The most amazing brownie chocolate cake ever (my mom's)

Today, my sister Lisa made my mom's brownie chocolate cake for her son Nathan's birthday.  Nathan loves this cake so much, he requested it to be his groom's cake at his recent wedding.  And he's not alone.  This cake....amazingly moist, delicious, filled with chocolatey goodness...is a family favorite.

My mom got this recipe years ago from her friend Sandra Griffin.  Early on, my mom added mini-marshmallows to the mix and it just stuck.  If you want to try this option, spread the marshmallows directly on the cake right out of the oven, then spread the icing on them.

There's one problem with this recipe.  A 9 X 13 pan only works if you don't pour all of the cake batter in it, because the full cake batter won't cook completely otherwise.  Since my sister has the only pan my mom ever made this cake in, I have to use a 9 X 13 and just pour in less batter. (So far, I haven't been able to find a pan with these dimensions...more  square than a 9 X 13 but way bigger than an 8 X 8.  Let me know if you know where I can get one!)

An alternative is baking it in a jelly roll pan....in which case the pieces will be thinner and more like Texas Sheet Cake.

Here's the recipe, written in my mom's own hand.  The smudges on the page are testament to how much this recipe is loved!