Dinette Cake with Chocolate Butter Frosting

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When I was a child, the custom in our family was that the Birthday Boy or Girl chose the dinner menu and the birthday cake. My mother wasn’t much of a baker, so most birthday cakes were made from mixes. Except mine. I always requested the one cake that she made from scratch. She called it a “One Egg Cake”. The recipe had been cut out of a newspaper or magazine years before and carefully saved . . . I just realized that I don’t know where she kept it.

It was a plain vanilla cake made in a square 8x8 or 9x9 pan and frosted with chocolate butter frosting. Cakes may have come from boxes, but frostings were always homemade. Chocolate butter or vanilla butter, straight out of my mother’s old Betty Crocker cookbook.

In my teens, disaster struck. The precious One Egg Cake recipe disappeared. We searched high and low but it was never seen again. I began a fruitless quest to find a substitute. As an adult, when I purchased my own Betty Crocker cookbook, one of the first recipes that I tried was “Dinette Cake” which called for one egg and was made in a square 8x8 or 9x9 pan. It was close, but not the cake from my childhood. Luckily, my newer edition Betty Crocker cookbook still had the same chocolate and vanilla butter frostings recipes.

It may not be quite the same, but at least I no longer have to wait until my birthday to have a one egg cake frosted with chocolate butter frosting.

Verdict: Yum!! These are keepers!!

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Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour or
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

Step 1

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour square pan, 8x8x2 or 9x9x2 inches. Measure all ingredients into large mixer bowl. Blend ½ minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes high speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool.
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Chocolate Butter Frosting:


1/3 cup soft butter or margarine
2 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate (cool)
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

Mix thoroughly butter and cooled chocolate. Blend in sugar. Stir in vanilla and milk; beat until frosting is smooth and of spreading consistency.

Fills and frosts two 8- or 9-inchy layers or frosts a 13x9-inch cake.

To fill and frost three 8-inch layers, use ½ cup soft butter or margarine, 3 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate (cool), 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla and about 3 tablespoons milk.
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REVIEWS:

This simple cake is wonderful especially with fresh sliced peaches and a dollop of whipped cream. Have been making this for years a true standby recipe.

I have made this recipe since 1970 and it is the best. My favorite is to use it as the base for pineapple upside down cake.

The best go-to cake ever. I use it to make Boston Cream Pie and it never fails. I've made it for decades!

I doubled the recipe and baked in two 9" pans for about half an hour-ish. I reduced the sugar (1 cup instead of 2), substituted 2/3 c. softened unsalted butter, and increased vanilla to 1 Tbs. I then filled and frosted the layers with Lemon-Cream Cheese Frosting. Not a piece left and rave reviews all around! :o) I do admit to creaming the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla; mixing the dry together in a separate bowl; and adding it in alternately with the milk... still easy-peasy with all the "extra" steps I did! :)

I have been making this similar cake for many years from my Betty Crocker cookbook. I double it all the time and cooks up like a dream. My hubby won't eat anything else for his strawberry shortcake but this recipe. The batter is almost like vanilla ice cream and tastes so good. This is a good cake to make pinapple upside down cake too.


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