Grant’s Eight Little-Layered Chocolate Cake

Serves 16

For the cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 scant teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, plus additional for greasing pans
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), room temperature
2 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
5 large eggs

For the chocolate frosting:
3 cups plus 3 tablespoons sugar
3 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 and 1/2 sticks)
3/4 cup whole milk
Pinch salt
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

For the cake, adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. (If you have a double oven adjust racks and preheat both.) Grease and flour eight 8-inch round cake pans. (Disposable 8- to 8 1/2-inch cake pans work well.) Measure flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

Beat shortening, butter, and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Beat in buttermilk, vanilla, and 1/2 cup of water. (At this point, the mixture will look lumpy.) Beginning and ending with an egg, alternate beating in eggs one at a time and flour mixture to form a smooth batter.

Divide batter evenly among prepared pans. Bake until cakes bounce back lightly when touched and begin to pull away from the pans, 15 to 17 minutes. Cool layers in their pans for 2 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

When ready to frost cake, bring sugar, cocoa powder, butter, milk, and salt to a full rolling boil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan; boil for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in marshmallows, corn syrup, and vanilla; let cool 3 to 4 minutes. (Frosting will have a thin pourable consistency but will set up as it cools.

Stacking layers, topside up, frost each with 1/4 cup or so of warm frosting.  After placing the last layer atop the cake, glaze the top and sides, continuing to spoon frosting over cake until it finally sets up.  The contours of the layers will be visible through the frosting. Slice and serve.