vanilla cake with chocolate frosting.

Should I continue making the title as the name of whatever I have made? Sometimes I do that automatically, because it just looks nicer. But sometimes, when I'm feeling bizarre (which is often), I tend to just make the title really random and connected to the focus of the post in a really extended, twisted, barely-related way. But usually, a simple title suffices, so I will probably maintain that habit.

This classic, almost boring cake was made at college - YES! AT COLLEGE! I finally utilized the stovetop and oven of the kitchen in my building in this risky endeavor. I had gone home two weekends ago, and at home, I collected all the [MANY] things I would need in order to properly bake something and brought them to my dorm.

First I made the chocolate base for the frosting.
(read: I made over three trips between floors to finally gather everything I needed, and almost set off the fire alarm because the honors building did not think to incorporate a working exhaust fan in their design plan for the stovetop area. Also, it would not take numerous olfactory cells to detect the burned scent that diffused into the air during the cooking process.)

Then I waited a day or two to ensure that it was the perfect day to make the cake.
(read: I made the cake on a day where I was not exhausted from studying & just generally staying up late. Also, I had to wait until the kitchen was free because unlike me, some residents actually began taking advantage of our communal resources earlier than 2 weeks before the end of semester.)

Before I made my cake, I decided to help out a suite of my guy friends that was making 2 batches of brownies.
(read: A suite of my guy friends asked me to help them make brownies (refresh yourself on my past brownie ventures), so I did. I also ended up being in the kitchen for four hours just hanging out and licking various utensils covered in batter or fudgy brownie crumbs.)

I assembled the cake & invited others to join in consumption of the cake.
(read: exactly as is.)

It was delicious.

Want a more technical description?
Well, the vanilla cake layers are thin, but perfectly fluffy. The cake is plain on its own, but it couples exceedingly well with the heavenly chocolate frosting. I use this frosting for any recipe that calls for frosting. I love it, as well as the interesting way in which it's made. The base of the frosting is not completely butter, so there is some substance and depth to it. The cake comes out of the pan pretty easily, if the pans have been greased well. Flouring the pan would probably help even more. Not much else to say, other than it is a perfect cake to make for absolutely no reason and if you just feel like baking something- which is exactly what I did.

Vanilla Cake (fairly healthy)

• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 1/2 tspn baking soda
• 1/2 tspn baking powder
• 1/4 tspn salt
• 1/4 (or 1/2 stick) cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tspn vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 12 muffin tins or 2 round cake pans.
2. Whisk all the dry ingredients together: flour, baking soda & powder, and salt.
3. Cream butter and sugar until uniform. Add egg and vanilla. Beat till smooth.
4. Add 1/3 of the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix.
5. Add 1/2 of the buttermilk. Mix. Add 1/2 of the remaining dry mixture. Mix.
6. Incorporate the remaining buttermilk, and then fold in the remaining dry mixture JUST until streaks of flour disappear.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven.
8. Run a plastic knife along the sides of the pan upon removing the pan from the oven. Wait until pan is cool enough to touch and then invert the cake onto a plate and cool completely. Then frost with your favorite frosting (recipe below - note: I halved the batch & found it sufficient for this cake).

Chocolate Frosting (taken from another blog that I enjoy following)

• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3 Tb unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/8 tspn salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup unsalted butter, soft
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted and slightly cooled

1. In a saucepan, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, and salt. Whisk in milk.
2. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Boil 1 minute, or until thick. Remove from heat.
3. Pout chocolate base in a bowl and in the fridge to cool completely. The thicker this mixture is (and it will thicken significantly as it cools), the thicker your frosting will be.
4. Beat butter until really creamy. Beat in chocolate mixture. If the mixture looks curdled, don't worry, it will be okay.
5. Then add in the melted, slightly cooled chocolate. Make sure the chocolate isn't too hot, or it will melt the butter. Beat very well. You cannot overbeat this (at least, I or the many guys I have had beat this, have not overbeat it yet).
6. Sandwich between layers of cake and savor.