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["Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare three 8"" round cake pans by spraying them with cooking spray and lining the bottom with a parchment paper round. Set aside..", "For the cake:", "Put the cocoa powder in a medium sized bowl, and pour the boiling water on top of it. Whisk the water and cocoa together until smooth, and then set aside until cooled.", "In a mixing bowl or in the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, until completely combined.", "Sift all of the dry cake ingredients (flour through salt) together in a medium sized bowl. Gently add half of the dry ingredients into the batter and half of the cocoa powder liquid. Mix to combine. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients and cocoa powder liquid and mix into a smooth batter. Add the black food coloring and mix it completely in.", "Divide the batter evenly between the three pans, smoothing the top of each. Bake the cake layers for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Remove pans from oven and set on a rack. Let the cake layers cool completely before frosting them.", "For the frosting:", "In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the soft butter, powdered sugar and milk and whip until fluffy. Add the vanilla and the food coloring (if using) and combine well.", "Put your first cake layer on your serving platter then assemble the cake. Spread 1/4 of the frosting in between each of the cake layers and save the other half of the frosting for the outside of the cake. When it is completely frosted, I recommend refrigerating it for about 30 minutes before adding the chocolate.", "Pour the melted chocolate over the top of the cake and let it drip down the edges. Apply sprinkles immediately to wet chocolate.", "Slice and serve!"]
