Chocolate Cake

Cheri Clotiaux Stringer (originally from Best of the Best: The Recipe Hall of Fame Cookbook)

Yield: 20 (2-inch) squares

I made this for Keith Ann’s birthday at this year’s WOW and it was a BIG hit. I don’t think we had any leftovers and there were not 20 of us present! (Oct 2010)

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups flour, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp soda
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 (1oz) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted in 2/3 cup boiling water (I used Ghiradelli's 100% Cacao)

Chocolate Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Cake: Preheat oven to 325˚F. Cream butter and sugar with electric beater until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition. Sift flour with salt. Mix soda with buttermilk and add alternately with flour to creamed mixture, starting and ending with flour. Add vanilla and melted chocolate with water, stir until smooth. Grease a 9x13-inch pan. Pour batter into pan and bake 50-55 minutes. Cool in the pan. While slightly warm, frost with Chocolate Frosting. Freezes well.

Frosting: In heavy saucepan, cook margarine, sugar and milk to a full rolling boil. Boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; add chocolate pieces and nuts. Blend quickly. Beat until a spreading consistency. It won’t take more than a minute or two. Spread at once over chocolate cake.

NOTE: I did not add the pecans. Instead of using milk, I used a mixture of milk and coffee to equal 1/3 cup — the ratio was about 2/3 coffee to 1/3 milk. I also added 1 tsp of vanilla and I used Ghirardelli’s chocolate pieces.