Nelson Cake

Sorry I've been a little M.I.A. on the good old blog lately. With the holidays my husband has been home and he's been manning the kitchen recently. Well his break is over tomorrow, so I guess I'm back in the saddle as they would say. 

To finish off his break, we get to celebrate  with his birthday. It's tradition in our family to make the birthday person a cake called "Nelson Cake". It is glorious. It's chocolatey, moist, sweet, and satisfying. There are never leftover pieces of this after a birthday party. In fact, you better grab a fork right now. 

Cake:

1 cup water

1 stick butter 

1/4 cup shortening

4 tbs cocoa powder (Dutch processed)

2 cup sugar

2 cups flower

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

Combine water, butter, shortening and cocoa in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Add to a bowl with sugar and flour. Add remaining ingredients and mix.  We normally make two 9 inch round cakes that bake at 350F for 18-20 minutes.

Buttercream frosting:

1 stick room temp butter

4 tbs cocoa powder 

2 tsp vanilla 

8 oz of powdered sugar

2-4 tbs milk

I like to add butter, vanilla, milk and a few tablespoons of powdered sugar and mix slowly at first, then on high for about a minute to get it light and fluffy. Add the remaining cocoa and powdered sugar and whip until light.  

Whipped cream:

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Assemble in layers from ground to ceiling: cake then frosting then whipped cream then cake then frosting then whipped cream on top

*if you put cool whip on this instead of homemade whipped cream my husband will track you down and haunt your dreams

** my mother in-law is holding out on the real recipe. This is as close as we can get. Maybe she will tell us the whole recipe on her deathbed someday.