Aztec Chocolate Cake
¼ cup butter, melted
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
4 canned pear halves
¼ cup quartered maraschino cherries
¼ cup chopped pecans
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 ½ cups unsifted all-purpose flour
¼ cup Hershey's cocoa
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup buttermilk or sour milk
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Have ready a 9-inch square baking pan.
Combine the ¼ cup melted butter, brown sugar and corn syrup in the 9-inch square pan; spread evenly over the bottom of the pan.
Drain the pear halves; slice each into 4 sections and place in a sunburst design on the mixture in the pan. Arrange the cherries and pecans between the pear sections, in the center and at the corners.
Cream the ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs; beat well.
Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add alternately with the buttermilk or sour milk to the creamed mixture. Pour over the fruit and nuts in the pan.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Immediately invert onto a serving dish. Serve warm, with whipped cream, if desired.
Hersheys Cocoa Cookbook, Western Publishing Company, 1979
Return to Aztec Chocolate Cake