The instructions in game are kind of backwards, compared to the american cake recipes I’ve read. They're also lacking a lot of steps for cooking novices. While I did select the option of "I know what I'm doing," I feel that more information would have been helpful in the game.

I’ve reordered the steps and added sub-steps, as well as the High Altitude Adjustments (Designated H.A.) necessary for Mile High Cooking. (I live in Colorado)

Find out if you have a mixing bowl that can handle the addition of boiling water, as this is not typical of western cake-baking (Do not use a plastic mixing bowl!).

Make sure you have enough of all necessary ingredients, so you don’t have to go to the store more than once. The recipe requires buttermilk (which I don’t normally keep) for the cake, as well as nearly 4 sticks of butter and up to four cups powdered sugar for the icing. Make sure you have enough!

Hyun-ae will initially only ask whether you have the ingredients by type without giving amounts, so I included a full list in the guide, as well as including amounts in the directions. Take it shopping!

Cake

• 1 Mixing bowl that can stand boiling water
  
• 1 Regular mixing bowl
  
• 1 Saucepan for melting butter for cake
  
• 1 Extra saucepan/tea kettle/water heater for producing 1 cup boiling water
  
• 1 Or 2 cake pans for baking

Icing

• 1 Saucepan for melting icing butter and mixing icing

Extra recommended items

• Soft spatula(s) for moving mixtures from one bowl/pan into another
  
• Electric mixer or hand mixing tool. (I used a whisk by hand for the whole thing and it worked fine, I'm sure a wooden spoon would work as well.)
  
• Parchment paper for lining the cake pan
  
• Butter knife for spreading icing

Cake:
2 cups flour
2 cups (granulated) sugar (H.A. 1 ¾ cups sugar)
¼ teaspoon salt
2 Large Eggs
½ cup Whole Buttermilk (H.A. ½ cup plus 1 Tablespoon Buttermilk)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 sticks of butter
4 heaping Tablespoons cocoa
1 cup boiling water

Icing:
1 ¾ sticks of butter
4 heaping Tablespoons cocoa
6 Tablespoons Milk (or 3 liquid oz.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 ½ cups powdered sugar (Game says 1 pound powdered sugar minus ½ cup. I read that a pound of powdered sugar is 4 cups.)

Preheat Oven 350 degrees (H.A. 375)

• Optional/High Altitude: Prepare your cake pan(s)* by greasing the inside of the pan and then either dusting it with flour or lining it with parchment paper.**
  
• Dry Ingredients: Combine 2 cups flour, 2 cups sugar (H.A. 1 ¾ cups sugar), and ¼ teaspoon salt into a mixing bowl.
  
• Wet Ingredients: In a separate bowl, lightly beat 2 Large eggs (H.A. try to add as little air as possible through whisking)
  
• Add ½ cup Whole Buttermilk (H.A. ½ cup plus 1 Tablespoon Buttermilk), 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir. Set aside wet ingredients bowl (refrigerate if necessary)
  
• Saucepan: Melt 2 sticks of butter in a saucepan. Use as low of a temperature as possible to melt the butter and keep it liquid.. At the same time, start boiling more than 1 cup of water.
  
• Mix in 4 heaping Tablespoons of cocoa to the butter, stirring lightly as you add it. Then add 1 cup boiling water to the butter/cocoa mixture, then turn off the heat. Wait 30 seconds.
  
• Pour into Dry Ingredients and stir lightly.
  
• Add Wet Ingredients to the mixture. Stir mixtures together.
  
• Pour the mixture into your cake pan(s). Fill up to ⅔ full normally, or up to ½ full for H.A.
  
• Set a timer for 18 minutes. Check the cake’s center with a fork or cake-tester at 18, then every 2 minutes until the fork/tester comes out clean. Remove, and let cool completely before adding icing.
  
• Ice and enjoy! Also delicious without icing if you prefer!

*Author’s Note: Western cake recipes usually specify the size of cake pan required. While this one does not, it would be wise to have at least two cake pans ready in case the recipe will overflow from your chosen pan.

**Super Noob baking tip: you can grab a stick of butter using a piece of wax paper (or use the wrapper for the butter if it came in one) and then rub it on the pan to grease it with no mess :)

• In a new saucepan, melt 1 ¾ sticks of butter
  
• Add 4 heaping Tablespoons cocoa, stirring as you go
  
• Add 6 Tablespoons Milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 3 ½ cups powdered sugar, and stir
  
• Pour over cake and enjoy. Use a butter knife to spread icing to cover holes, but be careful not to pick up any cake while spreading icing!

It's not really a spoiler because the achievement tells you how to get it when you mouse over it in steam, but it's not super clear. As it's been mentioned in other guides, I won't talk about it too much here. I recommend looking at this fantastic guide for the full history. I will just add a few short notes/instructions.

Type the code while looking at the game's Main Menu, not into the text search box or anywhere else in the game.
From a fresh main menu screen (right after you click main menu or open the game), use the numbers above your keyboard (not num-pad) and type:
12101989 [enter] 0 [enter]
and the achievement should unlock immediately.

This guide and cake was made with the help of my Mom, Google, Wikihow (to adjust a recipe for high altitude), and some random old Colorado recipe advice publications (also for high altitude). Also, I was inspired by this guide to make my own, for cake.

My cake fell apart, but it was delicious! I got compliments from my whole family. I think perhaps the cake wasn't meant to be layered, as when I added icing to the top cake it split down the middle. Regardless, it was delicious! Since the Creator of Hate Plus has discontinued the practice of emailing pics of your finished cake with Hyun-ae, feel free to post your pic in the comments here! I'll check it out periodically, and others can see it too!

Also, if you try my recipe or try making adjustments, let me know how it works out in the comments! Thanks to the makers of Hate Plus and Analogue!

Sincerely,
Dovvy