Rich Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 13" by 9" metal baking pan or three 8-inch round cake pans. Line bottom(s) with waxed paper; grease paper. Dust pan(s) with flour. Or, line thirty-six 2 1/2-inch muffin-pan cups with fluted paper liners.

In medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat sugar and margarine or butter until blended. Increase speed to high; beat until creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Mix milk and vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, until batter is smooth, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula.

Pour batter into pan(s). Bake 40 to 45 minutes for 13" by 9" cake or 30 minutes for 8-inch cake layers or until toothpick inserted in center(s) of cake(s) comes out almost clean. Or, pour batter into muffin-pan cups. (Do not bake all cupcakes at once. Bake only as many as 1 rack in center of oven can hold.) Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out almost clean. Repeat with remaining batter. Cool in pan(s) on wire rack(s) 10 minutes. Run small knife around edge of 13" by 9" cake or 8-inch layers to loosen, then invert onto wire rack(s) to cool completely. Remove cupcakes from pans and cool completely.

Each serving (13" by 9" or three 8-inch layers): About 240 calories, 4 g protein, 33 g carbohydrate, 11g total fat (3 g saturated), 45 mg cholesterol, 300 mg sodium.

Each cupcake: About 130 calories, 2 g protein, 18 g carbohydrate, 6 g total fat (1 g saturated), 25 mg cholesterol, 250 mg sodium.