After staying up until 1:30am, getting five hours of sleep, and being treated to a delicious Dutch taco filled with chunky peanut butter and raspberry jam from Flavour Spot this morning, I knocked the first exam out of the park. I definitely attribute the win to the waffle. It certainly wasn’t the mediocre falafel sandwich I had at lunch.

So this cake I mentioned yesterday, it came from the beautiful Brown Eyed Baker [another Michelle!]. I’m convinced everything she makes is amazing. I thought this cake would be the perfect accompaniment to a BBQ [and it was]. I brought the real deal in terms of ice cream to garnish it, but I didn’t have any of that–just the moist, delectable cake. It didn’t taste overly rootbeer-y, but it might have been because I used a generic brand and didn’t remember to buy enough for the frosting. I made regular fudge frosting. It wasn’t a bummer. The cake was seriously some of the most moist and fudge-y I’ve had in awhile. We ended up leaving the rest of it at our friend’s house. I would have been compelled to eat the rest of it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I also went rogue and used a regular baking pan, not a bundt cake. Rebel! The only thing I can say is this clumped hardcore for me. I think next time I would make sure to allow the chocolate mixture to cool longer. I think between that, the egg, and the folding of the dry mixture, it left clumps of perfectly white flour that baked to the top of the cake. I might have sat with a toothpick picking them out before frosting the cake [did].

Inspiration: Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients

Cake

2 cups of root beer [use good stuff–no diet!]

1 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup Earth Balance, cut into small pieces

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

Fudge Frosting

2 oz dark chocolate, melted

1/2 cup Earth Balance, softened

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325º. Spray/grease a 13×9″ baking pan In a saucepan on medium heat, stir together the root beer, butter, and cocoa powder until the butter is melted. Whisk in the sugars and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Don’t be impatient like me. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Lightly beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Once the root beer mixture has cooled, whisk in the eggs until combined. Fold in the flour. Don’t over mix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. A toothpick should come clean when the cake is done. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Fudge Frosting

Put all of the ingredients in a stand mixer and go to town. Try not to eat it all before frosting. That stuff is good.