Step 1

Prepare three 8″x2″ cake pans with cake goop or another preferred pan spray. Preheat your oven to 335ºF (168ºC).

Step 2

Bring your butter, milk, and eggs to room temperature. It’s really important when making a cake for the ingredients to all be slightly warm so they create an emulsion.

Step 3

Heat the water until it’s simmering and then combine it with your cocoa powder.

Step 4

Stir it until the cocoa powder is moistened. It will look lumpy, but that is normal.

Step 5

Set it aside and let it cool while you prepare the cake batter.

Step 6

In a separate container, combine 3/4 cup of the milk and the oil together and set it aside.

Step 7

In a separate container, combine the remaining milk, eggs, vanilla, and almond extract together. Whisk it to break up the eggs, and then set it aside.

Step 8

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with the paddle attachment. Mix for 10 seconds to combine everything.

Step 9

Add your softened butter to the flour mixture and mix on low until the mixture resembles coarse sand (this takes about 30 seconds). This style of mixing is called the reverse creaming method, and it will result in a very velvety, moist cake. A lot of my other cake recipes like brown butter cake and white velvet buttermilk cake use this method.

Step 10

Add in your milk/oil mixture and mix it on low until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Step 11

Increase the speed to medium (setting 2 on my Bosch Mixer, setting 4 on a KitchenAid) and let it mix for 2 minutes to develop the cake’s structure. If you don’t let your cake mix on this step, your cake could collapse.

Step 12

Scrape your bowl and then reduce the speed to low.

Step 13

Add in your egg mixture in three batches, letting the batter mix for 15 seconds between additions.

Step 14

Scrape down the sides again to make sure everything has incorporated.

Step 15

Take out 1/3 of your batter and combine it with the cooled chocolate mixture and fold it gently until it’s combined.

Step 16

Layer your batter into your pans, starting with vanilla, then chocolate, and ending with vanilla.

Step 17

Use a butter knife to swirl them together gently. Do not over-mix or your cake will not have a marbled interior.

Step 18

Bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes at 335ºF (168ºC) or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out cleanly (but the cake has not begun to shrink yet from the sides of the pan). IMMEDIATELY TAP THE PAN FIRMLY on the countertop once to release the steam from the cake. This stops the cake from shrinking.

Step 19

Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes inside of the pan before flipping them out. The cake will shrink a bit and that is normal.

Step 20

Flip the cake onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely. I chill my cakes before handling them, or you can wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze them to trap moisture in the cake.

Step 21

Thaw the cake on the countertop while it’s still wrapped before frosting.

Step 22

Place your chocolate into a heatproof bowl.

Step 23

Heat your cream until it just begins to simmer. Do not boil it or your ganache will be grainy.

Step 24

Pour the hot cream over your chocolate.

Step 25

Let it sit for 5 minutes.

Step 26

Add in your vanilla and salt to the chocolate mixture and whisk it until it’s smooth and creamy.

Step 27

Pour your ganache into a shallow pan and let it cool to peanut butter consistency. Mine takes about 20 minutes to thicken up.

Step 28

Frost your cake with the ganache and then place it into the fridge for 20 minutes. This cake also pairs well with easy buttercream or chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream.

Step 29

Dust it with cocoa powder using a soft (new) makeup brush to make the velvet texture.

Step 30

Heat the cream until it’s just steaming, and then pour it over chocolate.

Step 31

Let it sit for 5 minutes.

Step 32

Whisk it until it’s smooth.

Step 33

Let it cool until it’s slightly warm to the touch before piping it onto your CHILLED cake.