Easy Weekday Baking: Black Magic Cake

By Amy Hatch

I am an avowed lover of cake, and it’s the snack/treat/vice I turn to most often when I’m really jonesing for a chocolate fix.

But making cake from scratch is hard, yo. It’s too moist, it’s too dry, it tastes like cardboard … and I really prefer to make baked goods myself whenever I can, because then I know and can control what ingredients go into them.

I long struggled with cake, but I finally found a recipe that is absolutely fool-proof. And, absolutely delicious. I make this both for special occasions and when I just feel like having some cake, which is probably a wee bit too often.

My family loves it, and it always gets raves when I serve it at parties or bring it with me to an event. It’s yummy plain, frosted and as a cupcake.

Have I convinced you yet?

Most of these ingredients for this recipe can be found in your kitchen right now, with the exception of buttermilk. I’m an avid baker and even I don’t keep buttermilk in the fridge. If you don’t have any, there are a number of ways you can substitute for it, so don’t feel like you have to run to the store to get some.

One word of warning: This cake does include a strong cup of coffee, which I remembered when I came home at 8 p.m. from an evening out to find my 7-year-old running in loops around my sofa, flapping her arms like a bird.

“We had a piece of cake,” my babysitter said.