When I turned three, I knew it was time for a new order in the house. I informed my parents in no uncertain terms that I was done sleeping in the crib for babies and ready for the big kid bed. And for my birthday party, I told my mom I didn't want brown cake. Brown cake is boring, I explained (you have to explain everything to grown-ups). I wanted something with as much pizzazz and personality as I had. I wanted pink cake.
Mom agreed, but with one condition: while the cake would be pink, the frosting would still be brown because she “didn't know how to make any other kind.” Wise woman that she was (and is), it never occurred to her to buy white canned frosting and add a few drops of red food coloring. I acquiesced, and at my birthday party my friends and I happily gorged ourselves on decidedly unboring homemade-from-scratch pink cake.
I'm sure my pink cake was delicious (especially if my frosting-smeared chops and not-so-subtle staring in the cake's direction are any indication), though I confess I do not remember what it tasted like. That could be due to the fact that since that one errant year, practically every other birthday in my family has been celebrated with the classic brown cake, which eventually took on the grown-up, multisyllabic title of “chocolate.” Maybe in my old age I've lost track of my exciting, colorful, three-year-old self and become boring. But what can I say – at heart, I'm less interested in trendsetting than tradition. And chocolate.Though I must say, after all these years of the same chocolate cake, I am anything but bored - quite the contrary. My mom first clipped the recipe out of a magazine years ago and pasted it into a book filled with empty pages titled My Favorite Recipes.* I'm not sure I remember ever making any of the other recipes pasted into this book, but the cake is a perennial favorite indeed. It never feels like it's really a birthday until that moist, rich, dense, impossibly fantastic cake is served. If eating this cake is boring, I want to be bored for the rest of my life.
Ever the helpful child, I assisted my mom in baking birthday cakes for years. Then, when I was maybe 14 or 15, a serendipitous snow day kept me home from school on my mom's birthday. I seized the opportunity to make the cake all by myself as a surprise for my mom, and didn't call her for help even when I had doubts about the recipe.** When the cake was done, I hid it in the microwave and then carefully washed all the bowls and pans and tucked them back in the cupboard before she got home. All through dinner I couldn't wait for dessert (actually, that sounds like most of my dinners...), and when it finally came, I proudly carried my cake out to the table for a perfect birthday present.
These days, it's no surprise that when I'm home I'll be the one to bake the cake, but I hope the gesture is just as meaningful. So thanks, Mom, for teaching me to bake, for clipping that magazine cake recipe so many years ago, for supporting me when I go off in my own directions, and for not saying “I told you so” when I see that maybe, just maybe, you had it right in the first place.
Oh, and happy birthday!
*Coincidentally, my roommate of three years Kate's mom Theresa clipped the same recipe out of the same magazine for her (Theresa's) 16th birthday cake – clearly, Kate and I were meant to be long before we ever met each other.
**The recipe called for two cake pans, whereas we had always used three - quite the dilemma! I decided the solution was to make half again as much batter. Turns out my mom always used three pans because she'd had the batter overflow when only using two. But I'm pleased to say I averted cake spillage disaster and, in my first attempt, baked a perfect, enormous cake.
Chocolate Fudge Cake
I wish I could credit the magazine that originally printed the recipe from which ours is adapted, but that little detail has been lost to history over the years. Be sure you've got a tall glass of milk to chase down your slice or three of cake. Also, a word to the wise: no matter how tempting it looks, try not to stick your fingers in the frosting on the cake before it's been served – somehow, my parents knew that the dogs hadn't done it. They must have had one of those sneaky teddy bear cameras in the kitchen.
3.5 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick, or 4 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1 cup boiling water
One batch of Chocolate Fudge Frosting (recipe below)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 9-inch round cake pans. If you want to ensure a clean removal, cut a circle of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of the pan, and after greasing the pan, place in the parchment paper and grease that, too.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Set aside to cool.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar, then mix in the eggs, beating until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and cooled melted chocolate.
Set the water to boil and then stir in the dry ingredients alternately with the sour cream, beating well with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth. Once all combined, pour in the boiling water and mix well to incorporate. The batter will go from being stiff and difficult to work to quite thin - this is to be expected. Pour the batter into the cake pans and bake immediately until set (a toothpick inserted into the cake should come out clean), about 25-30 minutes. While the cake is baking, grab a rubber spatula and scrape out your chocolate bowls until your lips are smothered in chocolatey goodness.
Cool the layers on wire racks until they can easily be handled, then run a knife around the outside edge of the pan and flip upside down. Carefully jiggle the cake to help it come out cleanly. (If they don't come out cleanly, that probably means you're going to have an incredibly moist cake, so rejoice and remember that frosting can cover a multitude of sins.) Leave the un-panned layers on the racks to cool completely. When cool, frost, stick in some candles, sing a rousing version of Happy Birthday, and enjoy. Leftovers should be wrapped tightly with saran wrap and can keep a few days - if they last that long.
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick, or 4 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1 cup boiling water
One batch of Chocolate Fudge Frosting (recipe below)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 9-inch round cake pans. If you want to ensure a clean removal, cut a circle of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of the pan, and after greasing the pan, place in the parchment paper and grease that, too.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Set aside to cool.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar, then mix in the eggs, beating until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and cooled melted chocolate.
Set the water to boil and then stir in the dry ingredients alternately with the sour cream, beating well with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth. Once all combined, pour in the boiling water and mix well to incorporate. The batter will go from being stiff and difficult to work to quite thin - this is to be expected. Pour the batter into the cake pans and bake immediately until set (a toothpick inserted into the cake should come out clean), about 25-30 minutes. While the cake is baking, grab a rubber spatula and scrape out your chocolate bowls until your lips are smothered in chocolatey goodness.
Cool the layers on wire racks until they can easily be handled, then run a knife around the outside edge of the pan and flip upside down. Carefully jiggle the cake to help it come out cleanly. (If they don't come out cleanly, that probably means you're going to have an incredibly moist cake, so rejoice and remember that frosting can cover a multitude of sins.) Leave the un-panned layers on the racks to cool completely. When cool, frost, stick in some candles, sing a rousing version of Happy Birthday, and enjoy. Leftovers should be wrapped tightly with saran wrap and can keep a few days - if they last that long.
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
This super simple frosting is also super delicious on cake, on a graham cracker, or on a spoon. You have been warned.
4.5 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick, or 4 ounces) unsalted butter
1 pound powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
Melt the butter and chocolate together.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Add in the chocolate mixture and whisk until homogenous. The frosting will be loose, but it will set quickly so it's best to hold off on making the frosting until the cake layers are fully cooled and ready to be frosted. If the frosting gets too stiff to work, try mixing in a few drops of boiling water.
To frost a three-layer cake, I start by setting down the first layer on the serving platter and giving it a good layer of frosting.
Don't worry about getting the sides at this point - just cover the top. Then set down the next layer and give it a good layer of frosting, too.
Finally, put the top layer in place. Now comes the fun part: the sides. I go all the way around the cake twice, getting frosting into all the nooks and crannies between layers. I would have taken pictures, except that today I was distracted by how quickly the frosting was setting up and the fact that - for the first time ever in years and years of making this cake - I ran out and had to make extra frosting. So you'll have to imagine the cake frosted all around its sides but bald on top.
Finally, finish by spreading the last of the frosting on top. For a super smooth surface, try dipping your knife in hot water before gently scraping across the surface.
This super simple frosting is also super delicious on cake, on a graham cracker, or on a spoon. You have been warned.
4.5 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick, or 4 ounces) unsalted butter
1 pound powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
Melt the butter and chocolate together.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Add in the chocolate mixture and whisk until homogenous. The frosting will be loose, but it will set quickly so it's best to hold off on making the frosting until the cake layers are fully cooled and ready to be frosted. If the frosting gets too stiff to work, try mixing in a few drops of boiling water.
To frost a three-layer cake, I start by setting down the first layer on the serving platter and giving it a good layer of frosting.
Don't worry about getting the sides at this point - just cover the top. Then set down the next layer and give it a good layer of frosting, too.
Finally, put the top layer in place. Now comes the fun part: the sides. I go all the way around the cake twice, getting frosting into all the nooks and crannies between layers. I would have taken pictures, except that today I was distracted by how quickly the frosting was setting up and the fact that - for the first time ever in years and years of making this cake - I ran out and had to make extra frosting. So you'll have to imagine the cake frosted all around its sides but bald on top.
Finally, finish by spreading the last of the frosting on top. For a super smooth surface, try dipping your knife in hot water before gently scraping across the surface.
Stick in a candle and dig in!
2 comments:
[blush]
You're welcome.
Thanks. :-)
Thanks for making my cake, this year, and for so many years! :-)
It was either Family Circle or Woman's Day. They cost twenty-five cents, back in the middle '70s (or was it twenty-three cents?). Twenty-five cents was my self-imposed limit on the amount I could blow on something I wanted but didn't need.
Whichever one it was ran a series of articles on "the best" of classic dishes eaten in the USA. I remember they did fried chicken (which I did not try), and can't remember what else.
I, too, am glad I saved this recipe, and think it's cool that Theresa also saved it. The fact that both of us still use it, thirty-five (or more) years later, is a testament to how good it is. (Now I'm wondering if anyone else we know also uses it and we just don't know......)
:-)
I'm glad your pink cake turned out so well. One of my dad's family's favorite stories comes from the year my aunt Mary Jo begged and pleaded for a cake with purple frosting. My grandma made her cake, but when the time came to eat it, no one dared to actually eat the cake because the frosting didn't look so appetizing.
But your cake does look fabulous. Yum!!!
Post a Comment