I guess a person knows she's a true Southern cook when she takes stock of what she has on hand and
then decides what to cook. That was me recently. I needed to bake a cake. Specifically, I needed to bake a cake that could be considered a birthday cake. Without all the decorations. Though I did consider decorations. Cutting out cake designs is similar to cutting out wood designs, only using a knife instead of a saw. But I didn't. The young man was turning 15 and I didn't think he would be impressed with cutesy.
What I ended up making was a Chocolate Cake. Everyone loves Chocolate Cake, don't they? I used a basic pound cake recipe for the layers. The recipe came from my cousin, who got it from her mother, who got it from her mother-in-law. For those who aren't Southern, this is how many, many good recipes are passed down in this part of the country.
I wasn't sure what type of chocolate frosting to make. But I knew I didn't want to go to the store. When you live outside the city limits, going to the store takes a little longer than five minutes. And it involves make-up and a change of clothes. I didn't want to do that. I didn't have enough semi-sweet chocolate for frosting. I could have used chocolate powder but I didn't really want to. I did, however, have a package of milk chocolate chips. Guess what kind of frosting I made! Yep. Milk Chocolate Frosting.
It all turned out pretty good. None of the cake went to waste, as the saying goes. They ate every slice. That's the best compliment ever.
Chocolate Cake
3 cups sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
5 to 6 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup cooking oil
2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
Beat the sugar, butter and cooking oil with a mixer until it is creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Mix the flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour.
Grease and flour four round cake pans. Divide the batter equally between the four pans. I use a large spoon to do this, dipping out equal amounts into each pan until the batter is all gone.
Cook the cake until a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Because I use a rather small oven (or so it seems sometimes), I had to cook two pans at a time. It took about 35 to 45 minutes each time. I just kept checking it. (Which probably explains why I don't remember exactly how long I cooked the layers!) Every oven is different though. I know I say that a lot but it
is true.
Let the layers cool thoroughly before icing.
Milk Chocolate Frosting
One 11 1/2 oz. package milk chocolate morsels
6 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place the chocolate morsels, butter and salt in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds. Stir. Heat for another 30 seconds. Stir again. The ingredients should be melted. If not, continue until thoroughly melted. Don't overcook.
Pour mixture into a mixing bowl. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar and milk, alternately. Beat in the vanilla extract. The frosting should be smooth. If necessary, you can add a little more milk to thin the frosting so that you can easily work with it. Just be sure to beat thoroughly after the addition.
I turn the cake layers upside down to ice them. I don't know why but the underside always looks better to me. Select the best looking layer to be the top one.
Center the bottom layer on a cake plate. Frost the top. Add each layer and frost the top until all the layers are stacked. Then frost the top and sides of the cake. When you put a dollop of frosting on the top, don't backtrack until all the frosting is spread. This will help keep those pesky crumbs from wrecking havoc on your pretty cake.
This cake is wonderful for company or for a family of chocoholics.
