Chocolate Lover's Challenge

As Benton County Farm Bureau Women's Committee members, my friend Tara and I volunteered to serve as two of the eight judges for the county 4-H baking contest last week. Participants of the contest were given recipes for banana bread,biscuits,snicker doodle cookies, and chocolate cake.  Our assignment was to judge the chocolate cake. For two chocolate lovers this seemed like a real treat  but by the twenty-eighth piece of chocolate cake that we had to taste and judge, it became quite a challenge to judge each piece. At the end of the morning, we agreed  that chocolate cake was no longer   our favorite flavor. If we get invited to judge next year, we've already decided to ask to judge the biscuits!

Although I've avoided chocolate of any kind since our judging experience,I do plan to make my family's favorite chocolate cake later this week.

Chocolate Sheath Cake

1 stick butter

1/2 cup Crisco

4 Tablespoons cocoa

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp soda
2 eggs,slightly beaten

Bring butter,Crisco,cocoa,and water to a rapid boil. Pour over the sugar and flour and beat well. Add buttermilk and soda,vanilla,cinnamon and eggs. Beat, then bake at 400 degrees F. in metal loaf pan for 20 minutes. Cover with the following.

Icing:

1 stick butter

4 Tablespoons cocoa

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar,sifted

6 Tablespoons milk

1 cup pecans

1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring butter,cocoa, and milk to boil. Add powdered sugar,vanilla and pecans. Beat well and pour over cake while hot.

Options: No nuts needed

For the perfect addition to this recipe, pour a tall glass of cold milk or add a big dip of vanilla ice cream!