Stan’s Birthday Chocolate Cake

Stan was my grandpa. He and my oldest child only met a couple of times, but my son, being fascinated with history, has learned everything he can about Stan’s WWII service. This cake recipe is the one my grandma would make him every year. My aunts might be able to fill in the lore here, but I sort of remember hearing that she tried recipe after recipe until she found one he liked, and this was it. This year, my teen requested it for his birthday. We made it a little less wartime by using butter and doubling the chocolate (so I guess it’s actually not the same cake at all but, you know, “inspired by”, whatever). He’d seen some geode cakes online and wanted it to look like an amethyst. Makes me want to take him rockhounding...