Summer's Cake

Ghost-Pleasing Chocolate Cake 
(from the book The Bake Shop Ghost, great kid's book)

Preheat oven to 325* Prepare two 8- or 9-inch pan or one 13x9-inch pan (we did this one), by lining the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper or greasing the whole pan and dusting with flour. We just used a glass pan and left the cake in it.

In a large bowl, mix together:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted before measuring (we were excited about this part)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 tablespoons buttermilk powder (Summer says this stuff is gross, so don't lick your finger and stick it in to try it.)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a medium saucepan, melt over low heat:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
8 ozs bittersweet or semisweet chocolate


Remove from heat and add:

1 cup water
4 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until blended. Pour evenly into prepared pans, and bake on the middle rack of the oven about 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out with moist crumbs adhering to it. Do not over bake. Cool thoroughly on a rack before icing. We wanted overnight and frosted the next day.

Easy Frosting

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup softened unsalted butter or shortening (we used butter)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch salt

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat until smooth. If using an electric mixer, beat at low speed. Add more sugar for stiffer frosting.
Our frosting turned out runny, I didn't have any more sugar to stiffen it up. But Summer was happy with the way it tasted so I wasn't too worried and since we left the cake in the pan we really didn't need to worry about it.