Pioneer Woman Chocolate Cake and Frosting

Submitted by:  June Shockley

I saw this on the Food Network, Pioneer Woman.  A great addition to your cake recipe file!  Delicious
I just served this at our 4th of July picnic.  It was a HUGE hit.  This recipe is for a four layer cake.  I used it to make 2 two layer cakes and gave one to my neighbor.

Pioneer Woman Chocolate Cake and Frosting

Ingredients

Cake:

• 4 sticks butter, plus more for greasing
• 8 heaping tablespoons cocoa, plus more for dusting
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 whole eggs, beaten
•  

Frosting:

• 3 cups heavy cream
• 24 ounces semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Heavily grease and dust with cocoa four 9-inch round cake pans.
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt.
In a saucepan, melt the butter. Add the cocoa. Stir together. Add the boiling water, allow the mixture to boil for 30 seconds and then turn off the heat. Pour over the flour mixture and stir lightly to cool.
Combine the buttermilk, baking soda, vanilla and beaten eggs. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the butter/chocolate mixture.
Divide the batter among the prepared cake pans and bake for 20 minutes.
Cool completely before icing. Refrigerate the layers after cooling for best results.
For the frosting: Heat the cream until very hot, and then pour over the chocolate pieces. Stir to completely melt, and then pour into the bowl of an electric mixer. Refrigerate to cool.
Once completely cooled, add the vanilla and beat with an electric mixer until light and airy.

Frost the cake in between each layer, on the top and around the sides.