Chocolate Cake and A Christmas Carol . . .

“And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.” James 2:23

Charles Dickens’s ghosts of Christmas past, present and future may have terrified Ebenezer Scrooge but I consider them old friends. My favorite rendition is merely the dramatized audio version from Focus on the Family Radio Theater, but I will watch, listen or read this tale multiple times per year for the familiarity, nostalgia and happy ending of the story. Favorite stories are welcome friends at the end of the day, peaceful, recognizable and comforting.

You may binge watch or read Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, or Winnie-the-Pooh, but my guess is when you do, you are seeking a haven in which you can escape from the uncertainty and chaos of your world, whether the chaos relates to your spouse, children, in-laws, best friend, job, acquaintances, failures, politics, war, the stock market, loneliness, even the dog you love who just messed on your carpet, to a world where things will work out the way they always do. Whether a happy ending or a bittersweet ending, there is an expected culmination that brings you back again and again.

Adaptations of well-loved classics abound, think Scrooged, Spirited, and The Muppets Christmas Carol. When something works, everybody wants in! Which brings me to chocolate cake. While tastes and opinions vary both on what makes good writing and a good dessert, chocolate cake is a much loved classic. From single layer chocolate chip cake (a great recipe for another day) to an elegant three-layer German Chocolate Cake (another time as well), chocolate cake comes in a multitude of shapes and sizes, tricks to keep it moist and flavor additions that keep it exciting.

For years I have been baking and serving Deep Dark Chocolate Cake from the Hershey’s Make it Chocolate cookbook, published in 1987 by the Hershey Foods Corporation. This cookbook is also an old friend, as you can see by its tattered cover and messy pages!

The secret of this moist cake is the boiling water which produces a very thin batter. It is essential to line your pans with parchment paper if you intend to invert your cakes for decorating purposes. It is easy to put this together and bake, a little harder to frost since it is so moist.

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour (I always use Gold Medal)
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350*. Grease and line 2 8 or 9″ round pans with parchment paper, or 1 13×9″ pan. Hint: using deeper pans will allow this cake to rise better. You can use a stand mixer for this cake, but I do not, stirring this by hand is simple. Whisk together all dry ingredients. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, stirring until combined. Stir in boiling water, carefully as batter will be thin. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350* until cake tester comes out clean. For round pans this is usually 30-35 minutes, for rectangle 35-40 minutes. Cool and remove from pans. Cool completely before frosting.

One-Bowl Buttercream Frosting

• 6 tblsp softened butter
• cocoa powder to taste 1/3 -3/4 cup or use Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder
• 2-3 cups confectionary sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Now is the time to use the stand mixer! Cream the butter in the mixer, then add the confectionary sugar, cocoa, milk and vanilla. Beat (and taste) until frosting is consistency and flavor you want.

As with the adaptations of A Christmas Carol, this cake works well with frosting of different flavors, buttercream, peanut butter, peppermint, or no frosting at all. My daughter loves this covered in Cool Whip. Cherry Pie filling adds a Black Forest feel to it, topped with strawberries it offers a twist on traditional Strawberry Shortcake.

It’s holiday time, I pray that you get some time to relax with old friends, real or on the pages of your favorite book. Be sure to offer them some chocolate cake! And as you contemplate your friends, remember that Christmas is all about the one who came so that we could be called friends of God.