My Mother’s Chocolate Cake

By MaryEllen

This was in the Raleigh News& Observer on Mother's Day, 2015. A recipe lost for 40 years till a friend of the contributor's mother "found" the recipe, long after Mom had died without writing the recipe down.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup skim, lowfat or whole milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing pans, if using
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup cocoa mixed with 1 cup warm water
• Chocolate fudge frosting, recipe follows
• Chocolate Fudge Frosting
• 2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup skim, lowfat or whole milk
• Dash of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

Step 1

For the Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8-inch cake pans with baking spray or butter. Set aside.
Combine milk and lemon juice and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes; this creates sour milk.
Cream together butter and sugar. When combined, add eggs and vanilla. Meanwhile, sift flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl. Add dry ingredients to batter, alternating with sour milk. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Add cocoa mixture and beat until smooth.
Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool. When cool, remove from pans.

FOR THE FROSTING:

Place chocolate, sugar, butter, milk and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir and bring to a full rolling boil; boil for one minute. Take off the heat and add vanilla. Transfer to a bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer and and beat on medium speed. This can take 15 minutes on a cool day or up to 45 minutes on a hot summer day. The frosting is done when it mounds up on a butter knife without running off.
Yield: about 2 cups

Frost top of bottom cake. Top with second cake and then frost entire outside of layer cake with the remaining frosting.
Yield: 10-12 slices.