Knock Knock Cake

You know those smells and tastes that can take you right back to your childhood?  Well, this is mine.  My aunts famous Knock Knock Cake.  When I was a kid we got it twice a year.  Once on Thanksgiving and once on Christmas.  I would eat my dinner as fast as I could so I could try to get the first slice of this heavenly, chocolately, amazing, goodness.  Now, if you don't like chocolate or if you are a health guru that may pass out at the sight of sugar then run away now...run far, far away and don't look back at this post.  Because well, this cake is not the healthiest thing on the market, but damn, it is good stuff and is perfect for a special occasion.  I wish I had better photos of it, but we simply gobbled it up too fast and I wasn't able to snap one.  Now I cant tell my aunt this but I cheat on her recipe with box cake mix.  I have tried and tried to get a cake from scratch to work and I just cant do it so I buy 2 boxes of a golden butter cake mix and make it as it calls for.  I bake 4 thin layers in 2 9 inch round pans.  My aunt is a knock knock cake master and does 7 layers, but I just dont have my game together yet.  You can of course do the cake however you want, but Im telling you now do the layers.  How the icing melts in-between them is part of the amazing part of this cake. 

Now for the icing...this icing is tricky and the first time I made it I failed terribly, but now I have finally nailed it. 

You will need:

4 Cups of sugar
1 1/3  cups of evaporated milk in the can
5 Tablespoons of butter
8 HEAPING tablespoons of cocoa
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Now mix all of that in a big pot and bring it to a boil for about 3-4 minutes.  Keep stirring constantly.  Then turn it down to medium heat and stir for about 20 minutes.  DO NOT LEAVE the icing.  It will burn really easily.  I promise the cake is worth the labor. 

Since it has so much sugar it will start to get hard if it isn't on the heat so this is the tricky part.  Go ahead and have your cake layers ready and cool. This is like a fast assembly line process.  Put one layer down, pour icing, another layer, pour icing, and so on and so forth.  Don't take time to make it perfect down the sides...just pour it and go with it while the icing is hot.  If you do wait too long and it gets hard in the pot just put it back on low heat and maybe add a tiny bit of water.  Let the cake cool in the fridge and when it cools do the knock knock test.  My kids love this part.  You should be able to knock on it, but when you take a bite it will melt in your mouth and is SO good.  Oh my heavens.

 I hope this brings you & your family many wonderful memories as it has us!