MOM'S CHOCOLATE INTRIGUE CAKE

Steps:

• I think you could use store-bought chocolate syrup in this recipe, but the syrup made in the original recipe is not as thick, so store-bought might change the outcome of the cake.
• Place the ingredients for the chocolate syrup in a saucepan on the stove and cook over medium high until it reaches a syrupy consistency. Pour into a chilled bowl and place in fridge to cool quickly.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a tube pan with removable bottom. Mine has a fairly large center hole of about 4 inches.
• Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each.
• Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Pour milk into the measuring cup and add vanilla.
• Add the dry ingredients and the milk to the cake a little at a time, alternating between the two.
• Stir the baking soda into the chocolate syrup.
• Pour 2/3 of the batter into the prepared tube pan, smoothing out the top.
• Mix the syrup into the remaining batter and spread this batter on top of the other batter, again smoothing the top.
• Bake for 45 minutes. Then place aluminum foil over the pan and bake an additional 20-25 more minutes or until done.
• We usually serve this cake without frosting, but for birthdays, I would add my Italian Chocolate Frosting.
• When sliced, the chocolate should have moved down to form a circle in the middle of the cake that the kids say looks like a person's head and shoulders. They get a kick out of the slightly different shape each time the cake is baked.