Aunt Mildred's Chocolate Cake- THE Cake.

Aunt Mildred's Chocolate Cake has been THE cake in my life, and also what I feel is the most family recipe that I have- this is actually the creation of my Great-great Aunt Mildred. I never knew her, but judging by this recipe, we just might get along- it's the perfect chocolate cake to go with all kinds of icings or toppings or whatever you like. Our family tradition is to have this as a birthday cake and to use lemon icing- such a delicious combination of chocolate and lemon- and I never even knew I was being sophisticated as a kid!

I grew up with my grandmother Vovo making this cake often, and I have had it more times than I can count. After she died when I was 11, I started to make this cake for birthdays, and I still make it for my sister's birthday whenever I can- it's her favorite! Last spring, I had the honor of making miniature Aunt Mildred's Chocolate cupcakes with lemon icing to grace her incredible senior art show. Needless to say, this tradition isn't dying anytime soon- see if you want to join it!


Here's the cake batter in the pan, ready for the oven (I just made a half-recipe this time so as to be less dangerous to have around the house, so this is an 8'' x 8'' pan)


The ingredients for the lemon icing- so simple.


The icing and cake, just waiting to be joined!


Aunt Mildred's Chocolate Cake
-4 (1 oz.) unsweetened chocolate squares
-1 cup butter (2 sticks)
-2 cups white sugar
-1 cup boiling water
-2 eggs
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
-1/2 cup sour milk (or make your own by adding a bit of apple cider vinegar)
-2 cups flour
-1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
-1/4 teaspoon salt
Melt chocolate with butter. Add sugar and boiling water, stirring until all combined. Add eggs and vanilla to chocolate mixture and mix well. Add the sour milk and dry ingredients, alternately.
Grease and flour a 9'' x 13'' pan or two 8'' or 9'' cake pans. Pour batter into pan(s).
Bake at 350 F for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out almost clean.


Lemon Icing
-3 tablespoons butter
-confectioner's sugar
-lemon juice
Soften the butter, and whip it well. Add lemon juice and sugar until you have the amount of icing you would like! Use this to ice the chocolate cake!



The finished cake- looks a bit plain without decoration, but it's fantastic!

I hope you try this simple and fab cake! It's my absolute go-to, stand-by chocolate cake recipe, and that's saying a lot.
Savor it!
love, rue