• As a best practice, measure out all the ingredients and read through all the instructions before you begin making the recipe.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour (or spray with Baker's Joy) three 8” round cake pans, then line bottom with round parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl with your mixer on medium speed, blend the room temperature butter and sugar until creamy (6-7 minutes). Blend in the eggs and vanilla extract until well combined.
  1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, 2-½ cups granulated sugar, 4 large eggs, room temperature, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• In another large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
  3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
• In a medium bowl, mix the cocoa powder and boiling water until no lumps remain.
  1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 2-¼ cups boiling water
• Gradually incorporate the dry ingredients and the hot-water-cocoa mixture into the bowl containing the butter and sugar mixture, alternating between the two. You'll want to have your mixer on low speed for this step.
• Evenly spread the cake batter into the three 8-inch round cake pans, and place them into the oven. Bake 22-28 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean (not ooey gooey with cake batter).
• Remove the cake pans from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then one at a time, turn the cake pans over to release the cakes onto a wire rack to cool completely (20-30 minutes). Cakes should be completely cool before frosting them.

WHILE THE CAKE IS COOLING, PREPARE THE FROSTING:

• In a large mixing bowl, blend the butter and cocoa powder on low speed until smooth.
  1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, ½ cup cocoa powder
• Slowly add the powdered sugar (1 cup at a time) and mix on low speed until thoroughly blended.
  16 oz powdered sugar
• Stir in vanilla and 1 tablespoon of milk. Add an additional tablespoon of milk if the frosting is too thick to spread.
  1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1-2 tablespoons whole milk

AFTER THE CAKE HAS COMPLETELY COOLED, ADD THE FROSTING:

• To assemble the cake, place one cake layer top side down on a cake plate. Add ⅓ of the frosting to the top of the cake layer and spread it out evenly. You will not frost the sides of the cake; only the top and in between each layer.
• Take another cake layer and level off the rounded top with a knife. Place it on top of the first layer, top side down. Add another ⅓ of the frosting to this layer and spread out evenly.
• Take the third layer and level off the rounded top with a knife. Place it on top of the second layer, top-side down. Spread the remaining frosting on the top layer.