My Mom's Birthday -- And Thee Chocolate Cake Recipe

The Birthday Girl

My Mom, Susan, when she was about twelve years old.
(Can you tell she was -- and is -- just a cupcake?)

This shot is from her 73rd birthday, which we celebrated with the whole family
on her actual birthday, June 11th...

And this is the birthday cake we made yesterday at our house when we celebrated with Mom/Grandmom again.
(You can't have too many birthdays, right!?)

If you're a chocolate lover, like my mother is, this is Thee Cake!

It is the thickest, richest, chocolatiest cake imaginable.  My Mom's had a lot of chocolate cake in her day and she proclaimed this the best she's ever eaten.   For a birthday, bake sale, Sunday dinner treat, breakfast, or whatever... this one is the best!  (We all attest to it at our house, anyway!)

 Tunnel of Fudge Cake

(From Scratch)

Ingredients

1 3/4 c. butter, softened

1 3/4 c. granulated sugar

6 eggs

2 c. powdered sugar

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. cocoa

2 c. chopped walnuts

Beat butter and granulated sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Gradually add powdered sugar, blending well.  By hand, stir in flour, cocoa and walnuts until well blended.  Batter will be quite thick.

Spoon batter into greased and floured 12 cup Bundt pan or  10 inch angel food tube pan and smooth out evenly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 58 - 62 minutes.  Cool upright in pan on cooling rack, 1 hour.  Invert onto serving plate.  Cool completely.  Spoon glaze over top of cake, allowing some to run down sides.  yields 16 servings.

Note.  Nuts are essential for success of this recipe.  Because cake has soft tunnel of fudge, ordinary doneness tests cannot be used.  Accurte oven temp and baking time are critical.. In altitudes above 3500 feet, increase flour to 2 1/4 cups plus 3 tablespoons.

Glaze:

3/4 c. powdered sugar

1/4 c. cocoa powder

1 1/2 - 2 tsp. milk

Combine sugar, cocoa and milk in small bowl and whisk until well blended. Adjust to thick pouring consistency. Store tightly covered.

* We had used our last ounce of cocoa on the cake and didn't have enough left for the glaze, so, as you can do with any glaze like this, we improvised.  Instead of milk, we used strong coffee and a dash of caramel syrup.  It was yummy.