Devil's Food Cake with Fudge Frosting

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Title: Devil's Food Cake with Fudge Frosting
Categories: Cakes, Chocolate
Yield: 8 servings

Cake:
1 3/4 c Sifted cake flour
1/2 c Cocoa powder (not a mix)
1 ts Baking soda
1/2 ts Salt
1/2 c Unsalted butter
1 1/4 c Sugar
1 1/2 ts Vanilla
2 lg Eggs
1 c Water; boiling
Frosting:
1/4 c Unsalted butter
2 c Confectioners' sugar
2 oz Unsweetened chocolate;
-melted
1 1/2 ts Vanilla
2 tb Half-and-half or milk
Or evaporated milk

PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 350~. Grease 2, 8" layer cake pans
well, then dust them generously with cocoa. (This gives the
cake layers a rich brown finish).
Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt onto a piece of
waxed paper and set it aside. Cream the butter until it is
fluffy, add the sugar and vanilla, and continue beating
until the batter is silvery and light. Beat the eggs in one
by one, then add the sifted dry ingredients, alternately
with the boiling water, beginning and ending with the dry
ingredients and beating well after each addition. Divide
the batter equally between the two pans, smoothing the
tops. Bake the layers uncovered for 30-35 minutes, or until
the layers feel spongy to the touch and begin to pull away
from the sides of the pans. Cool the layers upright in
their pans on wire racks for 10 minutes, then carefully
loosen them around the edges with a spatula and turn them
onto wire racks. Cool them completely.

FROSTING: Cream the butter until it is light, then add the
confectioners' sugar gradually, beating all the while. Beat
in the melted chocolate and vanilla, then add just enough
cream to make the frosting a good consistency for
spreading. Sandwich the two cake layers together with
frosting, then frost the top and sides of the cake. Swirl
the frosting into peaks and valleys.

-----