Is mid-July the best time to try a new recipe for chocolate cake? No.

Am I going to let that stop me? Also no.

Look, I already have a recipe for the world’s most perfect chocolate cake up my sleeve. It is moist and delicious and can be made in one bowl and the recipe is handily printed on the back of the Hershey’s box.

It gets better with age. (I mean, it gets better with SOME age. Maybe a day or two. Not two weeks. I’m not a monster.)

However, that cake is much smaller and less impressive than this one.

Does that matter? Not usually.

But if you are home alone with three ravenous children all day, maybe you need a nice, big chocolate cake to have on hand for bribery purposes.

I’ve never bribed a child myself, of course, but I wouldn’t judge you if you did.

Or maybe you are cleaning out the pantry plus also trying a new lifestyle called Fiscal Responsibility (or, Not Shopping Just for Entertainment) and so you are eager to try something new, something that will use up the odds and ends already in your kitchen. Something that will allow you to avoid continuing to clean out the pantry but also make you feel noble.

If any of these things is true for you – or if you need a birthday cake for the chocolate lover in your life – this would be a good recipe to cut out and try.

My children were terribly disappointed that I did not make them another batch of caramel corn instead of baking this cake – but they changed their minds after one bite of the cake.

I hope you get the same reaction.

CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 heaping cup cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup hot coffee (or substitute 1 1/2 cups boiling water plus 1 1/2 teaspoons espresso powder)

Directions
■ Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two round cake pans. Into a bowl or large measuring cup, measure out milk and add vinegar. Stir to combine and set aside. In a separate large mixing bowl, mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, soda, baking powder, and salt) thoroughly so no lumps remain.
■ In another mixing bowl, mix eggs, oil, and vanilla. Add curdled milk and mix. Add hot coffee or hot water plus espresso and mix. (I am a Kitchen Rebel and usually do not mix my wet ingredients separately. If you, too, are a KR, just be sure to mix everything up a little bit before adding the hot coffee/water. You don’t want the hot water to hit the eggs directly and create scrambled eggs.) Mix the batter just until no dry streaks remain.
■ Divide batter evenly into pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, about 40-50 minutes. Allow to cool on racks. When cool, cover with fudge frosting.

FUDGE FROSTING

Ingredients
3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder (or omit and substitute cold coffee for the water)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups water
90 grams Dark chocolate (about 70% cacao) bar (Because of household food allergies, I could not find a suitable chocolate bar. I substituted about 45 grams dark chocolate chips plus about 45 grams unsweetened baking chocolate)
6 tablespoons butter

Note: If you are looking at this list of ingredients and thinking that this recipe will produce a tremendous amount of frosting, you’re right. I am listing the ingredients this way because this is how I tried the recipe. I cannot imagine that halving it would have any ill effects, and it would certainly be enough to cover the cake. However, I have found that this particular fudge frosting is delicious on butter crackers, so there’s that. Make your own judgments. I won’t tell a soul.

Directions
■ Measure sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and salt into saucepan. Whisk thoroughly to break up any lumps. Add espresso powder plus water OR leftover coffee into the pan. Turn heat to medium. Stir constantly as mixture comes up to a boil; I like to use a silicone spatula for this step. Allow mixture to cook and thicken. When it reaches the desired consistency (about that of a thick pudding), remove from heat.
■ Add vanilla, chocolate and butter. Stir and wait, stir and wait, until chocolate and butter melt. Allow frosting to cool; you can expedite this process by spreading it out on a platter. Frost cake as usual when frosting and cake are both room temperature.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.