Ding Done Cake

Cake
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans.
In a big bowl, whisk together 2 cups of sugar, 1 and 3/4 cups of flour, 3/4 cup of cocoa, and 1.5 teaspoons each of baking soda and baking powder.
Add 2 eggs, 1 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of oil, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Mix until smooth.
Carefully stir in 1 cup of boiling water or hot coffee. The batter will be very thin, but that is okay!
Pour the batter into the pans and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes.

When you add the hot water, the batter might splash, so go slow. The hot liquid reacts with the cocoa to create a very intense chocolate flavor. You will know the cakes are done when a toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool in the pans for ten minutes before moving them to a wire rack. They need to be totally cold before you add the filling. I usually put mine in the fridge for an hour to be safe.

Filling
Whisk 1 cup of milk and 5 tablespoons of flour in a small pot over medium heat.
Stir constantly until it becomes a very thick paste, like pudding.
Take it off the heat and let it cool completely. You can put it in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap so a skin doesn’t form.
In a separate bowl, beat 1 cup of room temperature butter and 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the cooled flour paste one spoonful at a time while mixing. Add vanilla and beat for 5 minutes until it looks like whipped cream.

Now comes the exciting part! Place one cake layer on a plate or a cake board. Take all of that fluffy white filling and pile it right in the center. Spread it out to the edges using a flat knife. Try to make the top of the cream as level as possible. Then, gently pick up the second cake layer and set it on top of the cream. Press down just a little bit to make sure it sticks, but don’t squash the filling out the sides.

Once the cake is stacked, use a knife to smooth out any cream that poked out the sides. You want the sides of the cake to be even. Here is a pro tip: put the cake back in the fridge for at least 30 minutes now. This is called setting the cake. It makes the whole structure stable so when you pour the warm chocolate over it, the cake doesn’t slide apart. A cold cake is a happy cake during the glazing phase.

To make the glaze, heat 1 cup of heavy cream until it starts to simmer. Do not let it boil over. Pour the hot cream over 1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate chips. Let it sit for five minutes, then whisk it until it is shiny and dark. If you want it extra smooth, you can strain it through a mesh sieve. This removes any tiny lumps of chocolate that didn’t melt. Let the glaze sit on the counter for about 10 minutes so it thickens slightly.

Take your cold cake out of the fridge. Put the cake on a wire rack with a piece of parchment paper underneath. Pour the glaze right into the middle of the cake. Let it run over the edges and down the sides. Use a small spatula to push the glaze toward the edges if it gets stuck. The parchment paper will catch all the drips so you don’t make a mess on your counter. Once the cake is covered, let it sit until the chocolate is firm. This usually takes about an hour at room temperature or 20 minutes in the fridge.