INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup milk
1 cup strong brewed coffee
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda. Add milk, coffee, oil, and eggs. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.
Pour evenly into prepared pans and bake for 23 to 25 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes, Remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire racks. I frosted the cake with whipped cream and made a chocolate collar around the cake. This was the first time I made this collar and tried this technique, but it was easy to do and came out beautifully. For the chocolate collar, you have to melt the chocolate and put it in a piping bag. Snip off the end of the piping bag and pipe out the chocolate in a haphazard manner over a wax paper strip. Let it stand for some minutes till the chocolate loses its shine. Then wrap this wax paper around the cake and put it in the freezer for around 10-15 minutes. After taking it out from the freezer, slowly peel off the wax paper careful enough not to break the chocolate collar.
