Recipes from Grandmary -- Auntie Nettie's B-day Cake

You know how every family member has that one treat that is theirs and theirs alone, and it only comes out on big occasions? (I've recently mentioned Grandma Roa's Red Velvet Cake, and Grandma Ollie's holiday fruit cake is a superb antidote to the stereotype.)

Well. This is the cake that is traditionally associated with my birthday. Three layers of chocolate cake smothered in the most delectable fudge frosting you ever did taste. The cake was only made for my birthday. Not the younger brothers' birthdays ... MINE. It is prominently featured in many a childhood birthday picture, staying timeless no matter the hairstyle, housing decor, or adolescent morphing.

It is the centerpiece of family lore, i.e remember the time Mom ruined the frosting by using salt instead of sugar? (Yes, it was that puckeringly bad!) Remember how the first year after the move saw a slightly deformed cake because of the altitude adjustments. It even made an appearance during my freshman year of college, much to the delight of my roommates -- garnering younger brother J a kiss by the mysterious and beautiful Belen of South America. Sadly, I think the last time Grandmary made it for me was my 21st birthday, and that was a very long time ago. [And! Hello! Now that I think about it, I only got a hunk of it because by the time she came down to visit, the other occupants of her house had eaten into the cake (Um, thanks DAD!)]

I've been saving this one to try. It has been a lifetime since I've had my birthday cake. Frankly, I was afraid to try it. Would it live up to the nostalgia? Could I replicate the taste? How would the recipe work in one 13x9 sheet cake versus 3 8" rounds? Would it be everything I remembered? Would it be gluttonous to eat the whole thing myself?

Despite this being my birthday cake, it actually still is a Grandma recipe. I got it from Grandmary, and then I found it in Aunt Ruby's box last summer (that's her card below, mine is above). So, that's three generations, at the very least, that have made this cake.

Walter Baker’s Prize Chocolate Cake

3 cups sifted flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ cup boiling water
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
¾ cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
3 eggs (well beaten)
1 cup sour milk*
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift flour once, measure, add soda, salt and sift 3 times. Set aside.

Add boiling water to chocolate. Stir until well-melted. Set aside.

Cream shortening. Add sugar gradually, and cream together until light and fluffy.

Add eggs and beat well. Add cocoa mix and blend.

Add flour alternatively with milk in small amounts, beating after each addition until smooth.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes in three 8” cake pans.

*Use 1 teaspoon vinegar to the milk to make sour milk.

I used a 13x9 pan, and ended up baking this closer to 50 minutes, until the center domed up. Sadly, after cooling, the dome collapsed. I let this sit for about four days, sealed in a lid, until I got around to frosting it. What the lid managed to do was keep in the moistness of the cake, and then the frosting helped. The frosting recipe -- actually my favorite part -- will be up next week.

I took it to work to share, without telling people the personal significance of the cake. They are so used to me baking by now, no one asks why I bring things anymore. It was gone in about 2 hours of me alerting various departments to come and share. I did manage to snag 2 pieces before it was gone. Next time, I'll be more greedy.