Trisha Yearwood's Chocolate Torte

A yummy cake to leave you with for the weekend from Trisha's cookbook, "Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood".  I started to label this post "a delicious mess" but it after it was all said and done I thought it looked okay.  My only complaint was that the glaze turned out kinda lumpy and grainy, but it was still delicious.

 This little cakestand is a recent Goodwill find, and plastic which is perfect for those of us who suffer from dropsy. 

 You definitely want to have a few round cake pans so you can work faster.  I bought some disposable ones, and found that the cakes released from these better than my regular pans.  

I'm hoping for a potluck soon, because I really want to take this to work.  It's sure to be a morale booster!

 (if you do make this, be sure to note the recipe calls for self rising flour. I didn't notice and just threw in a little baking powder, it seemed to work ok)

Here's her recipe:

Ingredients:

3 1/2 sticks butter (1 cup at room temp)

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted

7 cups sugar

2 1/4 cups evaporated milk

3 tsp vanilla

 1 tbsp instant french roast coffee granules

6 large eggs, room temp.

2 cups plus 1 tbsp milk

4 cups self rising flour

Directions:

Make the cake glaze first.  In a large saucepan melt 3/4 cups butter and mix it with melted chocolate and 4 1/2 cups sugar.  Stir in the evaporated milk, 2 tsp vanilla, and instant coffee.  Cook the glaze over med high heat until it boils.  

Reduce heat to low and cook 20 minutes stirring constantly until mixture thickens.  Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour at least 4 nine inch baking pans.

Cream together 1 cup butter and 2 1/2 cup sugar until smooth.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.  Mix in 1 tsp vanilla with the milk, and add alternately with the flour, beginning and ending with the flour.

Put a very thin layer of batter (about 7 tbsp) in each pan, shaking to distribute the batter (I used the back of a small spoon).  Bake 11 to 13 minutes.   

 Remove layers from the pans, frost and layer immediately.  Repeat until all batter is gone, you should get 12 layers.

I found to get the glaze to stick to the sides I had to let it cool off quite a bit.