Take it to the Grave Chocolate Cake

Many, many, many years ago one of my mother's best friends shared with us her secret family recipe for delicious chocolate cake and the best ever chocolate frosting. Occasionally she would join our immediate family members at Sunday dinner and sometimes bring this cake to share for our desert enjoyment. Her recipe was so secretive she made us promise that we would never share it with anyone else, and we upheld the promise until this day. It's been many years since this good friend passed away and I'm ready to lift the lid off the coffin.

I've tried many recipes from the Internet, some were A+ and some were D-. My taste buds rate this A+.  The frosting is so delicious and easy to make it can be used alone on a standard store-bought box cake mix if you so choose. What makes this so easy is that the ingredients in these two recipes are staples that most everyone has in their cupboards.

Delicious Chocolate Cake

                                                 o  3 C flour                           o  2/3 C oil

                                                 o  1 3/4 C sugar                  o  1 Tsp vanilla

                                                 o  2 Tsp baking soda         o  2 C water

                                                 o  1/2 C cocoa                      o  2 Tbsp vinegar

                                                 o  1 Tsp salt

Heat your oven to 350 degrees F. Coat the bottom of the pan with shortening. In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together and pour into your prepared pan. I bake a 13"x9" pan for 45 minutes +/-. When a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, the cake is done. Sometimes I use my finger to press down on the center of the cake and if the cake pops right back up it also means it's done. Different size pans can also be used but you'll have to experiment on the cooking time.

Best Ever Chocolate Frosting



Combine 3 3/4  tbsp flour with 3/4 cup of milk in a small saucepan. Mix the milk into the flour slowly to avoid getting lumps. Cook this mixture over medium heat until real thick. Set aside to cool. In the meantime cream 3/4 cup shortening (Crisco) with 3/4 cup sugar. Add to this 5 tbsp cocoa and a few grains of salt. Combine the two mixtures when the cooked ingredients are cool and beat until light and creamy.

It's not that I can't keep a secret. I love to cook and bake and, although it doesn't happen all the time, I prefer to make unprocessed from-scratch cakes. Personally, I can't think of any good reason why I should take this recipe to my grave and not share it with all of you for your enjoyment. Can you?