This is the kind of stuff that puts a smile on someone’s face. And who doesn’t want to do that?

INGREDIENTS

Cake

200 g flour
300 g sugar
75 g unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon of cayenne powder
180 g buttermilk (room temp)
160 g hot water
180 g vegetable/canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs

Frosting

227 grams unsalted butter softened
224 g powdered sugar
120 g melted semi-sweet or dark chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cayenne poweder

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line two 8″ cake rounds. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne. In a separate medium bowl, mix together buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and eggs.

Combine wet (not hot water) and dry ingredients. Mix until combined and then add hot water. Mix until combined and then pour into prepared pans.

Cook for approximately 25 minutes until done. Let cool and then make frosting.

Melt chocolate and set aside to cool. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, add butter and powdered sugar to bowl and mix at high speed until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes). Add cayenne and vanilla. Lower speed and slowly add melted chocolate. Cover in a cool place until cake is completely cooled.

To decorate my cake, I trimmed the layers to level them and put the excess cake into the food processor to make crumbs.