Scratch It: Wacky Cake

Wacky Cake

from America's Test Kitchen

I've been following America's Test Kitchen's "Cooking Through the Decades" contest and this week's recipe is from 1945: Wacky Cake.

Even in wartime Americans were not about to deprive their sweet tooth. Unless they were dabbling in the black market or using precious ration points, homemakers found ways to avoid butter and eggs in their desserts. Wacky Cake sounds goofy but it is really a domestic science experiment gone completely right, in which the chocolate cake is moist and fluffy despite containing no eggs or butter. American bakers learned to have their cake and eat it too, realizing that serving their country and serving dessert were not mutually exclusive.

This is probably the easiest cake ever to make.  The lack of dairy makes it vegan too.  From my internet research, some people suggested that this recipe was made during the Depression and others from WWII.  Lots of people have made this from recipes passed down generation by generation.  It's definitely wacky, from the ingredients to the mixing process.

Ingredients go directly in the pan!  Dig holes in the dry to hold the wet.

Pour water all of the top, then stir.  Bake.  Done!

 Top with some powdered sugar.

My first reaction was, "Meh ... not the best chocolate cake I've had ..."  Then I looked down at my plate and wondered where my slice went.  Apparently I inhaled it.

The texture is pretty impressive for a cake with so few ingredients.  It was fluffy and moist.  You could really taste the natural cocoa.

I baked this cake early Saturday morning.  My daughter woke up and came downstairs by the time I was taking pictures of it.  Lucky her got cake for breakfast!

 I kept trying to get this top-down picture of a cake slice on a plate, 

but she kept taking the plate for her to eat.

Scratch It: Cold-Oven Pound Cake

"Cold-Oven Pound Cake"

by Cook's Country

Color me happy!  I'm pretty sure I knocked this recipe out of the park.  In all fairness, it was pretty simple, but still!  I followed all the directions correctly (except using 2% instead of whole milk) and didn't over-bake it.  This cake is probably the best scratch pound cake I've had so far.

This recipe uses cake flour and was baked in my Chicago Metallic Angel Food cake pan.  The trick to this recipe is not to pre-heat the oven.  While I was getting my ingredients together, I actually made the mistake of turning on the oven right away.  Felt pretty weird to have to turn it back off.

Finally, a pound cake recipe that didn't yield some weird puffy, crusty top.  

It's been over 24 hours since this cake was made and the house still smells amazing.  Nice, tight but tender crumb.  And the taste?  Pretty darn good.  Yup, this one is going in "the binder" (my collection of printed-out internet recipes that I've made successfully).

Scratch It: RLB Yellow Cakes

"Buttermilk Country Cake"

and

"She Loves Me Cake"

by Rose Levy Beranbaum

I'm still working on scratch baking with the help of some experts.  I've recently purchased Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum as suggested by fellow CakeCentral.com members.  Several people said it is worth it to own both her Cake Bible and Heavenly Cakes.  My most recent scratch cakes are her "Buttermilk Country Cake" and "She Loves Me Cake" (featured in photos), both of which are variations of her "All-Occasion Downy Yellow Cake".

On the books' suggestion, I spun some sugar in my blender to make "super fine" sugar.  I don't recall seeing super fine sugar at the grocery store, but next shopping trip I'll take a closer look.  I can't really tell the difference in the final product, but I'm hoping experience will help me with that later.

Scratch baking is not easy.  I have yet to really follow a recipe 100% correctly.  With the "She Loves Me Cake" I poured all the milk into the liquids bowl, not reading that only 1/4 cup should have gone in.  The rest was to go with the butter into the dry ingredients.  I also over-baked it :(  That's probably why my cake came out dry.

With the "Buttermilk" cake, I didn't follow the directions on my powdered cultured buttermilk container.  If you mix the powder directly with water, it clumps up.  You're supposed to add the powder to the dry ingredients and add the water to the wet.  I tried to split this recipe into 2 6" round pans and that was wayyyy too much batter.  It overflowed in the oven and made a big, burnt, smelly mess.  The cake that I salvaged was moist but very delicate.  It crumbled when sliced.

Please don't judge these cake recipes on my failures because I'm sure I messed them up!  Instead, give me a virtual hug and know that, if you're also one who can't seem to read ahead, I'm right there with ya!

A Feast of Ice & Fire

A Feast of Ice & Fire

If you haven't read any of George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice & Fire book series, drop what you're doing and go buy A Game of Thrones (the first book in the series).  Then sit back for several days for a good read.

Back already?

If you haven't visited the Inn at the Crossroads food blog inspired by the Song of Ice & Fire series, drop what you're doing and click on that link!

See?  Aren't you glad I told you?

 I have recently purchased their new official cookbook for the series.  It's pretty enjoyable to read their research on their blog or in these pages for medieval recipes.  Hits me up on many geeky levels.  I hope to make a few of these savory and sweet foods inspired by my all-time favorite book series.

Crusty White Bread

This recipe was ridiculously easy.  I was pretty skeptical on the outcome because the ingredients were so basic, and I'm such a beginner at bread making ... but hubby and I were pleasantly surprised.  We devoured all of one of the small loaves right out of the oven.

The exterior is pleasantly crisp and thick ... much like my favorite pizza crust.  The inside was soft but hearty and yeasty.

How fun!  I'm looking forward to trying the desserts listed in the book.  They often offer both a recipe for a dish old-world style and also a modern spin version.  Not much cake decorating going on here, but still an adventure!

Scratch It: America's Test Kitchen

America's Test Kitchen

While on maternity leave, I've been watching a lot of America's Test Kitchen online with my website subscription.  Whenever the baby wakes up in the middle of the night, she nurses while I watch dessert episodes on my laptop.  I've had the opportunity to make a few of the recipes that interested me.  They've been great learning experiences and several are now my go-to recipes.

Their science segments have really helped me understand the different ingredients used in caking ... dutch-processed vs. natural cocoa, cake vs. all-purpose flour, cocoa butter vs. cocoa solids, etc.  Watching their chefs use different mixing methods and hear their explanations have really opened my eyes.  Scratch baking is very scientific, and my sloppy, bad habits just won't do if I want to succeed.

 

I know that America's Test Kitchen isn't the highest echelon of pastry art, but it has held my hand as I transitioned to scratch living ... and not just desserts.  This week I made chicken tikka masala and thin crust pizza from scratch.  I haven't attempted using yeast in ages!

I've tried their dessert recipes for:

• chewy sugar cookies (best ... cookies ... ever!)
• fluffy yellow layer cake (little dry and bordering bland, but I think I screwed it up ... the recipe was a little complicated, and I was unprepared)
• chiffon cake (home run! see previous post)
• old-fashioned chocolate layer cake (OMG I didn't know I could have it so good!)
• chewy brownies (pretty darn good, but I have little experience with brownies ... see photos below)

 Unfortunately there is no turning back.  I'm afraid the next time I taste a box mix, I won't be able to keep a straight face.  The host of the show once humorously (but emphatically) referred to box cake mix as "the decline of Western civilization!"  I distinctly recall the moment when tub frosting became disgusting to me.  After years of loving Duncan Hines' chocolate and cream cheese flavored icing ... trying them again after gaining experience with scratch icing was a wake-up call.

I know it must be good if my daughter eats it all.  She's not a picky eater, but somehow she's not big on cake.  When I picked her up from school today, I told her I had made brownies, and we'd try some when we got home.  Sitting at the kitchen table, I cut a piece for her.  She insisted that the piece I gave her was supposed to be my piece and then indicated which piece she wanted from the cutting board.  So I ended up with the small portion and she got the big slice.  She ate the top crust first and insisted I do the same.  We enjoyed our brownies with some cold milk.

At some point I'll try their red velvet cake recipe as well as their chewy chocolate chip cookies.  I go back to work full time in a little over a week, so I need to enjoy my baking free time while it lasts!

Scratch It: Pound Cake v2.0

"Cream Cheese Pound Cake"

by Barbara Rolek

 Ok, I'm convinced: I don't like pound cake recipes that use cake flour.  This cake and the last pound cake I made have this particular texture that I just don't think pound cake should have.  This one did taste better than the last, though.

 

I can explain what happened above.  Well, I can explain why it's a bit over-cooked.  I can't explain the puffy top crust.  Anyways, due to traffic, my hubby needed me to pick up our toddler from daycare unexpectedly.  The cake was almost done baking ... so I turned off the oven and left the cake inside to coast, then ran out the door.  When I finally got back and had the cake cool, I shattered the crispy, puffy top and removed it.  It tasted yummy ... I love me some pound cake crust! 

Other than that crust, I didn't care for the cake at all.  Luckily I have an office full of co-worker guinea pigs that love free food. 

Scratch It: Pound Cake

"Perfect Pound Cake"

from Cake Bible

This is my second cake from Cake Bible, and I'm a bit disappointed.  I've made a couple different pound cakes from scratch before and this is my least favorite.  The recipe describes this cake as "melt-in-your-mouth" texture.  It reminded me of melt-away cookies, the variety made with powdered sugar and cornstarch.  In my opinion ... pound cake should not be like that.  In addition to that, hubby and I really didn't think it tasted good either.

What I liked about this recipe was that it was the batch size was intended for a loaf pan.  In this testing phase of mine, it's nice to not have to use up so many ingredients.  It had been so long since I had used my loaf pan, I wondered if I even had one at all.  Sure enough, a dusty but undamaged non-stick pan was in the back of one of my kitchen's cabinets.

The cake baked up well and was easily cut with a serrated knife.  Like other pound cakes, the crust parts are somewhat yummier.  I did not grease my pan, like the recipe suggested.  Instead I did my usual of cutting out parchment paper for the bottom.  The cake actually pulled away from the sides all on its own.  I'm not sure if that was due to the non-stick pan or the recipe.

I'm convinced I did not screw up this recipe, I just don't like it.  I'll have to try out some other recipes I have for pound cake.  The one I got from my petit fours class, I recall, tasted good and contained cream cheese.