Granny Vick's Cake with Mocha Frosting

This is another of my Granny's recipes. She lived in rural Eastern North Carolina. Our family visited her every 4 years or so as I was growing up in California. We drove across country in a big Plymouth sedan which was an experience in itself. North Carolina was such a different place and culture than I was used to, but I always loved it. I would still enjoy living there. Granny was a great cook, and always made fresh items out of her garden. When we visited, she would make desserts. This was one of our favorites.

2-1/4 cup sifted flour
2-1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or crisco shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix dry ingredients together. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs to butter mixture and beat well. Combine both dry and creamed ingredients. Add milk and vanilla. Beat all ingredients together and bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Adjust timing for different sizes of pans.

Frosting:

1/3 cup melted butter
1 lb. powdered sugar
3-1/2 Tablespoons cocoa
dash salt
1/3 cup strong hot coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir cocoa into sugar and salt. Add butter and coffee with vanilla. Stir until the right consistency. Spread on cooled cake.

Granny Vick's Apricot Nectar Cake

This recipe came from my GrannyVick, who lived in Eastern North Carolina all her life. I only saw her a handful of times in my life, because we lived in Northern California. When we visited she would always cook up lemon pies, fried chicken, fried dried apple pies(recipe to come later) and this cake. The food was always good, but different than what I was used to eating at home.
Use a tube, or angel food cake pan.

1 yellow cake mix
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
3/4 cup apricot nectar
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Mix all together (I use a mixer) and pour into a well greased tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, then carefully remove cake from the pan.

For Glaze: Combine 3 Tablespoons lemon juice, 1-1/2 cup powdered sugar

Pour over hot cake. It helps to poke a few tiny holes in the cake so the glaze can soak down into the cake.