I think it’s safe to say I have officially crossed the line. When you place your mother’s most-despised nickname in the title of your post, I think big trouble is a reasonable expectation.
My mother, Susan, very strongly dislikes to be referred to as Susie. This in itself is 9/10ths of the reason we call her Susie as much as possible. The only person who can really get away with calling my mother Susie is her mother. I love to hear Grandma call my mom Susie – it’s just so cute when Grandma says “Susie”, and it brings to mind images of my mom running around when she was a little girl.
As for Grandma calling Mom Susie, she a), probably doesn’t know Mom doesn’t like the nickname and b), probably won’t stop when she finds out because it is what she has always done. When it comes to calling their daughters by name, moms can pretty much use whatever name they want. Like Suzy, my mom is probably referring to me by a phrase that also includes a different four-letter word that begins with the letter “s” (i.e. that little sh!t) right now.
But I had to bake something to honor Mom on her birthday. I had absolutely no idea what to bake until my sister reminded me, “the woman loves anything chocolate.” So I baked a chocolate devil’s food cake and turned it into the popular Hostess snack cake, Suzy Q’s.
The recipe was interesting because it called for whisking together all of the dry ingredients, sugar included, and adding them to the wet ingredients and softened butter. I’m so accustomed to creaming the butter and sugar, then adding in the wet and dry ingredients, that the instructions gave me pause. But I followed them as written, and the cake turned out great. Not only did it taste great, it made my home smell like warm, rich, divine, comforting chocolate for hours.
What is the difference between a devil’s food cake and a regular chocolate cake? Airiness is a feature of devil’s food, so be sure to beat the batter on high speed as instructed. For all intents and purposes, devil’s food cake is a chocolate angel food cake, so get that batter light and fluffy.
You really can’t go wrong with Suzy Q’s. Not only does it make a tasty cake, it also makes for a catchy tune. The song says it best, “Oh , Suzy Q, I love you.” Happy Birthday Mom!
- 1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅔ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter
- Filling
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter
- 1¼ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1¼ cups marshmallow fluff
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and baking soda in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the milk, eggs and softened butter.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until combined.
- Increase speed to high and beat for three minutes until the batter is smooth and increased in volume.
- Pour the dough into a greased 9 x 13 cake pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- While the cake cools, make the filling.
- Beat together the butter, confectioners’ sugar, marshmallow fluff and vanilla at high speed until light and fluffy.
- Cut the cooled cake into rectangles of desired size.
- Spread filling over half of the rectangles and cover with the remaining rectangles.
Huh. I never knew the difference between chocolate cake & devil’s food.
They look delicious!
I started to wonder about the differences when the Devil’s Food cake recipe reminded me of the Mississippi Mud cake recipe. I also learned some chocolate cake recipes were named differently depending on whether the recipe called for cocoa powder or melted chocolate. That’s the extent of my knowledge though.
Yes, you little sh-t! Thanks so much for thinking of me and anything chocolate, the cake sounds delicious.
I’ll make it next week and wish we could be together to
have a piece. Love ya forever, Mom
Happy Birthday SUSAN!
I don’t see this recipe on your Pinterest Page. Can you please tell me which section I would find it in?
Thank you,
Anne-Marie
Hi Annie-Marie,
I never pinned it! I tend to neglect my own recipes when I am pinning. On Pinterest, you should be able to pin by the Add + feature at the top right. After you click on that, choose Add a Pin and enter the URL for this post: http://www.loveandflour.com/cakes/suzy-q%E2%80%99s-for-susie-k. By doing it this way, you can even choose what picture you like best to pin.
Please let me know if you encounter any problems.
Awesome article… I am in ‘mourning’ over the closing of Hostess and someone linked me to this article. Superb.
Would you mind sharing, how you manage to ‘spread’ Marshmallow Fluff without destroying the cake?
My experiences with ‘spreading’ Marshmallow Fluff have not been good.
Hi Dani,
It has been a while, so I can’t say for sure. What I do remember is getting the Marshmallow Fluff full of air. Then you can kind of just dollop it on the cake and sandwich it into a layer. Back in August I made Blue Moon Cupcakes with a marshmallow-type topping. I definitely did not try to spread that frosting; I simply spooned it on top. About a year before those cupcakes, I baked a Mississippi Mud variety. I topped those with Marshmallow Fluff from the jar, and it started to run after a short while. If you want to see pictures of what I am talking about, a simple search for those cupcake names should bring up the posts. If you need the specific links, or have any more questions, feel free to let me know. Thanks for stopping by!
Here’s an idea, take the filling and put it in a zip lock freezer bag then cut a small slit in the corner and squeeze it out on the cake. This way you are never really touching the cake with anything that would tear the cake.. hope this works im going to try it tonight..
I can’t wait to try this recipe. I have a different recipe for the filling that I want to try. I found it on a copycat recipe website as a filling for twinkles. I stopped buying the Suzy Q’s because the cake is not the same as the one I had when I was a girl. Thanks for posting.
The twinkie filling recipe sounds like a great idea. I recently made a filling for a twinkie bundt cake that called for 1 stick of butter, 1 – 7 ounce jar of marshmallow creme, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Just FYI in case you need a variation.
My man is mourning the loss of Hostess, even w the idea of them selling the recipes, it doesn’t include his favorite, the SuzyQs. With his birthday coming up, I think u just helped me come up w the perfect cake. Thanks!!!! A lot!!!
You are welcome. I hope you both like them!
Does this need refrigerated? I was thinking of making it on Sunday, but not eating it until Monday.
Hi Julie,
I think you will be fine leaving it out for one day. However, if you could make the cake and the filling on Sunday and then wait to assemble the Suzy Q’s on Monday, that is what I would recommend. That way you can refrigerate the filling. It will stiffen up in the refrigerator, so you will have to wait a bit until it is spreadable. That might defeat the purpose you were aiming for, but I’m trying to think about all possible scenarios here.