Perfect Chocolate Cake

Monarch butterflies, my mother's flower garden, and family birthdays are just a few of my childhood memories. For our birthdays, my father brought my sisters and me a single flower from the local florist and my mother a beautiful bouquet of fragrant yellow roses, her favorite. 

My mother made us a cake of our choice and my dad McCall's Perfect Chocolate Cake for his birthday.   

Serves 10 - 12

Cake ingredients:

• 1 cup unsifted, unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 3/4 cups
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting ingredients:

• 1 6-ounce package semisweet chocolate pieces
• 1/2 cup light cream
• 1 cup butter
• 2 1/2 cups unsifted powdered sugar

Filling ingredients:

• 1 cup heavy cream, chilled
• 1/4 cup unsifted powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the cake:

In a medium bowl, combine the cocoa with the boiling water, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Cool completely! Sift the flour with the baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Grease and then lightly flour three 9-inch round cake pans.

With a mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, scraping the bowl occasionally, until light, about 5 minutes. At low speed, beat in the flour mixture in fourths, alternately with the cocoa mixture, in thirds (beginning and ending with the flour mixture.) Don’t overbeat the batter!

Divide evenly into the pans, smoothing the tops. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the surface springs back when gently touched. Cool cake layers in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides of the layers from the pans with a spatula, remove from the pans, and cool on racks.

To make the frosting:

Combine the semisweet chocolate pieces, cream, and butter in a medium saucepan, stirring over medium heat until smooth. Remove from heat, and blend in 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar with a whisk. In a bowl set over ice (especially in August!), beat until it holds shape.

To make the filling:

Whip cream with sugar and vanilla. Refrigerate.

To assemble the cake:

On a plate, place a layer, top down. Spread with half the filling. Place the second layer atop, top-down, and spread with the remaining filling. Top with the third layer, topside up!

To finish the cake:

Frost with a spatula, sides first. Swirl the rest of the frosting on top. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving. Use a thin-edged sharp knife to cut.

Recipe from McCall's Cooking School Cookbook.

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