Valentine Giveaway and Chocolate Cake

Several years ago, some friends from Philadelphia were visiting NY with their daughter and I babysat for an afternoon. Scouring the paper for something Sarah and I could do I stumbled upon New York City's annual Chocolate Convention. Sarah let me know that she was allergic to chocolate and then without skipping a beat sighed, "I wish it was a vanilla convention". Me too. We would have been dressed and out the door faster than you can say Madagascar.

While I'm not allergic to chocolate, it's not my preference. Show me a brownie and a lemon bar, and the lemon bar is mine.

But this month, as is every February, the food magazines are filled with chocolate; molten chocolate cake, fudgey brownies, chocolate ice cream, spicy hot chocolate, chocolate body paint and of course, heart shaped boxes filled with pretty little chocolates. So I'm jumping on the bandwagon. 

Chris has, at times, accused me of having 'fancy' taste in food. But really, he's just as bad as I am. Living in New York and knowing where to get good food is like knowing all the players on your favorite football team. And even though I could name several bakeries with great chocolate cake, and most likely find recipes for them, I have to say my all time favorite chocolate dessert, and the one my mother always made, is the chocolate cake recipe on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box. It is perfect and definitely not fancy.

And I have a little Valentine giveaway for you. If you leave a comment, perhaps with your favorite chocolate recipe or story, I'll put your name in a hat and on February 7th Chris will draw a winner. Whoever is picked will receive the lovely little basket from the Chelsea Market shown above, filled with three different heart shaped cookie cutters and close to a half pound each of Valhrona milk and dark chocolate bars, just in time for Valentines Day. I'll contact you for shipping details, mailing addresses in the US and Canada only please.

It makes sense to eat chocolate in February if you think about it. For one thing not much fruit is in season, and more importantly, in dealing with the winter blues, couldn't we all use a little chocolate buzz?

Hershey's Chocolate Cake, halved (for the full two layers, click on the Hershey's cocoa link above)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup + 1/4 cup + 2 tbs. all-purpose flour

1/4 cup + 2 tbs. cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. + 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. + 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour on 9" round baking pan. I like to cut out a piece of wax paper to fit in the bottom of the pan for easy removal.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt into large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes (or by hand). Stir in boiling water (batter will be very thin). Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool Completely. 

*note

some people complained their cakes dripped over their cake pans in the oven. If you're worried about this, invest in some high sided cake pans sold in professional baking shops or from Williams Sonoma.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting (halved)

1/2 stick butter or margarine

1/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/6 cup (2 tbs.+ 2 tsp.) milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating ti spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 1 cup frosting.

*note

sift the cocoa and powdered sugar into the bowl to avoid lumps like mine.

or if you want something special and low-fat.......

Maida Heatter's Fluffy White Icing (for two layers)

4 egg whites

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup plus 1 tbs. cold water

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix everything except the vanilla in the top of a large double boiler; it must have at least 8-10 cup capacity. Place over hot water on moderate heat. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed for 5 minutes until mixture stands in peaks when beaters are withdrawn. Immediately, in order to stop the cooking, transfer mixture to large bowl of electric mixer. Add vanilla. Beat at high speed until mixture is smooth and stiff. Use immediately.

Maida Heatter's Buttermilk Spice Cake

Maida Heatter didn't get her Book of Great Desserts inducted into the Cookbook Hall of Fame for nothing. While there is a time and a place for pulling recipes from the internet, when I'm looking for traditional recipes, I turn to the books. 

Maida Heatter reminds me of my grandmother and her desserts do too. Her cookbook is filled with classic recipes for devil's food cake, linzer torte, cream puffs, tea cakes, gingerbread and creme brulee as well as recipes that are very much of her generation like Irish coffee jelly, pineapple custard pudding, cream cheese and yoghurt pie, peace and plenty, caraway seed cake and Palm Beach Chocolate Tube Cake. 

Why don't we have desserts like these anymore?!

Since I got her cookbook, I've been dying to make her buttermilk spice cake. So, over the weekend I got all the ingredients together, halved the recipe and when I removed it from my toaster oven realized I had forgotten to halve the butter. Ooops. Let's just say it was very buttery.

So, still having some buttermilk, I decided to make it again this afternoon. I cut down on the sugar a little, correctly measured the butter and then forgot the lemon zest. Ai yai yai. So instead, I stirred it into the cream cheese frosting and I think I like it even better.

When Chris took a bite this evening he said it tasted just like fall. Yes it does.

Go out and vote tomorrow and then have a piece of cake!

Maida Heatter's Buttermilk Spice Cake (Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts, 1965)

To make your own buttermilk, warm 1 1/2 cups of regular (sweet) milk over low heat to room temperature (about 70 degrees). Place 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice in a 2-cup glass measuring cup. Then fill it to the 1 1/2 cup line with the room temperature milk, stir, and let stand 10 minutes. Now you have 1 1/2 cups buttermilk.

3 cups sifted cake flour (I use King Arthur cake flour)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon powdered cloves

6 ounces butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

finely grated rind of 1 lemon

Adjust rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13 X 9X 2-inch pan and dust it all lightly with fine, dry bread crumbs (I just used flour).

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Set aside. In a large bowl of electric mixer beat the butter to soften it a bit. Add the vanilla and then, gradually, both sugars and beat for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs individually, scraping the bowl as necessary with a rubber spatula and beating well after each. On lowest speed alternately add sifted dry ingredients in three additions and buttermilk in two additions, scraping the bowl with the spatula and beating only until smooth after each addition. Remove from mixer and stir in lemon rind.

Turn into pan and spread top level.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched and cake begins to come away from the sides of the pan.

Let cake cook in the pan on a rack for about 15 minutes. Cut around sides to release. Cover with a rack or a cookie sheet and invert. Remove pan. Cover with a rack and invert again to finish cooling.

*notes

I halved this recipe to make one, 9 inch round cake and it turned out great (I'm guessing you could make the full recipe and divide the batter into two 9 inch round pans for a layer cake). It baked about 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. I didn't have a mixer so I beat everything by hand and I made up a cream cheese frosting instead of the Brown Sugar icing recommended. And of course, I baked it in my toaster oven. I just kept an eye on it and after about 25 minutes of baking put a layer of foil on top to prevent burning. Also, I like to cut out a round of waxed paper to fit in the bottom of my cake pans after buttering and flouring.

Brown Sugar Icing

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 cup heavy cream

2 tbs. butter

Pinch salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

In a medium size saucepan, over moderately low heat, stir the sugar and cream to slowly dissolve the sugar, brushing down the sides occasionally with a wet brush to remove any sugar granules. Stirring constantly, slowly bring the syrup to a boil and let it boil for exactly one minute. Transfer to a small bowl of electric mixer. Add butter and stir to melt. Add salt and vanilla and beat until creamy and slightly thickened. It will still be warm. Immediately pour over the cake and, with a long, narrow metal spatula, spread to cover.

Note: Do not freeze this cake after it has been iced-the icing will become wet when thawed.