Chocolate Sauce Pan Brownies

In life, results usually reflect effort. In baking, brownies are an exception to this rule. For with minimal effort
-- and mess -- one can get a fantastic result beloved by both children and adults. I can't think of a single baked good that is so easy to prepare -- and so universally embraced.

Maybe that's why there are thousands of brownie recipes in the world.   And at least a hundred of them are called the "best" brownie recipe.

These could also be called the "best" -- they're chewy and packed with old-fashioned chocolate flavor, reminiscent of the brownies served to children as an after-school snack in the mid-20th century. But I especially like that the recipe is named for the vessel used to prepare them -- the saucepan.

Chocolate is the shining star in brownies, so it's worth the splurge for the high-end stuff. I used Scharffen Berger unsweetened chocolate.

After the butter and chocolate are melted in a saucepan, add the eggs and then the dry ingredients.

Pour into a pan, which you've greased and floured.

Production notes:  I used unsalted butter, not Snowdrift which was (is) a variation of Crisco.  Two squares of chocolate equal two ounces.  The only tool I used was a wooden spoon for mixing.

A Cake for Queen Elizabeth's 88th Birthday

Today is Queen Elizabeth's 88th birthday, so it's only appropriate to repost an earlier entry about "her" cake, something all her subject can enjoy.

We may not be able to live the life of Queen Elizabeth, but we can do the next best thing: Bake the only cake she makes herself.

At least according to a recipe card I purchased recently at the amazing vintage cookbook shop of Bonnie Slotnick, a true treasure in Greenwich Village.  A note on the card reads:

Whatever its origin, this is a fantastic cake and one that anyone can make.  It's a sheet cake, so one needn't fuss with layers and fillings.  (Let the servants do that.)  There's no heart-stopping moment wondering if the cake will release from the pan, as you serve your guests (or yourself) slice after delicious slice straight from the pan.

I love the instructions that say: Mix in the usual manner.  The method I used is detailed below.

Although these look like sliced olives, I can assure you they're dates.  And even though I didn't chop them up finely, they seem to blend into the batter so that they're almost indistinguishable in the finished product but add a lovely flavor and texture.

The frosting is as simple and easy as the cake.

Melt the butter, brown sugar and heavy cream in a small pan, above, and cook until it looks like the mixture, below.

Then spread it on the cake, below, and sprinkle with nuts and sweetened coconut.

Queen Elizabeth Cake 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch pan.
Pour one cup of boiling water over one cup of chopped dates and one tsp. baking soda.  Let stand while the following are mixed.

Beat 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter and one cup sugar until smooth.
Add two eggs, one at a time.
Add 1 tsp. vanilla.
Mix 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour with one tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt and add to butter-sugar mixture.  Blend until just combined.
Mix in nut and dates (including the "date water.")
Pour in pan and bake for 25 minutes.

Follow the frosting recipe on the recipe card above.

Don tiara and enjoy with your subjects.

Enter the Cake Contest!

Henry Street Settlement, on Manhattan's Lower East Side, is hosting a big block party on Saturday, May 3, to celebrate the 147th birthday of Lillian Wald, it's founder, as part of the first-ever Lower East Side History Month.

One of the highlights is a cake contest.  All amateur bakers are invited to enter.  Just whip up a birthday cake, and bring it to 265 Henry Street by 1 p.m. on May 3rd.  Register by writing slarosa@henrystreet.org.

Cakes will be judges on appearance, creativity, taste and interpretation of the birthday theme.   Prizes will be awarded and your cake will be featured on Henry Street's website and on its social media channels.  Judges include Tara Bench, Food and Entertaining Editor of the Ladies Home Journal; Serena Solomon, of DNinfo; and Ed Litvak and Traven Rice of The LoDown.

Pictured above is last year's grand prize winner -- a beauty entered by Jillian Besemer, a reader of this blog!

Above is the second-place winning cake, baked by Peggy Coon.  And below, baker Kira Wizner, took a page out of Lillian Wald's book to create the third-place winner.

Mildred Snyder's Graham Cracker Cake

This is a very special and surprisingly timely cake, considering the recipe dates from the early 20th century. There's a viral (as in 2.2 million views) -- and very moving -- graham cracker video exploding on the internet today: Click here to watch it and then you can feel really good about buying the graham crackers to make this delicious cake.

The recipe is courtesy of Ellen Snyder-Grenier, curator and historian extraordinaire, who is working on an exciting history project at Henry Street Settlement, my place of employ.  This is a cake her late mother, Mildred Snyder -- and her grandmother -- used to make often.

Mrs. Snyder, who was so health conscious that she believed that an Oreo was actually two cookies, not one, liked this cake for its wholesomeness.  Graham crackers were once thought to be a health food and the custard filling is barely sweetened (but still wonderful).

This is not an easy dessert: It requires the cake, a filling and separate frosting.  But, trust me, it is worth the effort.

Get started by crushing the graham crackers, which you can do (as Mrs. Snyder did)  by placing them in a plastic bag and rolling over them with a rolling pin.  Or you can give them a whirl in your food processor.

Spoon the batter into two greased and floured eight-inch cake pans. Using the back of a spoon or an offset spatula, coax the batter to the edges of the pan.

Neither layer released from the pan very well.  But it's not much of a problem -- you can use a small offset spatula or butter knife to lift the remaining pieces from the pan and, pretending it's a jigsaw puzzle,  fit the pieces where they belong on the cake.  Once the cake is filled and frosted, no one will be the wiser.  You might also try lining the bottom of each pan with a parchment round to ensure an easy release.

The custard filling, called cornstarch pudding on the recipe card, is made in a double-boiler.  If you don't have one (I don't!), just place a bowl over a saucepan filled with simmering water.

When the cake layers are cool (and after the custard has cooled) fill the cake.

Next, frost the cake with whipped cream frosting.

I sprinkled the top with a bit of cinnamon for decoration.

Ellen enjoying a slice of graham cracker cake.

Ellen reports that the Graham Cracker Cake recipe card was most likely written by her grandmother, who was born around 1900.  She found another recipe card for the cake in her mother's handwriting, titled "Mom's Cake." The Cornstarch Pudding recipe is in her mother's handwriting.

Production notes: I used room-temperature unsalted butter instead of shortening, and  mixed it with the dry ingredients before adding the milk.  I wasn't sure it would work the way it's written -- I've never seen this method before.
For the frosting, I simply whipped some heavy cream with a bit of confectioners' sugar and vanilla -- that's what Ellen remembers her mother doing. (To make the best whipped cream, buy cream that is not ultra-pasteurized and keep the bowl and beaters in the freezer for 20 minutes before mixing.)  I kept the cake refrigerated on account of the whipped cream frosting.

Mildred Snyder's Graham Cracker Cake

Preheat oven to 375 F
Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans

2/3 c. sifted flour
3/4 c. sugar
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
20 square Nabisco graham crackers, finely rolled (1 1/3 c.)
1/2 c. shortening
3/4 c. milk
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, and combine with graham cracker crumbs.
Place shortening in a bowl.  Add dry ingredients, milk and vanilla.
Mix until dry ingredients are moist.
Beat two minutes in electric mixer (or 300 strokes by hand).
Add eggs and beat for two minutes.
Pour into pans.
Bake in moderately hot oven (375 F) about 25 minutes.
Cool, fill and frost with whipped cream frosting.

Production notes: Ellen remembers her mother serving the pudding separately, and this recipe makes four portions.  For the cake, simply divide in half, but you can use an entire egg, rather than trying to use half an egg. Let it cook in the refrigerator before using it to fill the cake.

Cornstarch Pudding
(For filling, make 1/2 of recipe below.)

Heat 2 1/4 c milk in a double boiler
Mix 3 T cornstarch, 3 T sugar, 1 beaten egg and 3/4 c milk in a bowl.
Slowly add the hot milk to the ingredients in the bowl.
Return to double boiler and cook until thickened.
Add 3/4 t. vanilla
Makes four portions.