Savannah Chocolate Cake with Hot Fudge Sauce

Today was my first lesson in baking with my mother in law. It was a success!! The cake is described as a SEXY SOUTHERN CAKE.... Hmmm a sexy cake?

I expected it to be very rich with all the chocolate and sugar in it, but it was light and perfect. The hot fudge sauce was soooo good it wasn't as thick as friendly's but I liked it better. A lot of stirring was Invoked to make the sauce. Very delicious I will make this again.

Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:

* 2 cups brown sugar
* 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
* 1 cup buttermilk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
* 3 eggs
* 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

Hot Fudge Sauce:

* 1 (4-ounce) bar German chocolate
* 1/2-ounce unsweetened chocolate
* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
* 3 cups powdered sugar
* 1 2/3 cups evaporated milk
* 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the cake, cream the brown sugar with the shortening in an electric mixer. Add the buttermilk and vanilla then the melted chocolate. With the mixer running, add eggs, 1 at a time. Sift the flour with the baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture and beat for 2 minutes.

Grease and flour a 13 by 9 by 2-inch rectangular cake pan. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake until the cake is springy and a toothpick can be inserted and removed cleanly, about 40 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes then turn it out onto a rack to finish cooling.

To make the sauce: Melt the 2 chocolates with the butter in a saucepan over very low heat. Stir in the powdered sugar, alternating with evaporated milk and blending well. Stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer until the mixture becomes thick and creamy, about 8 minutes. Stir in the vanilla. Serve slices of cake topped with warm fudge sauce.