Whopper Cake with Chocolate Pan Frosting

So sorry for the misnomer if you happened to think this had to do with Whoppers candies. I don't like malted milk balls so that's kind of out. No, the reason this is called a Whopper Cake is because it is from a totally charming children's book of the same name.

It's Grandmother's birthday and Granddad loves her so much he wants to make her a Whopper Cake! So he sends her away for the day, dons a big apron, and gets out the recipe. He soon decides this recipe is just too limiting and begins to make it up as he goes along, throwing in bags of flour, boxes of cocoa, dozens of eggs. Soon it becomes too big for the bowl so he moves it to the pick-up bed. And so on. The illustrations are as charming as the rhyming story and Granddad himself. It's especially fun for a baking family like ours. We gave it to my Mom for her birthday this year.

At the end of the book, Granddad provides a real recipe for Whopper Cake, one that will actually fit in a 9x13 pan. We've been meaning to try the recipe for awhile, so when Hazel requested chocolate cake for dessert for a recent Family Home Evening she was in charge of, well, Whopper Cake seemed just the thing to make.

When I took my first bite, the first word to come to mind was, velvet. The second was fudge. If that doesn't recommend it, I don't know what will.

Whopper Cake
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup butter
1 cup very hot water
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 T vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups white sugar
3 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon, optional (in the spirit of Granddad, I just added it in for a little something extra)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan, or else, Granddad says, "the cake will stick to it like a bear's nose to honey!"

2. Mix cocoa powder, butter and hot water until all the lumps are gone. I sifted my cocoa powder to avoid those hard lumps it sometimes gets. Next add the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla and stir until light and creamy.

3. Sift all dry ingredients together, then add to batter and mix for at least 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool, then frost with your favorite frosting. Serve "piled high with heaps of fresh vanilla ice cream!"

Chocolate Pan Frosting
Granddad didn't provide a frosting recipe, so I used one of my favorites that I don't think I've posted before.
8 T butter
4 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup whole milk
4 cups confectioners' sugar

1. Place butter in a medium saucepan and melt over low heat, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the cocoa powder and milk. Let the mixture come just to a boil, stirring, and then remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the confectioners' sugar until the frosting is thickened and smooth.

2. Pour the warm frosting over the top of a cooled cake, spreading it with a spatula so that it reaches all sides of the cake. Work quickly because this frosting goes on best while still warm. Makes 4 cups, enough to frost a 2 or 3 layer cake.Cake recipe from:
Frosting recipe from The Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn