A reader submitted her grandmother's beloved but sketchy layer cake recipe to our ongoing series, lamenting that whenever she tried to make it, it never rose properly. AJC food columnist and recipe tester Deborah Geering, who also bakes custom cakes on the side, accepted the challenge and, with just a little experimentation produced a slightly updated version of the cake with easy-to-follow instructions that would do the creator proud.

The contributor: Pam Collins of Smyrna, and her 22-year-old daughter, Leeann Schultz, a student at Baylor University. Collins is a mother of three who works in a dress shop, and is married to Charles Collins, who recently retired after 26 years as the chaplain for the Atlanta Braves.

LOUIE FAVORITE/AJC (ENLARGE)

Granny's Mocha Layer Cake has been reborn with a little fiddling and a dose of butter.

Family photo (ENLARGE)

Mineola Dabney Black, shown as a young woman in her native Texas, is remembered for her chocolate cake and her handmade Christmas stockings.

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"My daughter Leeann, who wanted a professional mixer for Christmas when she was 16 and now makes the desserts for everything, has always wanted to make this cake," Collins told us. "I also want my little nieces and nephews to know about it."

The story: "My grandmother Mineola Dabney Black was born in Texas and lived most of her life there. She will be remembered by our family for many things. Most memorable were her Christmas stockings and her chocolate cake.

"Granny worked all year on the beautiful handmade stockings. Each stocking has a four-inch sequined tree in the center and different sequined motifs of Santas, bells, angels, cats, dogs, etc., on them. No two are exactly alike. Granny made a stocking for each of her grandchildren and even her great-grandchildren. They hang each Christmas on the mantel of my parents' [Stan and Nancy Black's] home.

"At Christmas, she would also make fudge and divinity. But she baked that cake for everything — birthdays and every family get-together. Although her son, my dad, prefers his with a dollop of peanut butter on top, the rest of us like it plain. We do not know where she acquired the recipe. She has baked the cake wherever we lived: Virginia, New Mexico, California, Maryland and eventually in Georgia.

"Having always made box cakes, I never paid much attention to Granny's telling me that she needed to adjust the cake depending on the altitude of where we were living. Whenever I make it now, even though it tastes like Granny's, the jeers of my siblings over my cake that would not rise is a reminder of my failure to pay attention!

"It would be a privilege to honor the memory of my grandmother — as I carry on the tradition of making the stockings — by baking her beautiful and delicious cake as well."

Granny's Mocha Layer Cake
12 servings

Hands on: 30 minutes
Total time: 2 1/2 hours, including baking and cooling

We don't know exactly how Mineola Black made her three-layer cake, but we took her ingredients (substituting butter for the Crisco and oleo) and came up with a method that works.

For the cake:
1 cup hot coffee
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch salt
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the mocha frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 to 5 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup coffee
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

To prepare the cake: In a small bowl, combine hot coffee and cocoa, stirring until smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Grease and flour three 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans (or grease, line the bottoms with parchment paper, and grease again). Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff but not dry; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft. Beat in the sugar until creamy. Beat in the yolks, one at a time, scraping down the sides between additions. Beat in the vanilla. Mix in 1/2 the cooled coffee and cocoa mixture, then gently mix in 1/2 the flour mixture. Repeat with the remaining coffee and flour mixtures. Fold in the egg whites until just blended. Divide the batter among the three cake pans, smoothing the tops. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cakes spring back when lightly touched and have just begun to pull away from the sides. Cool in the pans for 15 minutes on wire racks, then invert the cakes onto the racks and cool completely.

To prepare the frosting: In a mixing bowl, cream the butter until soft. Beat in 4 cups confectioners' sugar and cocoa until creamy. With the mixer running, beat in the coffee and vanilla extract. If mixture is too thin, beat in remaining 1 cup confectioners' sugar, mixing on high to incorporate well. Frost the cake when cooled.

Per serving: 641 calories (percent of calories from fat, 40), 6 grams protein, 93 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 30 grams fat (18 grams saturated), 143 milligrams cholesterol, 146 milligrams sodium.