Aunt Millie's Tinker Cake

By WhystleStop

This Tinker Cake is a cake she has probably been making for at least 40 years. If someone dies, the family gets this cake, if you have a baby when you come home you will get this cake and if there is a family dinner or reunion this cake will be one of the things Aunt Millie will bring. If you have a birthday and nobody to bake you a birthday cake, Aunt Millie will bake you a Tinker Cake to brighten your day. It is a delicious chocolate cake with just a hint of cinnamon in it. There are three smells that I will always associate with Aunt Millie...White Shoulders perfume, Dove bath soap, and Tinker Cake! I keep Dove soap in my bathrooms to this day, because I always loved the way it made Aunt Millie's bathroom smell and it reminds me of her. Here is what you'll need for the Tinker Cake, don't let the many ingredients scare you off, it's not hard to make at all:

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup oil
• 4 tbsp. cocoa
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• Tinker Cake Icing
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 4 tbsp. cocoa
• 6 tbsp. milk
• 1 box powdered sugar (4 cups)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from sweetteaandcornbread.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

This Tinker Cake is a cake she has probably been making for at least 40 years. If someone dies, the family gets this cake, if you have a baby when you come home you will get this cake and if there is a family dinner or reunion this cake will be one of the things Aunt Millie will bring. If you have a birthday and nobody to bake you a birthday cake, Aunt Millie will bake you a Tinker Cake to brighten your day. It is a delicious chocolate cake with just a hint of cinnamon in it. There are three smells that I will always associate with Aunt Millie...White Shoulders perfume, Dove bath soap, and Tinker Cake! I keep Dove soap in my bathrooms to this day, because I always loved the way it made Aunt Millie's bathroom smell and it reminds me of her. Here is what you'll need for the Tinker Cake, don't let the many ingredients scare you off, it's not hard to make at all:

First, sift the dry ingredients together...flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon...and mix together.

In a saucepan combine butter, water, oil, and cocoa and bring to a boil.

Pour over the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl.

Beat eggs slightly, add buttermilk and vanilla. Mix together and add to the other ingredients in the mixing bowl. Mix until all of it is incorporated, but don't over mix. Just use a whisk for this.

Pour the cake batter in a 9"x13" baking pan that has been liberally sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Place in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes. If you use a glass dish as I did, decrease the oven temperature to 325 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.

During the last 5 minutes of the cake baking, start the icing so that the cake can be iced while it's warm. Melt the butter in a pan, add the milk and cocoa and bring to a boil. After it boils turn the heat down so it doesn't burn. Stir in the vanilla and the confectioner's sugar until it is smooth.

Add the chopped nuts and mix until incorporated.

Immediately pour the warm icing on the warm cake and you have "Aunt Millie's Tinker Cake"!

2 eggs, beaten

Thank you for taking time to comment. I don't know why the name Tinker Cake. That is just what my aunt has always called it. Some people make a similar cake called Texas Sheet Cake...my late mother-in-law made a delicious one, but that is actually a different recipe. It doesn't have the cinnamon.

I make this very same cake, omitting the cinnamon. I also add 1 tsp of White Karo syrup to the icing at the time I add the vanilla. I also take a wooden spoon handle and poke holes in the warm cake before icing allowing the icing to penetrate the cake. We call it a Chocolate Candy Cake

I make this cake often. Two changes. I add 1 tsp. cinnamon to the cake batter and 1 tsp. cinnamon to the icing. Poke holes into the warm cake before you pour the icing and some of the warm icing will seep through the holes into the cake.

I make this cake, and my recipe is called Texas Sheet Cake. When I remove the cake from the oven, I use the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes all over it so that the icing can run down into the cake. Make the icing a thinner consistency.

Thanks for posting! Sounds great! Could you make this a sheet cake?

This sounds delish and I'm going to make it this weekend :) YUMM.....Thank You!!

This looks delish and I'm going to make it this weekend. YUMMM..........thanks for sharing!!

We call it Chocolate Sheet Cake, Texas Sheet Cake, and someone even called it Sheath Cake! I've been making it for years, with the cinnamon. It is easy to make and if you use cake flour, you get a very tender and tasty cake. The icing is like fudge, thick, and so good! Thanks for sharing this. I make it several times a year for family and for church potlucks, too. Happy eating! Oh, and love your description of your Aunt Millie! :-)