Opel's Chocolate Stack Cake

Judy Butler, Chatsworth, Georgia, sent a page full of stack cake recipes, one of which was the Opel's Chocolate Stack Cake.

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Opel’s Chocolate Stack Cake  

Cake: 

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup self-rising flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla 

Chocolate Frosting: 

3 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cup milk
1 cup margarine (2 sticks) 

For cake, in large bowl, combine flours, baking soda and baking powder; set aside. 

In another large bowl, beat eggs and add sugar, stirring to mix. Combine buttermilk and oil, mixing well. Add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately to egg mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, stirring well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. 

Pour 2/3 cup batter into greased and floured 9-inch cake pan. Bake at 350°F for 8 minutes, or until cake begins to brown around edges. Allow to cool in pan 5 minutes, remove cake from pan and stack layers, placing a paper towel between each layer. Repeat with remaining batter until 10 layers are baked. Prepare frosting after layers are baked. 

For frosting, in large, heavy saucepan, combine sugar and cocoa; add milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar melts. Add margarine, stirring until melted. Allow to come to a boil; continue to cook until mixture reaches 230°F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat. (Frosting will be thin at this point.) Yields 3 cups. 

While warm, spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons frosting on bottom cake layer. (Warm frosting will be thin and soak into cake layer.) Top with second layer and repeat procedure with remaining cake layers. Allow frosting to cool and thicken slightly (about 5 minutes) before spreading on top and sides of cake. Spoon any frosting that puddles at bottom of cake back onto cake sides. Frosting will thicken as it cools. Yields one 10-layer cake.