This is Good Cake
I got this recipe from Pioneer Woman and then I tweaked it. It isn’t a pretty cake but it is really good, serves a crowd, and is done in less than an hour. And, if at any point you don’t understand my crazy directions, just click on over to Pioneer Woman because she takes pretty pictures of the cake and all the steps. And, in case you’re wondering, my addition to the recipe is cinnamon and my alteration is Kahlua instead of vanilla.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, whisk together:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 t. cinnamon

Meanwhile, melt 2 sticks of salted butter in a saucepan. Add 4 heaping T. of cocoa and stir. Add 1 cup boiling water to the cocoa/butter mixture and allow to boil for 30 seconds before turning off the heat. Pour this over the flour mixture and stir it together lightly.

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1 t. baking soda and 1 t. Kahlua and 2 beaten eggs. Stir this into the mixture of flour/cocoa mixture until it is blended. Pour in a half sheet pan, like this one and bake for 20 minutes.

While the cake is baking, wash out the saucepan. Then, melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in the saucepan. When the butter is melted, stir in 4 heaping T. of cocoa. Take the pan off the heat. Now add 6 T. milk, 1 T. Kahlua, and about 4 cups confectioner’s sugar. (I usually sift the confectioner’s sugar to make sure there are no lumps. You can also put a bunch of chopped pecans in the icing. I don’t because of my picky people and because I figure the cake has enough fat as it is.)
Pour the icing over the cake right after you take it out of the oven. Spread the layer out evenly.

And then you have to try to practice self-control until the cake is cool — or not.