My mom’s words:

• 1 cake mix, choc. or fudge generic is okay
• 1 can cherry pie filling (usually found in baking section somewhere)
• 1 tsp. almond extract (KEY INGRED.)
• 2 beaten eggs.

Break eggs into bowl, beat with fork, then add the cake mix and the pie filling. It will look too dry, but don’t worry about it. Stir in almond flavoring just before you pour it into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake @ 350 for 35 - 40 min. You will know it’s done when the edges just barely start to pull away from the pan. Don’t overbake–will seem a little soft in the middle.

WHILE CAKE IS BAKING: Put these things in a saucepan turned on very low so they will start to melt together.

• 1 cup sugar
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• (and later you will add 6 oz choc. chips and 1/2 tsp almond flavoring)

When you take the cake out of the oven, turn the saucepan up to “high” and stir the stuff constantly until it boils. Boil and stir for one minute, then turn off the burner. Put in the choc. chips and stir FAST until they are all melted and it looks smooth. Then put in the almond flavor, give a last stir and pour over the hot cake. Rubber spatula will get all the choc. out of the saucepan.

IMPORTANT: unlike most cakes where you mess with the icing until it looks right, you just pour this one on covering all the bare spots and leave it alone. Because it is a liquid that is going to get a hard shell as soon as it is exposed to air, it will get a shiny crust that will crinkle if you start to use a spatula on it. Just experiment with it–you can’t make a mistake ‘cause it’s chocolate and people will eat it even if you have to scrape it out and put it into pudding bowls!