Best cake. Ever. Really.

Chocolate Fudge Cake
from the Ugly Binder, from the internet

2 cups sifted cake flour
½ teaspoon salt
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2 sticks butter
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup hot, strong coffee
Vanilla (wasn’t in the original recipe but I always add some)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 8-inch round cake pans or a 11x7-inch pan.
Blend flour and salt together and set aside.
Melt chocolate and cool until tepid.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add sour cream and vanilla. Add flour mixture, then the melted chocolate.
Dissolve baking soda in hot coffee and then add to batter. It will be watery.
Divide batter between pans and bake until sides come away from the pan or about 30 minutes.
Cool in pans 10 minutes then remove from pans and cool completely before frosting.
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I found this cake on the internet a couple of years ago. This is only the second time I've made it. I was fearful it wouldn't be as good as I remembered. I was truly afraid to make it again and ruin a wonderful food memory but I had no need to fear. This is the cake I would order for dessert if I were headed to the electric chair. It's chocolatey, it's moist, it's tender. It's one of the best things I've ever eaten. I hate to use superlatives like this since everyone might not agree with me. People have their own ideas about the perfect cake but I love this cake too much not to profess my love for it openly.

I have to say though that I've only made this recipe one way. I made one and a half times the recipe and baked it in a disposable half-sheet pan. That's a very shallow pan. I baked the cake at 300-325 and it took about 45 minutes to bake. You don't want to overbake this of course (recipes always say that but, duh, of course you don't want to ever overbake anything).

I have not tried to make this into a layer cake. I did try cupcakes once but I overfilled the cups and cooked them too low and the tops all ran together and stuck to the top of the pan. The crumbs were delicious.

The nice thing about this cake is that the top is very flat and easy to decorate (although I would suggest doing a skim-coat first).

Question of the Day: What size/shape cakes do you usually bake for a birthday? I love the idea of layer cakes but I've found these shallow half-sheet pans to work best, even though they aren't the most attractive serving piece. I can cover them easily (they come with a plastic cover), the cake stays moist, and they require less frosting and decorating time. I bake them with a real half-sheet pan underneath (they aren't all that sturdy).