Best Darn Cake Ever!

This is our family's go-to cake. We make it for almost every birthday, and sometimes even just for fun! It's the perfect chocolate fix. It's even famous lately. I made it for a funeral in our ward recently, and was informed later that the kitchen help saved it to eat themselves! I've been approached by several ladies since, telling me how much they loved it. You wanna try it? Here you go.

Chocolate Sour Cream Cake

2 c. all purpose flour
2 c. sugar
1 1/4 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1 c. water
3/4 c. dairy sour cream
1/4 c. shortening
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease, (with real shortening, not Pam spray) two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans. Dust with flour, (or cocoa powder) and shake off the excess. Line the bottom of the pans with waxed paper.

Combine dry ingredients and blend well. In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients and add all at once to the dry ingredients. Blend at low speed until moistened, then on high speed for 3 minutes. Pour into pans.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove, and cool completely.

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
3 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. dairy sour cream
1/4 c. butter, softened
3 Tbsp. milk
1 t. vanilla
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled.

Combine all ingredients. Blend at low speed until moistened. Beat at high speed until smooth and creamy.

To assemble cake, place first layer, top side down on cake plate; spread with 1/4 of the frosting. Top with second layer, top side up. Spread sides and top of cake with remaining frosting. ENJOY!! This cake recipe came from the Pillsbury Complete Book of Baking.

Party Cake

I've had birthdays on the brain lately. Parker has been so good as to remind me daily about his coming up on the 9th of July, (he's been asking about it for about a month now) and Andrew's is on the 26th. So when I saw this idea for a cake on Rookie Cookie, I had to try it. However, I really dislike boxed cake mixes, so I wanted to find a really scrumptious white cake recipe. I had tried one from a cookbook a while ago and was left a bit disappointed. Here's the recipe I tried this time. I think it turned out quite nicely; maybe a smidge too sweet with the buttercream frosting; I think next time I'd try a more mild frosting for sure.

12 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 large eggs whites at room temperature
3/4 c. milk
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9 in. round cake pans and line with waxed paper.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla; mix well. Combine dry ingredients, and add to sugar mixture. Whip egg whites and fold in.

For the crazy colors, divide the batter between a few different bowls, (I think I did 4 or 5) and add food coloring, (I've read that the store-bought cream colors give a brighter color than regular food coloring, but I'm cheap). Randomly drop spoonfuls of each color into prepared pans, (this will give a random splotchy color design; for a rainbow, drop each color into the center on top of one another until the pan is filled, and do it in reverse order in the other pan).

Does anyone out there have a smashing white cake recipe that they love? If so please share.