5 1/3 oz Bitter chocolate (bakery
-uses Guittard brand) 2/3 c Shortening
2 2/3 Eggs (this is right — comes
-from conversion of recipe)* 1 1/3 c Water
3/4 c Sour milk
1 1/3 ts Vanilla
3 c Flour
2 3/4 c Sugar
1 1/3 ts Baking soda
1 1/3 ts Salt
Icing: 3/4 c Sugar
6 tb Evaporated milk
3 oz Chocolate, unsweetened
1 1/2 ts Butter
*Whether home cooks throw in that extra 1/3 egg is up to them, but baker and Rio Grande store manager Janine Gwaltney believes it makes a difference. “Too much egg and the cake falls in the center,” she says. Grease a Bundt pan. Dust with fine bread crumbs and chill. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the chocolate with the shortening. Combine eggs, water, milk, and vanilla. Blend well. Mix flour, sugar, soda, and salt thoroughly. (If you don’t, the flour will clump in the batter.) Gradually add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients, blending on low speed of mixer until just mixed, scraping bowl well. Pour into pan and bake until done, 50-65 minutes. Cool in the pan 30 minutes. Turn out on a cake rack and glaze with icing. Icing: While cake is cooling, heat the sugar in the evaporated milk in the top of a double boiler until the sugar is dissolved. (The mixture will not feel grainy when rubbed between the fingers.) Melt butter and chocolate together. Combine with chocolate mixture. You may add one to two tsp hot water to the icing to enhance the sheen. Pour icing over the cake. Texas French Bread bakery, Austin, TX