This was my Great-Aunt Lib’s chocolate cake recipe, and for every birthday, my mom would make this delicious cake – unless I asked her to make a red velvet. It’s always been a toss-up between these two types recipes for me – I love them both equally. But sometimes you just want good, old-fashioned chocolate flavor, and this recipe fits the bill.

I’ve made this cake so many times over the years that my poor recipe card is stained and extremely faded, so I decided it was time to bring this recipe into the digital age so that I could have a copy that I could actually read 🙂 It’s a good thing I know this recipe by heart, because if I didn’t, there’s no way I could read this well-used recipe card.

I always frost this cake with my grandmother’s butter frosting. Again, I have an old recipe card that has seen better days. Now I’ve got an online copy to refer to whenever I need it, and you can enjoy these favorite family recipes.

Aunt Lib’s Hot Water Chocolate Cake

1/2 cup butter (not margarine), softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 cup boiling water

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup good cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon good vanilla

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar until combined. Add in the eggs, and beat the mixture until it is light and fluffy. Add the milk. Mix just until the mixture looks curdled.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda together. Slowly add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture, blending slowly and thoroughly. Add the boiling water and the vanilla, and mix until smooth; no more.

Pour cake batter into a buttered baking pan (9 x 13-inch square or 2 round cake pans). Run a spatula through the batter to help eliminate any air bubbles.

Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes, or until cake tests done. Cool before frosting.

People usually fall into three categories when it comes to frosting: none at all, middle of the road and give me the bowl of frosting and skip the cake. My brother-in-law is the last type – the more frosting you can pile on top of a cake, the better he likes it. Me, I’m a middle of the road person. I like just enough where I can taste it, but I still want to taste the cake.

My grandmother made a butter frosting, and this is the only frosting recipe I like to use on my hot water chocolate cake. They just go together because that’s how my family has always done it. I’ve tried different frosting recipes with this cake, but I always come back to this one. Grandma knew best.

Grandma Decker’s Creamy Butter Frosting

1/3 cup butter (not margarine), softened

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 egg white, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons good vanilla

In a mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter and the salt. Gradually mix in 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar. Add the egg white and vanilla, and beat mixture until smooth. Add the rest of the powdered sugar, adding by 1/2 cup at a time, beating until smooth and creamy. If frosting becomes to thick, you can add 1/2 teaspoon water until it becomes creamy.

Chocolate Variation: Using the above frosting recipe, reduce the powdered sugar to 2 cups, and add in 1/2 cup good cocoa powder when you add the sugar to the recipe.

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