Mountain Meadow Chocolate Fudge Cake

I stumbled on the recipe for this cake while I was thumbing through Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey, looking for a way to use up some of the buttermilk that was sitting in my fridge. I succeeded with this one because not only does it have buttermilk in the cake but it has buttermilk in the frosting too. I was also excited about it because this cake reminded me of a Texas sheet cake, you know the one with the cracked chocolate frosting over a huge chocolate sheet cake? Well, I've always wanted to make it and I figured this was as close as I was going to get. Since we had a meeting coming up, I figured why not bake this easy cake. Assembling both was pretty simple and straightforward, with a lot of dirty, chocolately dishes to deal with in the end. Other than that, and the fact that I didnt bother really measuring the sugar for the frosting, just added by sight, there's not much to say in terms of the baking. How did it turn out? Well, already by looking at the color of the finished cake I knew it wasnt going to be as chocolately as I hoped. Instead, this moist cake became a vehicle for what everyone deemed an amazing frosting. Although, people did think the frosting was rich and the cake was not so that they formed a good balance. I think the frosting will go in my back pocket and either I'll use a different cake recipe to go beneath, or just add some dutched cocoa powder to the cake to replace some of the flour.

Mountain Meadow Fudge Cake

from Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey

Cake:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup margarine

1 cup boiling water

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla

Frosting:

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup margarine

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

pinch salt

3-4 cups icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 inch pan. Set aside. 

Combine the dry ingredients on a sheet of parchment. Set aside. Place the chocolate, margarine and water in a saucepan. Heat until melted together. Whisk in the sugar. Quickly whisk in the buttermilk and then the eggs and vanilla. Add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until a smooth batter is formed. Pour into the pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set on a wire rack.

While the cake is baking, make the frosting. Melt the chocolate, margarine and buttermilk in a pan until uniform. Add the vanilla, salt and 3 cups of icing sugar until a nice icing is formed. Add more sugar for a thicker frosting, if desired. Pour over the still warm cake, spreading until smooth. Cool completely before serving.