A Favorite Cake for Tea Time

A couple of months ago my electric range decided to malfunction.  Since it was eleven years old, my husband chose to shop for a new one - this time a gas range, and I love it! 

The first thing baked  in my new oven was a chocolate cake which would turn into a "mound cake" for my hubby's birthday. 

The cake and frosting recipe was given to me over forty years ago from my mother-in-law's girlfriend.   I used to  make the scratch cake with varying degrees of success.    Sometimes it would turn out moist and perfect and other times it would be too dry.  I now use  a Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix, which is always consistently moist, and a lot faster.

Though not difficult to make, the cake is "putsy" because of multiple steps.   The time is well spent, however, because the end result is a delicious cake with rave reviews!  It is the favorite birthday cake of several family members and is always on our family's Christmas Eve menu as the "Birthday cake for Jesus." 

After cake layer tops have been leveled with a knife, making the whipped cream and putting the "mounds" on top is the first step.   When the mounds have been formed, refrigeration is necessary to firm the mounds.   Frosting the sides of the cake is necessary to keep it from drying out.  The mounds firm up in 4-5 hours or overnight.

The next step is covering the mounds with chocolate frosting.   The original recipe had instructions for making a chocolate frosting from scratch, but I've simplified it by using a 16 oz. container of Duncan Hines "Classic Chocolate" Creamy Home-Style Frosting.

The whipped cream mound filling is the only part of the original recipe that I currently use.  The cake is without a doubt my most requested recipe, and I have given it to countless individuals over the years.   

Here you see what delicious goodness appears when the cake's been cut into.  

Because of the whipped cream mounds it has to be refrigerated, so it's not a good summertime  cake for eating outdoors or taking on picnics.  Trust me, I know!  The mounds get so soft they literally slide right off the top of the cake.

A  scrumptious slice and I don't want to know how many calories! 

I paired this cake with a blend of robust, malty Assam and Ceylon black tea from London's Fortnum & Mason, which was given to me as a gift.  The only addition to the tea was a splash of cold milk.   It reminded me of when I was a child and loved to eat chocolate cake with a glass of cold milk!

This is an individual size cake with just one mound.  The mound is  a bit difficult to see, but it's there!  The individual cakes are baked in  jumbo muffin tins - perfect size for a tea party!  

Here's the recipe for the whipped cream mound filling which I have never seen in a cookbook - and I have hundreds of cookbooks!

Whipped Cream Mound Filling

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup 2% or Whole Milk [skim milk is too thin and will not thicken]

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 stick butter, slightly softened

1/2 cup Crisco

In heavy saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch together.  Add milk and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens to the consistency of a cream sauce.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Cool completely.  [I usually expedite this process by setting the pan in a sink of ice water.]

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl cream together butter and Crisco.  Add cooled milk mixture by spoonfuls and mix with an electric mixer at high speed until well blended and fluffy.  Spread between layers of cake and form into mounds on top of cake.  Enjoy!