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Christy Martenson

Author of the Halstad House series and Love, Mary Elisabeth

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Grammy Carter’s Yummiest Ever Chocolate Cake

by Christy Martenson

I follow after my dad in the sweet tooth department. Mom still jokes about his first words when he came home from work. “What’s for dessert?”

One of our family’s favorites was her Blind Date Cake. Just yum.

When I wrote Love, Mary Elisabeth it seemed only natural to include it. Mary Elisabeth dubbed it “Grammy Carter’s Yummiest Ever Chocolate Cake.” I have provided the recipe here so you can enjoy it, too.

Yummiest Ever Chocolate Cake

I thought it would be fun to write up the recipe using terminology fitting the time period and wood cook range use. For oven temperatures, I checked several sources online. They didn’t all agree but were close. In my recipe I wrote to bake in a warm oven (325 degrees). It was also called a slow oven at that temperature.

Here is a basic conversion chart:

  • Very slow/warm oven: 250-275 F
  • Slow/warm oven: 300-325 F
  • Moderate oven: 350-375 F
  • Hot oven: 400-425 F
  • Very hot oven: 450-475 F
  • Extremely hot oven: 500-525 F

Yummiest Ever Chocolate Cake

Print

Grammy Carter’s Best Ever Chocolate Cake (Blind Date Cake)

Ingredients

Date Mixture:

  • 1 cup dates chopped fine
  • 1 1/4 cup water boiling
  • 1 tsp baking soda

Wet Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup butter (shortening)
  • 1/2 to 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cup flour
  • 3 teaspoons cocoa
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Toppings:

  • 1/2 cup sugar optional
  • 1 to 1 ½ cups chopped Hershey Kisses (1 package chocolate chips)
  • 1/2 cup nuts chopped (optional)

Instructions

Prepare Dates

  1. Add 1 1/4 cup boiling water to dates to soften.

  2. Mash & let cool.
  3. Add 1 teaspoon baking soda to dates. Set aside.

Prepare Cake

  1. Cream shortening, sugar, beaten eggs, and vanilla extract.

  2. Add combined dry ingredients:
  3. Be sure soda has been added to dates.
  4. Add date mixture.
  5. Mix well.
  6. Pour into a large (9X13) well-greased cake pan.
  7. Sprinkle sugar, Hershey Kisses, and chopped nuts (optional) on top.

  8. Bake in warm oven (325 degrees) for 35–40 minutes.

Recipe Notes

From the author: I have used parenthesis to indicate modern terms.

Yummiest Ever Chocolate Cake

Photographs by Marlys Endo

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Filed Under: Recipes November 14, 2017

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Hello, I’m Christy.

Christy Martenson

I see stories everywhere.

I wrote Love, Mary Elisabeth based on actual stories from my father’s growing up years on the family farm.

I wrote Halstad House to highlight the importance of family, friends, and faith, all in my favorite corner of northeast Washington state.

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Christy's writing is like a bird thrilling high in a Ponderosa Pine on a warm summer morning.
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Christy Martenson has woven an intricate journey of the heart into a story you won't soon forget.
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The characters draw you into their own stories and make you root for the desired outcome.
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one family’s struggles and God’s faithfulness

The careful character development and vivid word pictures quickly drew me in and had me laughing, crying and cheering.

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2019-10-18T15:24:19-07:00

Karen Cleghorn, retired medical editor and avid reader

The careful character development and vivid word pictures quickly drew me in and had me laughing, crying and cheering.
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An entertaining and original read!

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From its tender beginning to the heartfelt climax, the author engages her readers with wit, charm, and endurance.

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