Amish Chocolate Flat Cake

About a decade ago, I was asked to bring a birthday cake to my dear (and now sadly departed) friend Suzanne Wasserman's 50th birthday party at the Bridge Cafe. So I baked a nine-inch red velvet layer cake. Imagine my dismay when I arrived at the party and realized that this single cake would need to feed about 40 guests.  (I had another frosted cake at home -- I was selling them at the time and always made two -- but couldn't convince my teenage son to bring it to the restaurant.) Throughout the dinner I fretted about the scarcity of dessert but by some absolute miracle the staff managed to carve out enough slices of decent size.

Not that I should have substituted this large flat cake (for Suzanne and her husband David loved red velvet), but I would have had a much more relaxed dinner.

This vintage recipe is from an Amish collection I purchased years ago. It's baked in an 11 x 17 inch jelly roll pan and, when baked and frosted, it's just 1/2 inch tall, hence its name. Both the cake and its frosting couldn't be easier to make and will certainly feed a large crowd.

Upon hearing the name "flat cake," the DH said I should pair it with #FlatLillian, an initiative at Henry Street Settlement, to spread the word and work of it's founder Lillian Wald by photographing her against all sorts of backdrops. Suzanne, a filmmaker and historian, studied the Lower East Side and was one of Lillian's biggest fans.


#Flat Lillian with the frosted chocolate flat cake.

This is a very, very simple cake to make done on the stovetop and in a bowl. No heavy machinery needed.  Melt the butter, water, and cocoa in a saucepan.

Pour the mixture into a bowl and add in the dry ingredients. Stir or whisk to combine.



Add in the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and baking soda, whisking them together them first.



Pour the cake into a greased jelly roll pan. I sprayed the pan with Pam, then laid a sheet of parchment over to ensure an easy release.



The unfrosted cake.



While the cake is in the oven, begin the frosting. Boil butter, cocoa and buttermilk, then add in confectioner's sugar, nuts, vanilla and salt.



Frost the cake while it's still warm. You'll need an offset spatula or butter knife to spread the frosting over the cake.



Henry Street's Executive Director David Garza, a real #FlatLillian champion, eating the cake (even though he's not supposed to, so don't tell anyone).

Production notes: I followed the recipe exactly, except I substituted butter for the Crisco.  The Amish, rather thrifty folk, probably wanted to save some money.  I wasn't sure if the cake should be warm, or just the frosting, so I made sure both were warm when I frosted it.  You'd be fine with a cool cake and warm frosting. If you don't have buttermilk, you can make your own by mixing some white vinegar in regular milk and having it stand for a few minutes.  The amount of salt in the frosting should be a pinch -- it won't taste salty, but will add a depth of flavor.  Chop the nuts on the finer side.

And the Winning Cakes Are....

It seems like ancient history, but just a few weeks ago Henry Street Settlement hosted "Party Like It's 1899," a big block party to celebrate both the birthday of its founder Lillian Wald (she just turned 147) and the first-ever Lower East Side History Month. One of the highlights was a birthday cake contest.

Luckily, it was a glorious spring day for party-goers and our esteemed panel of judges who had the daunting task of tasting all the entries, which were evaluated on taste, creativity, appearance and adherence to the birthday party theme.

The winning cake, pictured at the top, was the ultra-creative Lillian's House Dress, baked by Lower East Side resident Jael Wagener.  Second prize, pictured below, was awarded to Henry Street's own Larry Williams who baked a beautifully decorated (note the basket weave buttercream) red velvet cake.

Third place went to this gorgeous three-layer cake, called the Angel of Henry Street, baked by East Villager Carolyn Lim.

 There were a number of beautiful and delicious cakes entered, including this strawberry cream cake that came all the way from Connecticut (thanks, Karen!), and a lovely chocolate-glazed angel food cake by very local resident Jeanie Tung.

Our very good-looking crew of judges, from left, were Serena Solomon (DNAinfo); Jake Dell (Katz's Deli); Tara Bench (The Ladies Home Journal); and Traven Rice and Ed Litvak (TheLoDown).

One entry, a pineapple upside down cake, looked suspiciously like those sold at the nearby Fine Fare Supermarket, but whatever.

Curious about what's beneath the petticoat cake?
All photos graciously shot by the DH, Paul LaRosa.

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.

Chocolate Cupcakes, Settlement House Style

Yesterday, some very special visitors stopped by Henry Street Settlement, including someone who, as a young child, had actually met Lillian Wald, the visionary progressive reformer who founded the Settlement in 1893.  We were honored indeed to welcome our visitors into our historic dining room.  In anticipation, I decided to bake something from The Settlement Cook Book which, though published by a settlement house in Milwaukee, features many of the same immigrant foods served at Henry Street in the early 20th century.

It took just a minute to select a recipe from this 622-page tome, first published in 1901.  (My copy dates from 1936.)  I mean, what could be more welcoming than old-fashioned chocolate cupcakes?  I "cheated" and frosted them with a modern-day vanilla buttercream (from a Magnolia Bakery recipe).  But even topped with the creamy icing, the cupcakes looked too plain for our special guests -- until I remembered the gorgeous crystallized violets I had made this past weekend.  Et voila, the perfect petit fours!

The cupcakes are truly simple to make.  Mix the butter and sugar; add the egg and blend in one square of unsweetened, melted chocolate.

Alternately add the flour/baking soda mixture and buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour.

The batter will be rather thick, and I found it easier to pipe from a pastry bag with a round tip. I used mini-cupcake tins, but one pays for their adorableness with the extra time it takes to fill them.  Still, I think it's pretty good value.

I also piped the frosting, and then topped each with a violet, a task best done right after piping so that the violets adhere well.

The recipe is on the first page of the chapter entitled Small Cakes, Cookies, Kisses.

Instructions, more clearly, below (with a miner change):
Cream butter and sugar, add egg, and blend.  Mix in chocolate.  Add flour and baking soda (which have been mixed together) alternately with the buttermilk (sour milk) beginning and ending with the flour.  Place in small greased (or paper lined) muffin tins, bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.