Chocolate Icing - Simple and Sweet

I am going to write out the recipe for Nana's Chocolate Cake icing.  Freaks that we are, we love this icing on a german chocolate cake (or a milk chocolate cake; not so much anything dark chocolate), put the cake into a glass and pour milk over it.  Scoop it up with a spoon for a little bit of heaven.  Hey, don't knock it if you haven't tried it.  It's kind of like a chocolate cake milk shake, only not as cold as ice cream. It is something my Dad brought to the marriage. Cake in milk. Who'ave thought?

I guess you could be boring and eat it on a plate with a glass of milk, but now you have to wash two things instead one.  Here goes:

4 T. butter or margarine (the stick kind)

4 T. Hershey's cocoa powder

1 t. vanilla

powdered sugar

a little bit of milk

In a saucepan ( on low heat) melt the butter and stir in the powdered cocoa until dissolved.  Add vanilla and maybe 2 T. milk.  Stir in 2 cups powdered sugar until dissolved and creamy.  Keep adding powdered sugar and milk until you have enough to frost your cake and it is thick and creamy. I learned the hard way to remove the pan from heat while mixing the milk and the sugar.  Only put it on the heat long enough to melt the sugar into the mixture now and then.  If the mixture gets too hot it will set up like concrete and you will have to use a jack hammer to eat it.  (Yes, it was embarrassing when I did that very thing, and took it on a picnic to impress a date.)  I usually double the above quantities for a two cake mix cake in a long pan.  The measurements are just a guideline, you can use more butter or vanilla to taste.  It take less than a quarter cup of milk total to almost a whole poly bag of powdered sugar.  

Variation: If you make it without the chocolate in it, it is great icing for sugar cookies.  You may have to warm it up a little as you ice the cookies to maintain a good spreading consistency.  Of course you can color it any color for this.

I know Nana used to sometimes make up a small batch of this chocolate frosting and put it between graham crackers or vanilla wafers for a treat for the kids/grandkids. Of course there were always "dibs" on licking the pan, the spoon, spatula, whatever.

It's not hard to make, just takes a time or two to get the hang of it. Lick the spoon, the pan - Gotta love it