The Perfect Chocolate Cake Recipe

Our friends Jason and Becky had some friends visiting from Bethel this weekend and they asked us if we would like to come over for meatballs Saturday night. Of course! Becky makes the best meatballs! Yes I have asked what makes them different, yes she has told me how she makes them, yes I have tried doing what she said. And No, they were not the same.

So anyways, I volunteered to bring dessert, but honestly I was so looking forward to said meatballs that I was having trouble feeling inspired. Fruit cobbler (...ehh) pound cake with blackberry sauce (...ehh) chocolate something. Yeah. Chocolate cupcakes... that...could...work...
London and I hopped on our bike and picked up sprinkles, cocoa and coconut flakes, and behold the results. Pretty decent. Considering I never make cupcakes.

But what really made it was this chocolate cake recipe that my Mom clipped out of a magazine ages ago and had passed on. Nothing mysterious about it, nothing complicated, nothing over the top devils-triple-chocolate-gooeyness about it. Just perfect chocolate cake that stays moist for days. Not that it ever lasts long enough to know...

I don't own cake pans (I know!) so I always turn this into cupcakes.

Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes

cupcake liners, makes about 30 cupcakes

1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pans

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 cups sugar

1 TBSP baking soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp salt

3 large eggs

1 ½ cups buttermilk (I used a scant less than 1 1/2 cups of milk and added a tsp of vinegar to sour it. Just let it sit a couple of minutes...

1 ½ cups hot water

¾ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and fill your tins with cup liners. 
2. Sift cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into mixer bowl.  On low, stir in eggs, buttermilk, hot water, oil, and vanilla; beat until smooth, about 2 minutes, scraping bowl as necessary.
3. I use regular muffin tins and bake for about 15 minutes, just make sure to test them

Goodness! Did I Just Get To Go On A Bike Ride Alone...?

 

...Time for cloud shots!

Elderberry Hunting and We Found Water lilies

 We went out elderberry hunting this morning. There's a road about 10 miles west of us that has a small stream running parallel with just the right amount of shade to grow a few elderberry trees.
Every year we slowly drive it, scanning, scanning, scanning... STOP THERE'S A TREE!
They always seem to grow on very steep banks with water filled ditches at the bottom. It makes for some gymnastics worthy scrambling-hanging-clinging-picking. None of that is very conducive to good pictures, at least if you're the one doing the picking and the shooting.

But after we'd filled our bags we pulled over to look at a beautiful swamp chock-a-block with water lilies.
We saw a turtle and a newt, and heard a cacophony of frogs. Picked some water lilies and watched the rain start up on the surface of the water. It sounded like applause.

Spencer and London are such pals. London adores him, thinks everything he does is hilarious, wants his help and wants to help, and Spencer protects her and explains things to her that are way over her head. When we got back they were chilling on the sofa before nap time. It's such a warm feeling to watch them be so close and comfortable.

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