Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 08:12
Helen's Heavenly Cake... And it is!
Helen’s Heavenly Cake
This is a basic chocolate cake recipe that lends itself to these two variations of icing, among others.
Cake Ingredients
- ¾ cup butter or margarine 175 mL
- 2 cups sugar 500 mL
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla 5 mL
- 2 ½ cups flour 625 mL
- ½ cup cocoa 125 mL
- 2 tsp. baking soda 10 mL
- ½ tsp. salt 2 mL
- 2 cups buttermilk or sour milk* 500 mL
Directions
- To prepare the cake, in a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
- In another bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
- Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, making three dry and two liquid additions, starting and ending with the flour. Mix just until blended.
- Spread batter in well-greased baking pans, either a 9 x 13” (23 x 33 cm) pan or, two 8” (20 cm) round pans.
- Bake in a 350°F oven for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry. Let the cake cool in the pan for five minutes before turning out on a rack to cool.
*for sour milk, add 2 tbsp. (30 mL) lemon juice or vinegar to 1 7/8 cups (460 mL) milk.
Jeanne’s Quick Icing
Ingredients
- 3 ¾ oz pkg. instant chocolate pudding 113 gm
- 1 cup whipping cream 250 mL
Directions
- Prepare the pudding according to the package direction.
- Whip the cream until stiff.
- Fold the whipped cream into the pudding mix and spread over the cooled cake.
Jeanne’s Bakery Icing
Ingredients
- ¼ cup flour 60 mL
- 1 cup milk 250 mL
- 1 cup shortening 250 mL
- 1 cup icing sugar 250 mL
- ¼ tsp. salt 1 mL
- 1 tsp. vanilla 10 mL
Directions
- Blend the flour with ¼ cup of milk in a small saucepan. Gradually add the remaining milk, stirring to avoid lumps. It helps to use a whisk. If, at this point, you do have some lumps, strain them out of your mixture. Cook and stir constantly, over medium-heat, until thick. Set aside to cool.
- In a medium-sized bowl, cream together shortening, sugar, salt and vanilla.
- Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture 1 tbsp. at a time, beating constantly.
- Spread over the cake.
*For chocolate icing, melt 1 cup (250 mL) of chocolate chips, let cool slightly and add after step 3.
From the best-selling Blueberries & Polar Bears Cookbook Series
