Chocolate (Steelers) cake

by Sarah Steimer

For cake

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups of flour
• 3/4 cups Hershey’s Cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour pan (the recipe calls for two 9-inch round baking pans, but I used a bundt cake pan this time around). Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for two minutes.

Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour into pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

For frosting:

• 1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
  

  A picture I took at Primanti’s in Pittsburgh during the 2009 Superbowl win. The day I made this cake the Steelers won 19-11 against the Titans.

• 4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons  skim milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Use an electric mixer to cream together the butter, sugar, milk and vanilla. Blend on medium speed until all ingredients are well mixed. Blend an additional minute or so, until creamy. Yields three cups of stiff buttercream frosting.

Cake recipe: Hershey’s Cocoa box

Icing recipe: Wilton Beginners Guide to Cake Decorating (copyright 1981)

Photos: Sarah Steimer