When they were young girls, sisters JULIE THREET (Burns, Tennessee), SHELLEY GREER (Fairview, Tennessee), and BRENDA OLIPHANT (also of Fairview) share that they would travel to Grandma Burkett’s “house on the hill” for special holidays to gather with family from several states. “Grandma, SARAH BEATRICE BURKETT (born in Anderson, South Carolina), always cooked a grand meal, occasionally stopping to dab her perspiration with the hanky she kept tucked in her cleavage. We used to ask if she was crying and she’d say, ‘No, honey, just perspiring. Not sweating, because ladies don’t sweat.’ We all sat down at the large dining table (some had to sit at the small table in the kitchen) to devour the meal, and then afterward came the music—rhythm guitars, glorious voices, and lots of laughter. With a little encouragement, Grandma would sit down at the upright piano and play some old tunes by ear. And last but not least would come Grandma’s syrup cake! She took such care to make the cake just right, and it was usually accompanied with rich coffee made from the percolator on the stove. Oftentimes the cake leaned a little (despite the box of toothpicks) from the weight of the syrupy icing drizzled throughout and on top. But there was never one crumb left. Grandma showered us all with her love through the carefully prepared meals, her musical influence, and THE cake.”
CAKE:
cup vegetable shortening, melted, plus extra for preparing pans
2 ½ cups sifted cake flour, plus more for flouring the pans
1 teaspoon salt
1 ⅔ cups sugar
3 ⅓ teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup whole milk
3 large eggs, unbeaten
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
SYRUP:
½ cup whole milk
3 (3 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, cut up
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
Dash of salt
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat 2 (9-inch) cake pans with shortening. Lightly flour both pans and shake out excess flour.
2 TO MAKE THE CAKE, in a large bowl use a hand mixer to combine the shortening, cake flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and milk thoroughly for 2 minutes at medium speed. Then add the eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly another 2 minutes.
3 Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake approximately 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool cakes in the pans on wire racks for 20 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans and return to the wire racks until completely cool.
4 TO MAKE THE SYRUP, combine the milk, chocolate, corn syrup, salt, sugar, and butter in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until the chocolate melts. Bring to a soft rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla, and stir, stir, stir. Continue stirring until smooth and drizzly.
5 To assemble the cake, slice both cakes into horizontal layers and brush away any excess crumbs. Place one split layer on a plate. Drizzle ¼ of the syrup over the layer. Top with the next layer and drizzle another ¼ of the syrup over the top. Repeat with the third cake layer and ¼ syrup and top with the final cake layer. Drizzle remaining syrup over the top of cake. You may need to secure the layers with toothpicks.
MAKES 8 TO 10 SERVINGS.