This weekend we did a major meat shopping at a local meat market. Hubby likes red meat and when the weather is warming up, cooking steaks on the grill is a favorite meal. Actually we use the grill all year round. This is New England after all. We got a good price on the sirloin because hubby cuts it up himself.

We have plenty of steaks to hopefully last awhile. But son is coming home soon and he enjoys a nice steak too!

Ordinary Saturday evening meal: steak, potato, and green beans. By “ordinary” I mean no special recipe. (We do not eat steak every week, usually, but we may until this meat runs out.)

Now for the chocolate cake. I have had the urge to make a chocolate cake with frosting for awhile. I told the people at work that they may be eating chocolate cake at morning report someday soon. That day will be Monday!

In the King Arthur Flour sales catalog that they send out every so often there was this recipe. It is similar to a Texas Sheet Cake in that the frosting is poured on the cake in the pan. It is to make a 9 x 13 cake but I thought I would make two small cakes, one to eat and one to take to work so that I wouldn’t find myself eating an entire cake.

This is King Arthur Flour’s Favorite Fudge Cake. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/king-arthur-flours-favorite-fudge-cake-recipe. This is very good. Really good. Very rich and very fudgy.

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 cup hot water
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

It is an interesting recipe because the butter is actually melted and not creamed with the sugar. The butter is melted in a saucepan or a bowl in the microwave. Then the cocoa, and hot water are mixed with the butter, and then the dry ingredients are added, and then the eggs and buttermilk and vanilla. Put in greased pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. I used one 8 inch square pan and one 9 inch round pan. In hindsight I should have used an 8 inch round pan instead. I do not have two 8 inch square pans. I do have two 8 inch round pans but I was not certain if there would be enough room to pour the frosting on top. Now I know they would have worked out just fine.

The frosting is also made by melting the butter. Melt 1 stick of butter is a small sauce pan. Stir in 1/4 cup cocoa (I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder) and 6 tablespoons buttermilk. Then beat in 4 cups powdered sugar until smooth. I did this by hand.Pour the frosting over the cake while the frosting is still warm. The cakes are supposed to be cooled completely. Mine were almost completely cooled.

The frosting settles into a smooth glaze that does not remain sticky. It did not stick to the plastic wrap I used to cover the cake.