Greek Yogurt Chocolate Cake

My birthday. August 14, forty-two. I am forty-two years old, which is a number that means nothing and everything — nothing because age is a number, everything because I have outlived Darla by ten years and counting, and every birthday past thirty-two feels like a bonus round, a gift that Darla did not get, and I open it carefully, quietly, with the guilt and gratitude of a woman who is alive when her sister is not.

Dave made me breakfast — coffee and toast, slightly burnt, the same breakfast he has been making me on my birthday for fourteen years. The toast is always slightly burnt. I suspect he does it on purpose now, as a tradition, because the first time was an accident and every time since has been a callback, and the callback is the joke, and the joke is love. I ate the toast. I drank the coffee. Both were perfect in their imperfect way.

The kids gave me cards. Josie's had glitter again — enough glitter to be classified as a weather event. Tyler wrote 'Happy Birthday Mom' in handwriting that looks like a doctor's prescription. Justin's card said 'You're the best,' three words, no elaboration, no signature, just the words in his small, careful handwriting, and I will keep this card in the drawer where I keep the things that matter too much to leave out where life can damage them. Amber baked me a cake — not the chocolate sheet cake, a different one, a yellow cake with chocolate frosting from a box mix, and it was lopsided and the frosting was too thick and it was the best cake I have ever eaten, and I am a woman who has eaten a lot of cake.

I did not drive on my birthday. I stayed home. I sat in the sunroom that does not exist yet (Dave's mudroom is built but the sunroom is a future dream) — I sat on the back porch and drank coffee and watched the sprinkler water the yard and thought about forty-two and about Darla at thirty-two and about Larry at sixty-five and about the distance between being alive and being gone, which is not a distance at all but a door, and the door is one-way, and the people on the other side do not come back, and the people on this side keep having birthdays and eating burnt toast and finding glitter in their coffee cups for weeks afterward.

Amber made me a yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and it was lopsided, and the frosting was too thick, and it was the best cake I have ever eaten — which tells you everything you need to know about what makes food matter. In her honor, and for every birthday that feels like a bonus round, I want to share this Greek yogurt chocolate cake: it’s the kind of recipe a kid could pull off, the kind that comes out a little imperfect, and the kind that tastes exactly like being loved. The Greek yogurt keeps it tender and a little tangy beneath the chocolate, and if your frosting goes on too thick, that is not a mistake — that is a tradition in the making.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup hot brewed coffee (or hot water)
For the chocolate frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat and prepare. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Stir in the sugar.
Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, Greek yogurt, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy.
Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Carefully stir in the hot coffee — the batter will be thin. This is exactly right.
Bake. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting. Beat the softened butter with the cocoa powder until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar, alternating with the milk, beating until fluffy and spreadable. Add more milk a tablespoon at a time if needed. Stir in the vanilla.
Frost the cake. Place one cake layer on a plate and spread a generous layer of frosting on top. Set the second layer on top and frost the top and sides. If the frosting goes on thick and imperfect, leave it. That’s the best part.

Nutrition (per serving)

Greek Yogurt Chocolate Cake — The Lopsided Birthday Cake That Tasted Like Everything