First, the ingredients.

2 cups of white sugar

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup of milk

½ cup vegetable oil

2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup of boiling water

I recommend setting your ingredients, this will make adding ingredients easier and less chance of error when measuring. I suggest you preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, but if you think your oven may cook differently, get an oven thermometer and check it out. This recipe also calls for 2 9-inch round cake pans. Grease and flour the cake pans.

The first thing I usually do is whisk together the sugar and oil. Then add an egg and mix into the oil and sugar mixture. Mix in the second egg and just mix until there are no traces of egg left. Then add the vanilla and just mix a bit. (This recipe originally calls for only 2 teaspoons of vanilla, but I love the flavor the vanilla gives to the cake, so I always add a little more.)

Next, sift the baking soda, flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder into a separate bowl and add the salt. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet mixture. Then add the milk. After adding all ingredients, beat on low-medium speed for about 1 more minute. After this, slowly add the boiling water until combined.

Pour batter into your two prepared pans. (Yes, I only do it by eye because I have done it many times). If you want to measure, I would recommend that you pour the batter into a measuring cup and then pour half the batter from the measuring cup into the first cake pan and the rest into the other.

Place your cake in the oven at 350 degrees F for most ovens for 30 to 35 minutes. I usually make it closer to 30, just so I don’t over-bake the cake.

After 30 minutes, I would check the cake to see how it was doing. My best way to do this is by inserting a toothpick and making sure it comes out clean.

When you cool your cake, I recommend you leave it in the pan and place it on a cooling rack for about 15-20 minutes. I take a butter knife and go around the edge of the cake before removing it from the pan. Then place a plate on top of the cake and quickly flip the pan over the plate and tap lightly to remove the cake from the pan. Let the cake cool for a while before trying to freeze it (or just eat it plain, because that’s delicious too!).

And that, cake lovers, is how to make my perfect chocolate cake. Enjoy!