“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
I have been blogging for two years now. Seems like just yesterday. I started my blog to promote my book, Expat Alien. I didn’t know what I was doing or if anybody would even read it. What I found was a whole new world. There are millions of bloggers out there. I had no idea. People blog about everything. Some blog a lot, some not so much.
To mark the occasion I though I might find one of Julia Child’s cake recipes. It seemed appropriate since she was an expat. However her recipes tend to be three and four pages long and that is a lot of work. So here is my favorite chocolate cake recipe that I have made a million times. It comes from the Joy of Cooking 1975 edition.
And keep on blogging!
Cocoa Devil’s Food Cake
Two 9-inch round pans
Pre heat oven to 375 degrees F
Combine, beat until well blended, and set aside:
1 cup sugar
½ cup cocoa
½ cup buttermilk or yogurt
Beat until soft
½ cup butter
Add gradually and cream until light:
1 cup sifted sugar
Beat in, one at a time:
2 eggs
Beat in cocoa mixture.
Sift before measuring:
2 cups cake flour
Resift with:
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
Add the flour in 3 parts to the butter mixture, alternately with:
½ cup buttermilk or yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
Beat batter after each addition just until smooth.
Grease the pans and cook for 35 minutes in a 375 degree F oven.
When cooled, spread the cake with your favorite icing.
I had a craving for chocolate and how better to satisfy a chocolate craving than with a flourless chocolate cake? No better way. This recipe is courtesy of Whole Foods Market.
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips or bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
1 cup butter
1 ¼ cups sugar
6 eggs
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon honey
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 9-in springform pan and line bottom with parchment paper. Butter the paper and set pan aside.
Melt 8 oz chocolate and 1 cup butter in a medium saucepan stirring often. Remove from heat and transfer to large bowl. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Sift cocoa into bowl and stir until just blended.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes, or until cake has risen and top has formed a thin crust. The cake should be just firm in the center when done. Cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a plate, removing sides of springform pan. Remove and discard parchment paper and set cake aside to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the chocolate glaze. Melt remaining 4 oz chocolate and 3 Tbsp butter in a small saucepan (I used the same pan). Remove from heat, then stir in milk, honey and vanilla. Set aside to cool slightly.
When cake has cooled, pour glaze onto the center. Using a spatula or the back of a spoon, very gently smooth glaze along the top and sides of the cake. Chill cake, uncovered for 30-60 minutes before serving to set the glaze and make the cake easier to slice. It is good both warm and cold. It becomes kind of like fudge after refrigerated.
My brother’s favorite cookie was always the Mexican Wedding Cake. They really aren’t Mexican or cake. They are also known as Russian Tea Cakes. Or by several other names around the world. We always made them with walnuts but I have seen them made with pecans and other nuts as well. They are cookies and they are good!!
Mexican Wedding Cakes
Finely chop 3/4 cup walnuts.
Mix:
1 cup soft butter
1/2 cup sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Sift together and stir in:
2 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
Mix in:
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
Chill dough
Roll into 1 inch balls
Place 2 inches apart on un-greased baking sheet
Bake 10-12 minutes
Cook till set – lightly brown on the bottom
While still warm carefully roll in powdered sugar.
I ran out of time this week and didn’t manage my usual wonders in the kitchen. But I did run across an interesting cookbook:
The Victory Binding of the American Woman’s Cook Book
Wartime Edition
Edited by Ruth Berolzheimer, 1944
There is a handwritten note in the inside that says:
War – 1942
Will He come back to marry me?
Marlene Anne
1944
I love this photo: The Machine Beats Time As Well As Batter While You Supply The Brain That Makes The Cake.
Blitz Torte
½ cup shortening
½ cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
4 egg yolks, beaten light
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp milk
1 cup sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 egg whites
¾ cup sugar
½ cup sliced blanched almonds
1 tbsp sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
Cream shortening; beat in sugar and salt, then egg yolks, vanilla, milk and flour (sifted with baking powder). Spread mixture in 2 round greased cake pans. Beat egg whites until very light, add ¾ cup sugar gradually and spread on the un-baked mixture in both pans. Sprinkle with almonds, 1 tbsp sugar and cinnamon and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F) about 30 minutes. Let cool and put together with cream filling. Makes 1 (9-inch) 2 layer cake.
Cream Filling:
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
2 egg yolks
2 tbsps butter
2 cups milk, scalded
1 tsp vanilla
Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and egg yolks; beat thoroughly. Add butter and enough milk to make a smooth paste. Add paste to remaining hot milk and cook over boiling water, stirring constantly until mixture is thickened. Cool and add vanilla. If desired add ½ cup chopped nut meats.
This cake is a specialty of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The area is famous for the pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Santiago translates to English as James and the story is that St. James’s remains were carried by boat from Jerusalem to northern Spain where he was buried on the site of what is now the city of Santiago de Compostela. There are several routes you can take to Compostela and they were heavily traveled in the Middle Ages. Today people travel from all over the world to walk the route and it has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Sword of St James
This is a flourless almond cake named after St James. It is usually topped with the symbol of the sword of St James. Although crosses are also appropriate.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 ¼ cups finely ground almonds
Separate 4 eggs into 2 large bowls.
Beat yolks, gradually incorporating ¾ cup sugar.
Fold in 2 ¼ cups finely ground almonds.
Whisk egg whites until foamy
Gradually beat in ¼ cup sugar and continue to beat until stiff
Stir 1/3 of egg whites into almond mixture, then carfully fold in remaining egg whites in 2 batches.
Pour batter into buttered 9-inch cake pan and bake until done – about 30-35 minutes
I inherited a cookbook from my grandmother. The cover is gone so I don’t know what it looked like but the date is 1922. The Preface states:
“Organized into a working body, the Mother’s Congress of Mount Ayr, presents Mothers who are studying and working for the betterment of Child Welfare.
In its interests financially, this little book is published and sent out by them.”
Followed by:
“We may live without poetry, music and art.
We may live without conscience and live without heart;
We may live without friends, we may live without books;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks. —- Merideth.”
It starts out with 12 points on how to set a table. Numbers 11 and 12:
11. Place carving set in front of host, or put carving knife and gravy ladle at his right, and fork at his left.
12. Place coffee cups and coffee pot at right of hostess.
The recipes don’t mention oven temperature other than “moderate oven” or “quick oven” and many of them don’t mention how long anything should cook. Here are a few samples.
Norwegian Stew. – Brown in a large kettle 1 c. lard and butter mixed, 25-cent round steak cut in small pieces, flour thoroughly and stir into the browned lard, continue stirring until meat is brown. Then add 1 c. flour stirring constantly, set on back of stove and add 2 qts. Boiling water, salt and pepper and let simmer 2 hrs, ½ hr. before serving add enough potatoes of medium size for the meal, stir occasionally as it will stick to kettle. — J.A.W.
Molasses Cake. 1 cup molasses, ½ c. sugar, ½ c. butter or lard, ½ tsp each cloves, ginger, cinnamon; 1 tsp. soda in 1 c. boiling water, 2 eggs, well beaten; last, flour to stiffen. –Mrs. Holman.
And my grandmother’s contribution:
Green Tomato Relish. – 5 lbs. green tomatoes, 6 large onions, 3 c. brown sugar, 3 c. red peppers, 3 green peppers, 1 tbsp. each of powdered cloves, all spice, celery seed, dry mustard, ½ c. salt, 8 c. vinegar. Peel and slice tomatoes and onions very thin. Remove seeds from peppers and chop very fine. To these add the other ingredients and cook over a moderate fire ½ hr., stirring frequently. Cover with paraffin. – Mrs. Liggett.
Household hints:
Rub the feet every night and morning with bay rum and witch hazel, equal parts, for frost bits.
Turpentine and lard rubbed on throat and chest will often relieve pain from cold.
To carry a mattress without breaking your fingernails (also back) use a broom underneath as a saddle and see how much easier it is.
Use a tbsp. of kerosene to wash windows. It not only cuts the dirt but is distrastful to flies
I’m not sure what “distrastful” is. Maybe a typo. But you get the idea.
The book ends with a poem.
Receipt for a Happy Day
Take a little dash of cold water,
A little leaven of prayer,
A little bit of sunshine gold,
Dissolved in the morning air.
Add to your meal some merriment,
Add thought for kith and kin,
And the, as a prime ingredient
A plenty of work thrown in.
Flavor it all with essence of love,
And a dash of play.
Let the dear old book and a glance above,
Complete the well spent day.
–Mrs. Smith
Whatever your recipe is, I hope you have a happy day!!
One of my cousins put together a family cookbook. It is full of people reminiscing about Grandmother’s cooking, and great recipes down through the generations. My aunts were awesome cooks as well. The funny thing about this cookbook is that there is not one but FOUR recipes for Indian Cake. And I don’t even remember anybody ever serving it to me.
My father summarizes best what everybody else says about my grandmother and her baking:
“All of our family remembers how Mary could tell when the temperature was right in the oven to bake a cake, pie or bread. This was long before gas or electric stoves were known on the farm and our kitchen stove was either wood or coal fired and the oven didn’t have a temperature gauge.
She would get the fire going and after a while she would open the oven door and put her hand in the oven. After a few “hand” tests she would say it was ready, and put in her goods to be baked. They always came out perfectly.”
This is my grandmother’s version of the cake.
Indian Cake
2 cups sugar
½ cup shortening
¼ cup cocoa powder
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup cold coffee
2 eggs
1 cup hot water
Blend sugar and shortening. Add ingredients in order given, adding hot water last. Pour into a greased 9”X 9” pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour. Check it at 45 mins – these recipes always say “bake until done”. So the first time, you need to keep an eye out.
