Connie's chocolate cakes

Connie is one of my favorite cooks in this world. Her homemade caramels and handdipped chocolates are divine... as in truly heavenly. Connie is one of those friends that everyone dreams of because I can break a fingernail and she's there with something fresh and nummy to make me feel better. My two favorite things that she makes, however, are her chocolate cakes. The cake is homemade and moist and marvelous. But. The frostings. Oh. My. Heck. They are out of this world delish. I can't share the recipes without sharing this story....

For almost thirty years now, I've been "expected" to take my secret brownies to every single Corbridge family event ever held. This past summer, on the week of the Corbridge Reunion in our back yard, I was overwhelmingly busy with things to do, including host the reunion and teach Relief Society the next day. The whole week was a blur of business. Connie, being Connie, offered several times to help. Finally, I took her up on the offer and she baked her delicious German Chocolate Cake for me. On the day of the reunion, it was a hit to all who tried it. Fast forward two weeks, when my nephew was leaving for his LDS mission and the family dinner was to be held following church. As my sister-in-law was handing out food assignments and checking off her list, she asked that I make... me expecting "what else but brownies".... that nummy german chocolate cake that we had at the reunion! My brownies had been forgotten!

Now for the rest of the story... I had another insane week with more than any sane woman should ever have on her plate, the week of the Farewell. The night before, I was just about in panic mode after baking two cakes before frosting the cakes. Connie came over and basically said, "Move over. Let me do it." and made the german chocolate frosting. The next morning, with me in Overdrive and still trying to catch up with the To Do list and being prepared to reach my Relief Society lesson, I ended up staying home in our ward and Doug took off to the mission farewell. As he loaded the kids, he placed my much stressed over cakes on the roof of his van and took off down the street. The crashing noise that he heard was "an angel catching the cakes and placing them not so gently right side up on the street!", according to Doug. Needless to say, not wanting me to totally meltdown, he picked them up off the street and headed to the family gathering. I found out about the accident after the fact, thanks to a wise husband and a wise sister-in-law, who insisted, "Soph will be better off not knowing about this." They scooped the scrambled cakes into plates and served them anyway. Everyone said they tasted great, regardless of how they looked. Seriously. MUST TRY Recipes!

CHOCOLATE CAKE

2 cups flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cube butter or margarine, softened
4 TBS. Cocoa – I use heaping spoons full

¾ cup water
¾ cup cooking oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 ½ tsp. soda
¼ tsp. salt
2 eggs
½ cup milk
Put first four ingredients in mixing bowl.
Bring oil and water to a boil and pour over ingredients in mixing bowl - beat together.
Add eggs, vanilla, soda and salt – mix well.
Add milk - mix well - pour into greased and floured 9 x 13 cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. My oven will bake the cake in 28 minutes.

German Chocolate Frosting
1 cup cream
3 egg yolks - beaten
1 cup sugar
1 square butter or margarine
Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a slow boil and cook 3 or 4 minutes or until mixture appears it has thickened.
Remove from heat - Add 8-10 ounces of coconut and 1 – 2 cups of chopped pecans, walnuts or sliced almonds - more if you like.
Pour over cake and let cool before cutting.

Plain chocolate frosting
1 lb. powdered sugar
¼ cup cocoa
1 cube butter or margarine softened
½ - ¾ tsp. almond flavoring – more if desired
Slowly add enough milk to desired spreading consistency

Enjoy!