I hate to be the first with a negative review, but I found this cake to be fairly dry and crumbly. I am a good baker and am not sure why it didn't turn out well. I DID make two changes: I used butter instead of shortening (which I always do and have not experienced a problem before), and I added an extra ounce of baking chocolate. The flavor was pretty good, but the cake crumbled too easily. I made a 12" round cake and it was done in exactly 24 minutes. I didn't make the icing but used a rolled fondant icing instead. There is a chance that I made a mistake and it's not the recipe's fault, but I don't think that's the case. I'll keep looking.

I made the cake part only, not the frosting. I had to add another ounce of chocolate because it wasn't chocolate-y enough for us. I made cupcakes, baked for about 15 minutes, then watched them closely til done (around 18 minutes). Moist, with a nice taste and texture. I'm pleased with this recipe.

wow. this cake is so good. i added a little maple flavoring and some sweetened dark chocolate. for 2 9' round pans it took 30 minutes exactly. another thing i liked is that it didnt turn all round on top like the box cakes. i was able to put the two on top of each other without them breaking! thanks for the great recipe!!

this cake has a very rich choclate flavour and a very moist texture that melts in the mouth.