Wellesley Fudge Cake

Ah, at last I have made Wellesley Fudge Cake. It all began last year when I was perusing my mom's new issue of Cook's Country and I saw a picture of an absolutely delicious-looking chocolate cake. I read the accompanying story and recipe- it was a Wellesley Fudge Cake. Apparently back in the early 1900's fudge was contraband at Wellesley, and therefore students would have secret fudge-making parties. I think that if college kids of my generation were sneaking off to make fudge, I may have fit in a little better with my peers... Anyway, this cake came about because tea parlors in the area started making fudge cake et voila! Wellesley Fudge Cake.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, I was discussing potential birthday cake with Frakah (my birthday is at the end of October), and remembered Wellesley Fudge Cake, but could not remember where I had seen the recipe. I knew it was in a Cook's Country or Cook's Illustrated, but I had quite a stack to sort through in order to find it. When I did find it you can believe I was very, very happy.

Fast forward once more to this weekend when I had extra time on my hands to bake a cake. I was soooooo excited to finally bake it and (most of all) to try it. The cake itself was easy to make, though when I turned the pans out on to the racks to cool, some of the cake stayed in the pan (next time I will use parchment paper at the bottom) and I accidentally broke one of the cakes (though it was warm enough I  could kind of push it together).

The frosting proved rather tricky- the sort of caramelization process was a bit prolonged for me. The butter, evaporated milk and sugar just did not seem to thicken as quickly as the recipe said it should. It's also a bit more strenuous to whisk the powdered sugar into the thick fudge, and then the frosting had to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally (which meant more tiring whisking). Frosting the cake was slightly easier than most cake, though I think I broke another piece of cake in the process (we'll never know for sure because the frosting covered, but let's just say my cake looked like it had a tumor on one side).

The end result was delicious and worth the work. It was chocolaty, fudgy and sweet. Very sweet, actually. It definitely pairs well with vanilla ice cream. My younger brother and his wife heated their slices of cake in the microwave (cake is stored in the fridge), and they said it was awesome that way. All I can say is, I'm quite happy with my chocolate cake.