Yoo-hoo Chocolate Malt Cake #ThrowbackSoda #ad

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Our anniversary was last week and really, this year was one of my favorites. Not only because we went away and had a blast but this year, Facebook has the On This Day feature, so I was able to look back at all the status updates that Dave and I have made for each other over the past six years. In addition to our sappy love posts, I kept seeing pictures of the most delicious cake that I apparently made each year for David.

Fun story: one of my favorite wedding shower gifts is a scrapbook recipe book that was made for me. All of the influential women in my life wrote out their favorite recipes on index cards and put it them all together into a book for me. It has my mom's chili, her best friend's fudge... the list goes on, delicious dishes that I love to make.  My absolutely delicious chocolate cake recipe is from that book. Passed down for generations, it has made it's way into my recipe collection.

There's something about a delicious chocolate cake that tastes like a milkshake...

The recipe calls for milk but while I was walking through Wal-mart, I saw the signature glass bottles of Yoo-hoo and decided that I was going to make this chocolate cake even more delicious and more chocolate tasting by substituting Yoo-hoo in for the milk!

I love the nostalgic glass bottles. They just scream classic diner to me. Since the 4 pack was less than $3, and I had an Ibotta Rebate for $1.65 if I bought two, I grabbed a couple four packs, knowing they'd taste delicious with my cake!

I love a good easy cake recipe.  I don't want something that calls for 800 ingredients that are impossible to find. I love how simple this recipe is; you really should have everything in our cabinets already!

Chocolate Malt Cake

2 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cup sugar

3/4 cup soft butter

3 eggs at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup oil

1 1/4 cup Yoo-hoo Chocolate Drink

Preheat oven to 350*.

Grease the bottom of 2 8" or 9" round pans.

Beat butter and sugar together in a bowl.

Add in wet ingredients.

Slowly add in dry ingredients and continue mixing until thoroughly combined.

Divide batter evenly between both pans.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

In all my years of baking, I have only made one frosting from scratch and honestly, I'm not about to start so I grabbed 2 jars of chocolate buttercream frosting at the store. To really amp up the flavor, I add 2 tablespoons of chocolate malt powder and mixed it in.

I love lots of frosting, which is why I use 2 cans! Originally I planned on frosting the whole cake but I loved the way it looked with the sides exposed so I didn't cover it all.  I did use crackers to eat the extra frosting but no judgement, okay? It was the only thing I could do to keep from eating the whole cake while I waited for Dave to get home.

It was so worth the wait though!

I laid out one of my old flowered tablecloths and set up the table to surprise him when he came in.  I put the cake on a stand I received as a wedding gift and grabbed some straws for our Yoo-hoo.  It really was a sweet little date in our kitchen, while we talked about our anniversary weekend and the weekends in years past.

I love how a sweet and simple gift led us to spend some time reminiscing about our relationship and all we've gone through. Be the hero of your family with these products and create a sweet treat to celebrate every day.

xo, Heather