(no subject)
Jan. 28th, 2012 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickMrs. Weaver's Chocolate Cake. Reposted from the old homepage.
In my world, there is one true cake. All other cakes are pale imitations of the one true cake. Inexplicably, people like Duncan and Betty fail to provide a mix for this cake, so it has to be made from scratch. So that this knowledge does not perish from the earth due to my childlessness and the failure of my brothers to bake, here are complete instructions for the one true cake. Bake, and be blessed.
The recipe for this cake hails from the inspired, sainted, and undoubtedly-dead-by-now Mrs. Weaver. What I know about her is limited to a name on a recipe card and two facts. First, Mrs. Weaver was the wife of a Methodist minister who taught a class for newly married people (including my grandparents) in Altoona, PA, between 1936 and 1938. Second, she made a mean chocolate cake, a fact discovered by my grandmother when said cake was served at one of the classes for newly-marrieds. My grandmother got the recipe for the one true cake from Mrs. Weaver.
Mrs. Weaver's Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
The chocolate sauce:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cocoa powder
The base:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (one stick) butter
1 t. vanilla
Three egg yolks (save whites for icing, below)
The dry ingredients AND buttermilk:
2 cups flour
1/4 t. salt
1 t. baking SODA (NOT baking powder. Baking SODA)
1 cup buttermilk
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine ingredients for 'chocolate sauce' portion of the program in a small saucepan. Stir it, mashing the cocoa lumps on the sides of the pan, and bring it to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat to cool off. It forms a crust on top, sometimes. This is okay, just stir it down into the rest of the chocolate glop and it'll be fine.
Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla for the base together in a large mixing bowl until white and sort of fluffy.
Then, add the egg yolks to the mixing bowl and mix but do not overbeat.
Drizzle the COOLED chocolate sauce into the mixing bowl while beating slowly. It must be cooled off before you add it or it will cook the egg yolks.
Combine and sift the dry parts of the dry ingredients. Do not attempt to sift buttermilk!
Add 1/2 dry ingredients to mixing bowl. Mix in.
Add 1/2 buttermilk to mixing bowl. Mix in.
Add the other half of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl. Mix in.
Add the rest of the buttermilk to the mixing bowl. Mix in.
You should have a fairly thick cake batter. It will not pour well. It sort of glops. It is not all runny like box cake mix. Don't worry. This is normal.
Divide cake batter into two greased-n-floured layer cake pans or put it in ONE 9" x 13" cake pan. Bake in oven at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes. (I use parchment paper circles for the bottoms of the layer cake pans and grease/flour the sides to make sure cake parts fall out easily. Baker's Magic spray will also work.)
Cake is done when... sides pull away from the edges of the pan and look slightly dry, a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, and it's lost that sort of pouffy look it gets about three minutes before it is done.
Remove your cake from the oven and allow it to cool to the touch before frosting.
Frost quickly with the one true icing (see below).
Eat. If desired, have a large glass of milk with the cake. Ice cream is really too much... trust me, you won't want it.
Icing
Ingredients:
3 egg whites (from making the cake, above)
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup white karo syrup
1/8 t. cream of tartar
DASH almond extract
Instructions:
Put ingredients (except almond and cream of tartar) in a double boiler that's boiling.
With a hand mixer, beat ingredients considerably on high speed WHILE THE FROSTING IS COOKING. When it turns white, add the cream of tartar and a tiny bit of almond extract (it's very strong, go easy on it). Do not stop beating frosting. You have to keep beating it continuously or it will cook too much on the bottom and be gross.
Continue to beat frosting. Observe. When it looks like... well, more than soft peaks -- the ripples from the mixer will hold nicely after the mixer moves on, it's done. This takes just about seven minutes, which is why this is called seven minute icing. Use a timer, because seven minutes is longer than you think it is. After seven minutes, remove top part of double boiler (so that your frosting is off heat) and beat a little more if you don't think it's stiff enough yet. It should be between "soft peaks" and "firm peaks" in consistency.
Immediately frost cake. This icing IS NOT tractable when it has cooled. You have to frost right away. Once it cools, it kind of sets up and can't be messed with as much. For a two layer cake, put about a third of the available frosting in between the layers and smooth it out, use the other 2/3 to frost the outside of the cake.
After you've frosted, pour the was-boiling water from *bottom* of double boiler into the top half of the double boiler, the part that HAD held the icing. The very hot water will help you clean out the pan.
This frosting is similar, but a bit nicer, than official seven minute cooked icing, which you can find directions for in your Joy of Cooking. As an added bonus, it's fat free. :) It does take some practice to get the knack of it, though, so don't freak if your first effort isn't all that. You'll get the hang of it eventually.
Best of luck!
In my world, there is one true cake. All other cakes are pale imitations of the one true cake. Inexplicably, people like Duncan and Betty fail to provide a mix for this cake, so it has to be made from scratch. So that this knowledge does not perish from the earth due to my childlessness and the failure of my brothers to bake, here are complete instructions for the one true cake. Bake, and be blessed.
The recipe for this cake hails from the inspired, sainted, and undoubtedly-dead-by-now Mrs. Weaver. What I know about her is limited to a name on a recipe card and two facts. First, Mrs. Weaver was the wife of a Methodist minister who taught a class for newly married people (including my grandparents) in Altoona, PA, between 1936 and 1938. Second, she made a mean chocolate cake, a fact discovered by my grandmother when said cake was served at one of the classes for newly-marrieds. My grandmother got the recipe for the one true cake from Mrs. Weaver.
Mrs. Weaver's Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
The chocolate sauce:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cocoa powder
The base:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (one stick) butter
1 t. vanilla
Three egg yolks (save whites for icing, below)
The dry ingredients AND buttermilk:
2 cups flour
1/4 t. salt
1 t. baking SODA (NOT baking powder. Baking SODA)
1 cup buttermilk
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine ingredients for 'chocolate sauce' portion of the program in a small saucepan. Stir it, mashing the cocoa lumps on the sides of the pan, and bring it to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat to cool off. It forms a crust on top, sometimes. This is okay, just stir it down into the rest of the chocolate glop and it'll be fine.
Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla for the base together in a large mixing bowl until white and sort of fluffy.
Then, add the egg yolks to the mixing bowl and mix but do not overbeat.
Drizzle the COOLED chocolate sauce into the mixing bowl while beating slowly. It must be cooled off before you add it or it will cook the egg yolks.
Combine and sift the dry parts of the dry ingredients. Do not attempt to sift buttermilk!
Add 1/2 dry ingredients to mixing bowl. Mix in.
Add 1/2 buttermilk to mixing bowl. Mix in.
Add the other half of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl. Mix in.
Add the rest of the buttermilk to the mixing bowl. Mix in.
You should have a fairly thick cake batter. It will not pour well. It sort of glops. It is not all runny like box cake mix. Don't worry. This is normal.
Divide cake batter into two greased-n-floured layer cake pans or put it in ONE 9" x 13" cake pan. Bake in oven at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes. (I use parchment paper circles for the bottoms of the layer cake pans and grease/flour the sides to make sure cake parts fall out easily. Baker's Magic spray will also work.)
Cake is done when... sides pull away from the edges of the pan and look slightly dry, a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, and it's lost that sort of pouffy look it gets about three minutes before it is done.
Remove your cake from the oven and allow it to cool to the touch before frosting.
Frost quickly with the one true icing (see below).
Eat. If desired, have a large glass of milk with the cake. Ice cream is really too much... trust me, you won't want it.
Icing
Ingredients:
3 egg whites (from making the cake, above)
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup white karo syrup
1/8 t. cream of tartar
DASH almond extract
Instructions:
Put ingredients (except almond and cream of tartar) in a double boiler that's boiling.
With a hand mixer, beat ingredients considerably on high speed WHILE THE FROSTING IS COOKING. When it turns white, add the cream of tartar and a tiny bit of almond extract (it's very strong, go easy on it). Do not stop beating frosting. You have to keep beating it continuously or it will cook too much on the bottom and be gross.
Continue to beat frosting. Observe. When it looks like... well, more than soft peaks -- the ripples from the mixer will hold nicely after the mixer moves on, it's done. This takes just about seven minutes, which is why this is called seven minute icing. Use a timer, because seven minutes is longer than you think it is. After seven minutes, remove top part of double boiler (so that your frosting is off heat) and beat a little more if you don't think it's stiff enough yet. It should be between "soft peaks" and "firm peaks" in consistency.
Immediately frost cake. This icing IS NOT tractable when it has cooled. You have to frost right away. Once it cools, it kind of sets up and can't be messed with as much. For a two layer cake, put about a third of the available frosting in between the layers and smooth it out, use the other 2/3 to frost the outside of the cake.
After you've frosted, pour the was-boiling water from *bottom* of double boiler into the top half of the double boiler, the part that HAD held the icing. The very hot water will help you clean out the pan.
This frosting is similar, but a bit nicer, than official seven minute cooked icing, which you can find directions for in your Joy of Cooking. As an added bonus, it's fat free. :) It does take some practice to get the knack of it, though, so don't freak if your first effort isn't all that. You'll get the hang of it eventually.
Best of luck!
