I'm finally back to blogging after what seems like a long long looong time. I moved to a new place and then my laptop adaptor cord died and needed to be replaced. It took a while to get around to getting a new one but now that it's fixed I'm happy to be back on the internet again.
I'm also happy that I got to make this cake for my dad's birthday. In my family it's referred to as "Aunt Jackie's Chocolate Cake" because it's from my great aunt's cook book. The chocolate cake is amazingly moist, and stays moist for days on end. Plus it is really really simple to make, so simple that I used to make it when I was a lot younger without help from my parents.
My Aunt Jackie's cook book is called "Slicing, Hooking, and Cooking: Gourmet Recipes For Golfers and other good sports"
Some of the recipes (like the one calling for celery flavored jell-o for a jell-o salad mold) are a bit dated because its an older book. But there are others that we have used again and again
You can always tell a good cook book by how splattered the pages are. I am a notorious cook-book-page-ruiner. A lot of the time I'll write a recipe down on a cue card so that I don't destroy my nice books.
In the book this cake is called "Marion's Chocolate Cake"..it's a cake of many names.
All you do is dump all the ingredients into a mixer bowl at once, mix it, and then pour into a pan. No creaming the butter and sugar. No adding milk, then flour, then milk. No carefully folding in melted chocolate. Just putting some melted butter, coco and other good ingredients into a mixer, then a pan, and then pulling out this moist moist cake 30 minutes later.
The icing calls for quite a bit of rum, which is obviously good thing. In Jackie's cook book its called "Chocolate Frosting #1"
Its not a chocolately frosting though, it has a bit of nesquick chocolate syrup, a bit of instant coffee powder, and then lots of butter and rum. Instead of being heavy and rich it ends up light and fluffy and rummy.
And it is NOT a stable icing, it doesn't want to be pretty. It doesn't care about laying smoothly on a cake. This icing is all about how it tastes and not how it looks.
Since the cake was for my dad's birthday dinner I wanted to make a it a couple of layers tall so I tripled the cake recipe and doubled the icing and then started icing and stacking.
Behave icing! ...or don't. I forgive you because you taste so good.
For the next tier I used straws to make sure that the cake would be stable and not sink. Straws are easier to use than wooden dowels.
Just stick the straws where the next layer is going to sit...
Then snip the straws so they are level with the cake. With wooden dowels you have to cut each one before it goes in the cake, and I'm just too lazy to do that
Ta-da! Hidden support with almost no effort.
I had also baked some little chocolate cake castles using my new cake pan that my sister had bought me. One castle to top the cake and one for a pregnant guest who probably wouldn't want to eat icing loaded with rum.
I dusted them with icing sugar.. then I omitted the photo of the third horribly deformed castle that I practiced piping on. It really really wasn't pretty. It was gloopey.
All finished with some chocolate buttons and ready to be dessert!
Happy Birthday to the greatest dad!! Here's to many more years of Aunt Jackie's chocolate cake shared with our family.
Aunt Jackie's Chocolate Cake
(Double this recipe for two layers)
1/4 c melted butter
1/4 c cocoa
1/2 c hot water
1/2 cup sour milk (1 tsp white vinegar added to milk will sour it)
1 egg beaten in with the milk
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup white sugar
1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Put all the ingredients into a mixer bowl in the order given above, beat until mostly smooth
3. Bake in 8 inch pan for 25-30 minutes
Chocolate Rum Frosting (Chocolate Frosting #1)
1/2 pound butter
2 cups icing sugar
3 tbsp nesquick chocolate sryup
2 oz rum
1tsp instant coffee
1. beat ingredients well together, then ice cake!
I lied when I said that I omited the ugly castle photo...I just moved it away from the pretty cake pictures
Eeeeewww...gloopey deformed castle. This icing does not pipe!
Could you firm up the icing with some powdered sugar? Do you think it would be good with whiskey instead of rum?
Appleton is my lil' bro's favorite rum. Good taste!
Posted by: Cass Lehfeldt | 08/31/2010 at 09:18 PM
Cass: powered sugar would firm it up, but it would take a lot and make it too sweet (too sweet for me, but maybe not for other people)
Also, I think it would work with whiskey or baileys or other tasty liquors that go well with a bit of coffee and chocolate
Posted by: Stephanie | 08/31/2010 at 09:30 PM
We always use toothpicks to hold the layers in place and just push them down until they disappear into the cake. It's considered lucky to gt one of them in your piece of cake. The last cake we made, I ended up getting 3 of the 5 toothpicks used, so I must be really lucky. :o)
Posted by: Theladyisbuggie.blogspot.com | 08/31/2010 at 09:53 PM
Cake sounds great.. will have to try it out. In the recipe however.. you write: 1/2 cup sour milk (1 tsp added to milk will sour it)... Is that supposed to be (1 tsp white vinegar added to milk will sour it)? Thanks!
Posted by: Dusty Harves | 09/01/2010 at 07:29 AM
I think I've said it before, sort of, but reading this really makes me wish I were handier in the kitchen. It also makes me wish I had a stand mixer!
Posted by: Lesley Howard | 09/01/2010 at 08:14 AM
Dusty: oops, yes its supposed to be white vinegar (fixed now)
Give the cake a try! It gets put together so quickly
Posted by: Stephanie | 09/01/2010 at 09:36 AM
mmmmmmmm! I wanna try this. I wanted to make cake balls with rum icing covered in chocolate for the holidays and your recipe looks perfect.
Posted by: www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawm9wRVa4ws_tU_GkbuWbQSJKKaFjxryUuI | 09/01/2010 at 04:52 PM
Hmm this Aunt Jackie's chocolate cake looks yummy!! I wish I was more talented in the kitchen.
Posted by: Angelshair | 09/01/2010 at 10:15 PM
Wow. *blinks* Your cake looks dangerously delicious. Fun castle topper, too. Your dad is a lucky man!!
Posted by: Aquariannart.blogspot.com | 09/02/2010 at 07:18 AM
Oh my goodness that looks amazing!!
Posted by: E H | 09/02/2010 at 07:35 AM
LOL !!! Welcome back Stephanie !!! I love
" And it is NOT a stable icing, it doesn't want to be pretty. It doesn't care about laying smoothly on a cake. This icing is all about how it tastes and not how it looks."
You should rename it " The Devil May Care" frosting...it looks pretty damn delicious .
Posted by: Mylifeunderthebus | 09/04/2010 at 07:38 AM
those are yummy!!
Posted by: single dad | 03/21/2011 at 09:32 AM
I made a variation of this tonight for my attempt at, *ugh*, gluten free cupcakes. This icing is too good for them!!
I used the same ingredients (except for the Nesquick) but in different ratios. I replaced the chocolate syrop with melted chocolate chips and came up with a great consistency. I must have used a greater percentage of icing sugar than the recipe above. In any case, I'm writing this recipe (with the minor revision) down and it's a KEEPER. Thank you!!
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Posted by: シアリス | 05/23/2012 at 06:36 PM
Which rum is best for the above cake? white?
Posted by: Juhi | 12/22/2012 at 10:10 AM
Hey, I just discovered this recipe but I have a problem with the amount you caled "c", for cocoa, water and so on. I suppose it means a cup, but how much is that, is it even a fixed quantity? Sorry for the stupid question, we use other units in Germany. Hope to be able to try out your cake soon! :)
Greetings and THANKS for your amazing blog :)
Posted by: Simi | 01/11/2015 at 06:52 AM
This cake is amazing and doesn't even last a day in my home. I make a different icing for it but the cake is amazing. And yes c is for cup hope that helps.
Posted by: Eileen | 01/15/2015 at 07:55 AM
Sounds delish. What temperature should I use for cupcakes?
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