Retro Mom: The world's best chocolate cake

by Susan Wagner (Subscribe to Susan Wagner's posts)
May 2nd 2007 9:05AM

When I was growing up, my mother read Good Housekeeping religiously. I remember her sitting on the sofa, flipping pages and tearing out recipes, many of which involved starting with a mix of some type--Bisquick, for example, or boxed cake mix. My mom cooked dinner every night--this was before the microwave, after all--but she didn't prepare elaborate meals from scratch.

Some of my favorite 70s era recipes involved cake. Boxed cake mixes hit the market in the years following World War II; they were designed to streamline the baking process, and by the 1970s, there were a staple in virtually every kitchen. My mom used to make all sorts of delicious and simple things that started with box cake mix and built on it. She could pull a dessert together at the last minute, and my brother and I could always help (add water! and oil! and eggs! and mix! so easy). To this day, my brother asks for Chocolate Chip Cake for his birthday, and my kids are starting to beg for it, too.

Recipe is after the jump.

Chocolate Chip Cake

1 package yellow cake mix
2 small boxes instant chocolate pudding
1/2 cup Wesson oil
1 1/2 cups water
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 ounce package chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325. Mix all but chips with electric mixer for two minutes. Fold in chips. Pour into well-greased and floured* bundt pan**. Bake for approximately one hour (may need a little longer). Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar, <strong>OR</strong> ice with chocolate glaze (see below).

*I use Wesson oil and cocoa powder (rather than flour) to grease and flour--no white spots on the finished cake that way (thank you, Martha Stewart).

**I have also made this in a spring form pan; it works just fine, but the bundt pan is prettier.

Chocolate Glaze

1 bar (2 ounces) unsweetened chocolate baking bar
1 1/2 cups powdered
3 tablespoons butter
2-3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt baking bar and butter in small, heavy-duty saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Alternate adding powdered sugar and water until desired consistency. Stir in vanilla extract. Pour over warm cake. Scrape remains from sauce pan and devour before anyone else in the house realizes what you are doing.