Chocolate Cake (From Scratch!)

I was raised on box mixes.  Cakes, brownies, macaroni and cheese - you name it, and if it came in a box, that's the version we ate in my house.  I imagine it was for convenience, it sounds like it would be time-consuming and difficult to make something from scratch (at least to me, who probably didn't even learn the meaning of the word until middle school).  But it's a bit more expensive too, and being broke just doesn't afford me the luxuries of counting on Betty Crocker to do my dirty work.

I decided to master one thing at a time, and began my adventures into baking from scratch with a chocolate cake.  I figured I'd use the Hershey's recipe since, well, Hershey's is basically synonymous with chocolate.  I found it here, and was certainly not disappointed.  At first it seemed a little funny to me, a born and raised box mix girl, but I needn't have worried.  I totally second-guessed Hershey's (I know, who do I think I am?  They're the ultimate chocolate authority!) about adding the boiling water in at the end, and it made my batter super runny (basically a brown liquid), but the recipe has never failed me.  Cakes back up wonderfully, and they're moist and delicious.  It tastes better than using a box mix, is probably healthier, and sounds a lot fancier too.  Plus it's cheaper!

I used this mix last week to bake up some cupcakes.  We had strawberries coming out our ears at that point, so I cooked up a little of our Strawberry Sauce to fill them.  I added a little extra cornstarch so it gelled up a bit more, then cut the tops off the cupcakes.  I scooped out the centers (and promptly ate them, of course) and spooned in some of the strawberry filling before placing the tops back on.  I frosted them with some buttercream frosting, and then decorated the top with a chocolate-covered strawberry.  Yum!  The only thing wrong with this dessert is that fresh strawberry season is far too short!