Twelve Layer Torte

1 1/2 cups cooking oil
3 cups sugar
9 whole eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk
4 1/2 cups self-rising flour
3 Tbsp. vanilla

Prepare three shallow, oblong pans (10 3/4" x 7") or 9" round pans.  Mix ingredients well.  Each layer gets 3/4 cup of batter.  Bake at 320 degrees for no more than 12 minutes.  If you bake for more than 12 minutes, it will be hard as a rock.  Continue with remaining batter.  When the first three pans go in the oven, start the icing.  By the time the cakes are out and cool to handle, the icing has boiled enough. 

Chocolate Icing

3 cups sugar

9 heaping Tbsp. cocoa in enough warm water to make a paste
1 1/2 cans evaporated milk (total of 18 oz.)
1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)

Put sugar in saucepan.  Add cocoa paste.  Add milk, a little at a time.  Add butter.  Stir and cook until it comes to a rolling boil.  Cool and use to fill and frost torte.  The finished cake is about 9 inches tall--about equal to a large four-layer cake.

This is a traditional Southern recipe.  Florida Smith is a friend from Madison who was in the Kairos Prison Ministry with me.  She knows a lady who makes these cakes to sell.  I don't think you could pay me enough to make this cake more than once a year.  Every once in a while Florida shows up with one of these delicious tortes at a Kairos team meeting, much to everyone's delight.