Chocolate Cake

This is a variation entry, not a standalone formula: it lists only what changes from the book's Butter Cake, and the butter, sugar, eggs and milk come from that rule. Read both before starting.

• The missing half of the recipeThe fat, sugar, eggs and liquid are all in the Butter Cake rule this entry points to. Without it you have flour, leavening, chocolate and vanilla, which is not a cake. Cakes of this type commonly run somewhere near 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs and 2/3 to 3/4 cup milk to 2 cups flour, but the book's own rule is what governs here.
• What "chocolate" meant hereLowney's sold unsweetened baking chocolate, and the 4 ounces called for is almost certainly that, not chocolate chips or eating chocolate. Using sweetened chocolate will throw both the sugar and the texture off badly.
• Melted, but not hotLet the melted chocolate cool to just warm before it goes into the batter. Poured in hot it loosens the creamed butter and the cake loses the air you beat into it.
• Moderate ovenThe book gives no temperature; "moderate" is generally read as about 350F, with period usage running to roughly 375F. Grease and flour the pans, or line the bottoms with parchment; chocolate batter sticks more stubbornly than plain.
• Loaf or roundsTwo 8-inch rounds take roughly 25-30 minutes; a single loaf pan wants 45-55 minutes and a lower rack. Test with a skewer in the center rather than by time alone, since 4 ounces of chocolate makes the surface look done early.
• Baking powderThree teaspoons to two cups of flour works out to 1 1/2 teaspoons per cup, the upper end of the 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons per cup usual today. If your cake domes and cracks sharply, cut back to 2 teaspoons next time.
• YieldAbout one 8x4 loaf or two 8-inch layers, serving 8 to 10.