blog postings for chocolate

This past weekend I made, hands down, the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. The family agreed. It was a real triumph for me because I have a hard time making plain, simple food. It’s not that I like things complicated and fussy, but I do like them interesting. My daughter’s battle cry is, “please Mom no green stuff in it.” Which means no fresh parsley or basil, and only cilantro in select cases, such as guacamole. But back to the cake. I decided to make a plain classic chocolate layer cake (sans the chocolate ganache or mousse or whatever) because a) it was my son’s first communion and that’s what he requested and b) my Dad was in town and is crazy for chocolate, and not much else. The recipe came from a book I plan to use often—Debra Ponzek’s the Family Kitchen. Everything just looks so tasty and sounds so appealing and straightforward. Here’s the recipe. Oh, a caveat, the procedure is a bit unorthodox for a cake, it’s more like a biscuit procedure, but it worked like a charm, and who knows may be the key to its success. I used a bit less sugar in the frosting, so use 4 cups if you like a super sweet frosting.

Great Aunt Lotties’s Homestyle Chocolate Cake

2 ¼     cups all-purpose flour
1/1/2     cups sugar
4 ½     tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/1/2     teaspoons baking powder
¼     teaspoon salt
¼     cup Crisco
4     tablespoons butter, softened
1 ½     teaspoons baking soda
1 ½     cups strong, hot brewed coffee
2     large eggs,
1 ½     teaspoons vanilla

Homestyle Chocolate Frosting
1     cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3     cups powdered sugar
8     ounces cream cheese, softened
1     teaspoon vanilla
1     tablespoon milk

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 8 or 9-inch cake pans. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add the shortening and butter and with the mixer on low speed, mix until the mixture has the consistency of cornmeal (yes, it really does).

2. In a large glass bowl, stir the baking soda into the coffee. This will foam. Increase the mixer’s speed to medium and add the coffee to the batter. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.

3. Divide batter evenly between cake pans. Bake for about 25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Frost.

4. To prepare frosting, beat cream cheese on medium speed until creamy. Add cocoa and sugar, mix well. Add vanilla and milk, if frosting is too thick. Chill frosting until ready to use. I stored the cake (for all of the 12 hours it lasted) in the refrigerator.