Great Cake

I'm not a chocolate cake eater. I never really have liked them, just because they never taste like chocolate to me. I love brownies for that reason. However, the rest of my family likes chocolate cake so I like to try new recipes to find a better version of it. A couple years ago my mom gave me this old baking book "A World of Baking". Perfect for me, because I love to bake more than I love to cook. In it are some really old and sometimes odd recipes, with the stories behind them. This is a fun book. My 2 favorite recipes from this book are a really great homemade brownie recipe and this recipe for sour cream chocolate cake. It tastes like chocolate and is dense.
I made the cake for Phil's birthday on Th. I put a little effort into it and it turned out looking so nice that he asked where I bought the cake. It was a 9"round layer cake. I wish I would have taken a picture. Really it was the frosting job that made it look store bought and that's where I also tried something new. Phil likes marzipan (almond paste) so instead of vanilla in the chocolate buttercream frosting, I added almond flavoring. It gave it that marzipan taste, especially with the chocolate cake and chocolate frosting. To decorate I melted some chocolate chips and wrote out happy birthday and some swirls on freezer paper and put them on the cake after they hardened. I also used my cake decorating tool I got in my stocking for Christmas a couple years ago, the triangle with different edges that you drag along to make a cake a little fancy looking. Piped on some swirly things on the edge and voila (I have no idea how you spell that), you have a fancy looking cake.
So here is the recipe. If you like your cakes a little dense, this is for you. It also stays really moist for quite a long time (at least long enough for us to finish off a cake).

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

**Have everything but boiling water at room temp**

1/2 c cocoa

3/4 c boiling water

2 cups sifted flour

1/2 tsp bkg soda

1 c sour cream

1/2 c butter, softened

2 c sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 large egg whites

Dissolve cocoa in the water and set aside to cool. Sift the flour with the bkg soda and set aside. Stir the sour cream into the cooled cocoa mixture and blend. Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar until mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and blend. Now add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat until batter is smooth. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the batter last. Turn batter into a buttered and floured 9x13 pan and bake in 300*F oven for 1 hour, or until the cake tests done. Cool in the pan on a rack. (2 9" round pans took 40 minutes). This is a great chocolate cake that tastes like chocolate.