Recipe: Aunt Amy's Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Aunt Amy's Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting
rec.food.baking/Vernon Webster (1997)

I should like to repost 'Aunt Amy's Chocolate cake' (posted originally by Kim Weedon). I made it yesterday and found it to be gorgeously light and moist. Worth using the best chocolate for and it might be worth adding some cocoa powder if you prefer a stronger chocolate flavor. For that extra 'Black Forest' touch try adding liqueur to the icing such as kirsch (I used Amaretto plus 2 teaspoons of coffee powder). - Vernon

Here is a family favorite that has become our defacto recipe for birthdays. It is attributed to my great-aunt, "Aunt Amy", a.k.a. Amy Arnold, 1900-1993, of Swansea, MA. I don't know if the recipe was her creation or not. But she was a wonderful woman, the last of her generation in our family, and smart as a whip (??) until she passed away. So I give you...

Aunt Amy's Chocolate Cake

2-3 (1 oz.) squares baking chocolate (unsweetened)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups sifted cake four
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream

Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two layer pans (8 or 9-inch), or line each with waxed paper.

Sift cake flour a second time with the soda and powder. Set aside.

Melt chocolate in water over low heat, or, better yet, in a double boiler (I use a small pan over a larger pan with a finger of water in it... I don't have a double boiler).

Cream butter and sugar. Add flour mixture. Add eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Beat two minutes. Add chocolate mixture. Beat two more minutes.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool on racks. Remove wax paper, if used, when partly cool, and frost when entirely cool.

Chocolate Frosting

1-2 (1 oz.) squares chocolate
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
confectioner's sugar (about 3 cups)
cream or evaporated milk
8 or 9 crushed Andes mints, or 1 Heath bar, crushed [optional]

Carefully melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Add vanilla and 1-2 tbsp. cream or milk. Add icing sugar gradually. Keep adding sugar and milk (the latter in VERY small amounts) until you get the right amount and consistency of frosting.

Frost the cake when it is cool. Add the candies to the top of the cake after it has been frosted, if you like.

(As kids, we always wanted mint frosting. After one attempt at a white mint frosting --- which tasted and looked remarkably like Crest toothpaste --- Mom decided the mint candies were a good compromise. Now I prefer the cake without the candies... and without frosting, but that's me.)

If you go with a plain chocolate or white frosting, you can use your favorite spreadable jam for between the layers. I like apricot or raspberry. - Kim