Name: Mrs. Stein's Chocolate Cake
Yield: Makes 10 to 12 servings
Ingredients: Softened unsalted butter and flour, for the pan; 1 1/2 cups whole milk; 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice; 2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour; 1 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder; 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt; 1/2 ounce (1/2 square) unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped; 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes; 1 3/4 cups superfine sugar; 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract; 3 large eggs, at room temperature, beaten; Confectioners' sugar, for garnish, optional

Mrs. Stein's Chocolate CakeQuentin Bacon

When I was gathering the recipes for this chapter, my daughters, Jennifer and Tina, reminded me of an almost ridiculously chocolate pound cake that I hadn't made in years. How I let this one slip through the cracks, I'll never know. I did some searching, and there it was, tucked away in my treasured recipe book. It was splattered with chocolate batter, a clear indication that it was a favorite that I made again and again. I received this recipe from Mrs. Stein, a Hungarian beauty who was a relative of my father-in-law, Joe Firestone. Welcome back, old friend.

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