Name: Patricia Simon
Class Year: 1968
Country of Residence: Germany

Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory? 

This cake was made by my mother Bunny Hutzler Simon ‘39 for all our birthdays. To this day it is requested as THE birthday cake, even by the granddaughter of her ’39 classmate! When I got married in 1971 this was the cake we wanted for our wedding. My mother complied but feared the cake would be not only extremely dense and moist but also too dark. So, she threw silver cake decorations all over it to make it less somber! This was in the day when the only beautifully decorated cakes came from the bakery if you were lucky enough to have a real master baker/confectioner. Needless to say, the dark chocolate color did not dampen the celebratory spirits one bit.

Bunny’s Very Chocolate Cake

Serves 12-16. Takes approx. 60-80 minutes.

Ingredients:

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate (alternatively 80 g good cocoa and 50 g butter)
2 cups (270 g) flour
2 cups (400 g) sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda (Natron)
1/2 cup (125 g) butter – softened.
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup (100 g) milk, soured with 1 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

Ingredients for Frosting
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Cake: 

Melt chocolate with water in the top of a double boiler (bain marie), stir util smooth, let cool.
Add dry ingredients and butter. If the mixture is too dry add a little milk. Add the dry ingredients first then the softened butter and the soured milk.  Finally add eggs and vanilla extract.  Mix well and if the mixture seems too dry, add a splash of milk.

Bake in 350° oven 45 – 60 minutes, depending on the size of the pan(s) you use. You can use a 24 cm spring form, 2 x 8″ layer cake forms, a 23 cm bundt form or a 26 cm loaf form (and probably fantasy forms as well). Do not overbake!

Frosting: 

Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler, add sugar, milk and vanilla and stir until smooth. This can also be used as fudge sauce. The longer it cooks, the more it will firm up as frosting.

Carefully spread the frosting over the cake and let it dry. Enjoy!

Source: My mother Bunny Simon, née Hutzler, member of the Mount Holyoke Class of 1939.