A Father's Love

I am blessed to have this man as my Farmer and husband.

Double Chocolate Cake

Everything I know about cooking I've learned from my Mother-in-Love. Well, maybe not everything. But nearly everything. When the Farmer and I first met I thought cooking meant mac and cheese (from a box), brownies (from a box), and skillet chicken. 

"Cooking," I flirted, "why yes, of course I know how to cook. I love cooking."

Wrong.

My Farmer  grew up on an 800 acre hog farm with a stay-at-home mother who spent her days delighting in the kitchen. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago with a family who, on the majority of nights, ate meat + vegetable for dinner. Steak + frozen spinach, got it. Salmon + broccoli, check. And so the Farmer's definition of cooking and my definition just did not match. 

You can imagine my shock when I visited the Hog Farm for the first time and learned that yes, in fact, you can make brownies from scratch! It's sounds ridiculous, I know, but I honestly thought brownies could only be made from boxes.

Enter my Mother-in-Love. Who sent me recipes in the mail during our first year of marriage. Who bought me my first set of wooden spoons. Who taught me the ever important rules of 'you can never have too much butter,' and 'don't be afraid to add more salt.' 

And our waist lines never remained the same from that point forward.

In honor of her, here is one of my favorite recipes. From her kitchen. To mine. To yours.

Double Chocolate Cake

Ingredients (Cake)

1 cup HOT water (hottest you can get from the tap)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup crisco

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Stir baking soda into water, set aside. Blend on medium speed the remaining ingredients (crisco through vanilla) together just until thoroughly mixed. Add the water and baking soda mix into the batter and blend on medium speed again just until thoroughly mixed. Pour batter into lightly greased 9x13 pan. Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes or until it springs back when you lightly touch it (tip: typically when you can smell it a baked good, it's done). Be careful not to overbake.

Ingredients (Fudge Icing)

1 stick butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

dash (pinch) of salt

6 TBsp unsweetened cocoa powder

6 TBsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter in small pan on medium heat on stove top. Once the butter is melted stir in the sugar, salt, and cocoa powder. Next, stir in the milk until well blended. Now, crank up the hit to medium high and, while stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a boil. When it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium and let it boil one minute without stirring. After a minute, remove the pan from the burner and allow the icing to cool for 15 minutes. Once it cools stir in the vanilla. Pour over warm cake.

Scrumptastic!