Donald's Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Icing

The cake recipe is from my paternal grandmother, and it was the cake my mom always made for my birthday. I was the kid who ONLY wanted chocolate. Chocolate cake, chocolate icing. I’ve also added the chocolate icing recipe from my maternal grandmother at the bottom, because these two go together like nobody’s business!

INGREDIENTS

2 bars (chunks on a baking choc. bar?) chocolate (dark or milk)

2 tsp. baking soda

½ c. boiling water

1 ½ c. sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 c. flour, sifted (sift, measure, sift again)

¼ c. butter, room temperature

1 c. sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 ºF.

Mix together and add to mixture last:
2 bars (chunks on a baking choc. bar?) chocolate (dark or milk)
2 tsp. baking soda
½ c. boiling water

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat thoroughly. Add sour cream, flour, and vanilla and beat again until incorporated. Add chocolate mixture and beat again (about 2 minutes on medium speed).

Pour into greased and floured pans. Bake until cake pulls away from the side of the pan. (35-40 minutes? She didn’t tell me, but look at the cake through the oven door rather than opening it.)

Chocolate Icing

Ingredients

3oz of chocolate

2 tbsp shortening

1 tbsp butter

5 tbsp milk

1.5 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Melt chocolate, shortening, and butter in a saucepan.

In a separate saucepan, heat the milk and add the warmed milk to the confectioner’s sugar.

Combine the two mixtures, add the vanilla, and beat until spreading consistency.