I love the saying it takes a village to raise children because it is so true. I know with my girls it took a village which definitely included their grandparents. Grandparents play such a big part in children’s lives. Unfortunately, some children are not so blessed to have grandparents. That is the case with my son-in-law, David. His grandparents passed away when he and his sister, Libby, were very young and we not able to play an active part in their upbringing. Lucky for them they had an adopted grandmother, “Mrs. Dial”.
Mrs. Dial was born in Savannah, Georgia. In her early years, Mrs. Dial owned a private Kindergarten. Children were a huge part of Mrs. Dial’s life and she loved teaching and taking care of children. And two of the children she loved taking care of were David and Libby. Mrs. Dial lived with the Cox family during the week while she took care of David and Libby. Mrs. Dial loved to cook for the family and the family loved Mrs. Dial’s cooking. She was a superb southern cook and always made sure to fix the children’s favorite dishes. One of the children’s favorite dishes (especially Libby’s) was her Chocolate Syrup Cake.
Mrs. Dial’s Chocolate Syrup Cake is such an easy cake to fix and sure to please any and all chocolate lovers. When I made this cake, David’s boys, Clay and Peyton (who are also my grandchildren) became instant fans of this cake. I had Peyton help me make this cake during Thanksgiving for his Aunt Libby (also know as Titi to the boys). Peyton was so proud to tell “Titi” he made a cake for her. One of the good things about bringing old recipes back to life is you can make new memories. Also it gave us the opportunity to discuss Mrs. Dial and explain to the children what a big part she played in “Daddy” and “Titi’s” childhood.
Mrs. Dial took care of the children for some time and was a true member of the Cox family. The family truly loved her and she was the grandmother to the children in everyway. They were truly blessed to have Mrs. Dial as a grandmother. It goes to show that you don’t have to be a biological grandparent to be a grandparent to a child. Wayne, David and Libby’s father, told me while working on this recipe that Mrs. Dial would be so proud of how the children turned out as adults and that he believes she was a huge reason for their success.
If you make Mrs. Dial Chocolate Syrup cake be sure to hide a piece for yourself because your family will devour the cake before you have time to sit down an enjoy a piece.
Mrs. Dial’s Chocolate Cake
Course: DessertDifficulty: Easy10
servings15
minutes30
minutesIngredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
16 ounces of Hershey’s chocolate syrup
- Icing:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (one stick) butter or margarine
1/2 cup of evaporated milk
1/2 cup of semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9x2 pan.
- Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time beat well after each addition
- Add vanilla
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt
- Add flour mixture and chocolate alternating beginning and ending with flour
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Icing:
- Heat 1 cup sugar, evaporated milk, semisweet chocolate chips and vanilla in a saucepan on the stovetop. Stir well.
- Bring to a boil.
- Pour over hot cake.
- Add nuts if desired.
