This past Saturday a few friends and I got together to quilt.
My husband packed up the kids early and took them to Park City for a day of skiing.
I had the house to myself to for a few hours and then an afternoon of whirring sewing machines, good food, inspiration, and best of all, great company.
I couldn’t go empty handed, so for a treat, I made a dessert I’ve been craving. It’s the dessert my mom made just about every Sunday when I was a girl.
Texas Fudge Cake. Her recipe has buttermilk in the batter. Which means I LOVE it.
My mom always left the last row of her cake unfrosted. Can you believe it? I didn’t like frosting, at all, as a child. I scraped the white part out of Oreo’s and the frosting off of cakes. I think back now on all those cakes my mom frosted, carefully leaving that last row just for me. Even if I didn’t realize it then, that was a way she showed her love.
On Saturday, I was on my way to making a sheet cake, until I thought about plates and forks and a spatula… and so I made cupcakes from the batter instead.
I love frosting cupcakes with a pastry bag. Since I’m still not the biggest fan of frosting, (unless it’s Key Lime cupcake frosting) I don’t like two or three inches of frosting on a cupcake trend.
Decorating cupcakes with a star or a round tip makes them look really nice, but is still very easy.
If you haven’t done a lot of cupcake or cookie decorating, be sure to add sprinkles to every row or so, before the frosting begins to set up.
Here’s my mom’s wonderful recipe:
Mom’s Texas Fudge Cake
1 cup butter (2 cubes) 1 cup water 1/4 cup cocoa 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups sugar 1/2 cup buttermilk 2 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 1 tsp. soda Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine butter, water and cocoa in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Add flour and sugar into a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, pour cocoa mixture over and stir to mix. Add buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and soda and beat well. Pour into a greased and floured 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Allow to cool before frosting. Frosting: 1/2 cup butter 1/3 cup cocoa 5 Tablespoons milk Powdered sugarChopped pecans or walnuts for topping optional
Stir together butter and cocoa in saucepan over medium, until butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and pour into mixing bowl or stand mixer. Add milk and powdered sugar to desire consistency. Frost cooled cake and top with chopped nuts if desired. For cupcakes, makes 24. Pour evenly into cupcake liners in a muffin tin and bake at 400 for 14- 16 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
Oh gosh, those look beautiful! And buttermilk really does make it so much better!
I like that cake, never thought about cupcakes! Good idea! Very nice looking & makes me hungary for them! :)
seriously!? I emailed you before even checking your blog and you posted it today!!??
wow. disregard my email — haha!!
THANKS!!
oh and I’m with you … not too much frosting on a cupcake. The ones you buy in shops these days have WAY too much in my opinion. You’re awesome!
I can’t wait to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing it with us.
I’m so glad you posted this because these were to die for! I will definitely be making it! Thanks for sharing! So fun to meet you and hope to see you again! :)
Wow! These look amazing. I guess I know what I’ll be making this weekend! Thanks for the recipe.
I can’t wait to try these! They sound and look mouth- watering.
Is the 1 tsp. soda referring to ‘BAKING’ soda? Wanted to be sure before I get started :). Thank u
Yes, baking soda. Thanks for letting me know, I clarify in the post!
Hi, Cupcakes look great, but if I wanted to make it as a cake what size pan did your mom use?
Also was the baking temperature the same. I’ve not seen too many cake or cupcake recipes that bake at 400F. Thanks looking forward to trying the recipe.