Chocolotta Cake ~ Happy Birthday Mom!

My folks have finally moved up here and now live close to us. It's wonderful to have them nearby and the kids get to spend lots more time with them. My Mom's birthday was January 12th and I haven't spend it with her in a long time. This year I was able to cook her a special dinner and of course a birthday cake. She is a chocolate lover so I decided to make her a chocolate cake from scratch. It sounds pretty lame but I had never attempted to make one before! I picked this recipe from my favorite cookbook ~ Perennials

Here's a delicious recipe for Chocolotta Cake ~

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter

4 eggs

1 cup chocolate syrup (I used dark chocolate syrup as Mom loves dark chocolate best!)

2 1/4 cups flour (unsifted measure)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

7 (1.45 ounce) Hershey chocolate bars or 1 (8 ounce) Hershey chocolate bar

Cream butter and sugar at medium speed of electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in syrup. Sift together flour and salt. Combine buttermilk and soda. Reduce speed to low. Add dry ingredients to chocolate mixture alternately with buttermilk. Melt chocolate bars in double boiler over hot water. Blend into batter. Pour batter into greased and floured 10-inch tube pan or Bundt pan. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour 15 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn onto rack or plate.

Breaking apart the chocolate bars was a perfect job for little hands.

I thought frosting would be way too much for this cake.

A sprinkling of powdered sugar and a side of ice cream worked very well.

Happy Birthday Mom!