Valentine's Cake

The pictures are awful, and I had a terrible time trying to cut it, but the cake was delicious. I suspect the mini-chips in the cake contributed to the difficulty slicing-but who cares? Look everybody, cake!

I used the recipe in the 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook for the fudge cake, but added the chips instead of nuts. The filling is a simple buttercream of butter, icing sugar, and vanilla extract. The coating is a rich ganache that left me with enough extra for a dozen, generously sized truffles.

For The Cake:

1/2 cup soft butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 egg yolks (large)
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup chopped nuts or mini chocolate chips
2 egg whites, beaten with 1/2 cup sugar until a stiff meringue

Grease and flour 2 9 inch pans. preheat oven to 350 degrees F. with the rack in the centre position.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs and chocolate. Mix vanilla with milk and add alternating with the dry ingredients(flour, baking powder, salt) sifted together. Stir in nuts or chips. Fold in beaten egg whites and sugar.

Pour gently into pans and bake until they test done-about 30-40 minutes (mine took 40). Cool 10 minutes in pan, then cool completely on rack.

Fill and frost as desired.