flour

    •    ½ tsp. baking soda

    •    1/8 tsp. salt

    •    ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

    •    1 cup sugar

    •    3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

    •    ½ cup buttermilk

Buttercream Frosting:

    •    4 cups powdered sugar

    •    1 tsp. salt

    •    ½ cup butter, softened

    •    3 tsp. vanilla extract

• (Up to) 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

    •    Preheat oven to 350

    •    Prepare 2 or 3 4-inch cake pans by spraying with canola oil.  

    •    Whisk egg whites until they form tight peaks. Set aside.

    •    Combine chocolate and water, microwave for 1-2 minutes or until completely melted.

    •    Stir chocolate mixture at 30 second intervals.

    •    In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt.

    •    In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. 

    •    In the following order, gradually add: egg yolks, vanilla extract, melted chocolate mixture. 

    •    Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk. 

    •    Gently fold egg whites into the batter. 

    •    Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 30 minutes.

    •    While cake is in oven, cream butter for frosting until smooth.

    •    Add sugar, salt, and vanilla to butter until creamy. 

    •    Allow cake to cool for 15 minutes and then remove from pan.    

    •    Once the cakes have cooled, spread buttercream in between each cake layer.

• Apply #ChefanieSheet & enjoy!

30 minutes active time, 1 hour total time. Serves 6.

Note: This cake batter is enough for 3 4-inch cake pans.