One of my most favorite things to do is bake. Baking is even more fun when my son Alex joins me. Today is the birthday of our dear friend, Leah. Alex decided to make a cake to celebrate and I got to help!

Now what could be better than a moist chocolate cake? Well, I’d say a chocolate cake with warm spices like cinnamon and cloves and an amazing, yes amazing, caramel frosting! I see an extra couple of miles in my walk today, but it’s okay because I only had a small slice and it was well worth it!

Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Arrange two racks in center of your oven. Butter three 8-by-2-inch  or 9-by-2- inch round cake pans; line bottoms with parchment. Dust bottoms and sides of pans with cocoa powder; tap out any excess. Sift cocoa into a medium bowl, and whisk in boiling water. Set aside to cool

Directions

1. Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Arrange two racks in center of oven. Butter three 8 or 9-by-2-inch round cake pans; line the bottoms with parchment paper. Dust bottoms and sides of your pans with cocoa powder; tap out any excess cocoa.

Sift the cocoa into a medium bowl, add the boiling water and whisk carefully. Set it aside to cool.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on low speed until it is light and fluffy. Gradually beat in your sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides a couple of times.

3. Place your eggs in a small bowl, add your vanilla and lightly beat together.

4.  Drizzle in your egg mixture, a little at a time, beating between each addition, scraping down the sides twice. It should be really fluffy now!

5. In a large bowl, sift together your flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt.

6. Add a teaspoon of vinegar to your milk. Add into reserved cocoa mixture. With mixer on low speed, alternately in thirds, add flour and cocoa mixtures to the batter.

TIP: Always start and end with your dry mixture.

7. Divide your batter evenly among the three prepared pans.

Be sure to lick the paddle, the spoon and the bowl! (If of course you are not allergic to raw eggs and are using fresh eggs).   Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of each layer comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the pans for even baking. Transfer layers to wire racks; let cool, 15 minutes. Turn out cakes, and return to racks, tops up, until completely cool.

8. Remove the parchment from bottoms of cakes. Reserve the prettiest layer for the top. Place one cake layer on a serving platter; spread 1 1/2 cups caramel frosting over the top. Add the second cake layer, and spread with another of frosting. Top with third cake layer. Cover outside of cake with the remaining frosting. Enjoy!

Frosting

1. To make the frosting, put 2 cups of brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and mash it around until mixture is grainy and moist, then add the egg, milk and salt and stir until relatively smooth. Set aside.

2. Place remaining 1/2 cup sugar in 3-4 quart heavy duty saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar melts and syrup is a light golden brown.

3. Remove from heat and stir the butter mixture into hot caramelized sugar, then return to heat and cook over medium, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to thickne a bit and bubble up. Set aside and let cool a bit. About ten minutes.

4. Place mixture in your mixing bowl and beat in powdered sugar until frosting forms. Be careful with the hot sugar. Sorry, but I didn’t measure I just poured about a cup at a time until I reached a frosting consistency.

5. Once you are ready to frost you can two tablespoons of milk and stir to make the caramel frosting easier to spread onto your cake.

Leah (next to Alex) was so surprised when she saw that Alex had baked her cake!

And, it was so yummy!