I'm going to bake my mother's birthday cake this week, and it will be octopus-shaped, using this pan that Williams-Sonoma had out a few years ago. (Octopi are a bit of an inside joke with us!)

The recipe that came with the pan is for a vanilla cake, which I baked before with no problems. What I'd like to do is bake a chocolate version, and I'm looking for a recipe that is good to use with large molded pans; i.e., a cake that is not too delicate or soft, and thus won't fall apart when I remove it from the pan.

My Google-fu is not helping me today, and I don't trust myself quite enough to alter the vanilla version - anyone have a good recipe? My mom must have a Choctopus this year!