Need: Chocolate Cake Recipe

Does anybody have a chocolate cake recipe that will just blow me away? I need one for Thanksgiving. Something moist (hate that word) dense and delicious. Nothing fruity or nutty. I've tried a ton of recipes over the years and can't find THE one.

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http://www.cacaoweb.net/easy-chocolate-cake.html

 Thanks guys. I'll try these recipes this weekend! 

Hold up!  You can make a cake... not from a box? 

lissa:

Hold up!  You can make a cake... not from a box? 

Okay this is how POOR we were growing up and how DUMB and CLUELESS I am even now: I didn't know about box cake mixes until I was about 30! Truly, about five years ago I was in the grocery store and was getting flour and sugar and couldn't turn my cart around so I had to head straight down the aisle and that's where I found cake mix and canned frosting for the first time! I was all "Huh? What's this." 

Then I found books called The Cake Mix Doctor,  one for chocolate cakes and one for regular cakes and they make cakes taste not from a box. But I haven't had any success with the chocolate cakes. They are all dry and crumby.

grits:

Okay this is how POOR we were growing up and how DUMB and CLUELESS I am even now: I didn't know about box cake mixes until I was about 30! Truly, about five years ago I was in the grocery store and was getting flour and sugar and couldn't turn my cart around so I had to head straight down the aisle and that's where I found cake mix and canned frosting for the first time! I was all "Huh? What's this." 

Awesome!  This is how poor we were:  we just didn't have cake (except Angelfood on birthdays).  I made my first box cake in college.  

 Yes.  Best cake in the entire world (besides my own personal recipe which I don't share):  Shirley Corriher.  She has this wonderful book called Bakewise.  It's all about the hows and whys of baking.  She includes the science behind the stuff in a way that most people will understand.  That way you understand why your cake comes out dry and crumby, and how to fix it.

Her chocolate cake in the book is to die for!  It's a pretty pricey book, so I suggest renting it from a library.  You'll thank me later. 

 I pretty much only make recipes from her now.  After learning how to balance a recipe, I've come to realize that almost anything I've come across on the net is terribly unbalanced.  She's like a baking godess.  Her book Cookwise is like a staple for culinary arts students.

Grrrrr! DH was *supposed* to get me Bakewise for our anniversary and he got me something I didn't want that cost 10 times the price. ANGRY FACE! That does it! I'm going to take it off my holiday list and see if I can find it at the bookstore tomorrow.

My DH got it for me for Christmas two years ago.  Hands down, it was my favorite gift.  If you're into baking, it's incredible.  I haven't purchased another baking book, simply because I can write and balance my own recipes now.  The first time I made her chocolate cake, it was delicious.  The second time around I used what I had learned to improve where I had gone wrong the last time, and it was heavenly.