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.

Wet Chocolate Cake and Minute-Boil Fudge Frosting

At 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning I baked a chocolate cake (don't ask) and it wasn't until it was in the oven that I realized, egads, it's vegan! No butter, no milk no eggs! But fear not gentle readers, for Wet Chocolate Cake is a dark, moist delicious beauty that could not be simpler to prepare.

I served it to two people dear to me: My new SIL, who said, as he wolfed down his second slice, "It tastes like regular chocolate cake!" And my friend Jordana, who also enjoyed two slices (and didn't share even a bite with Arno, her sweet and adorable 16-month-old son).

Having failed miserably last Thanksgiving preparing a vegan pumpkin custard dessert for my BIL, I was loathe to try another vegan recipe. I didn't give it a second thought, however, because most vintage recipes are decidedly not vegan.  However, this is from a collection I recently received from Arthur Schwartz, who apparently had an on-air discussion about eggless cakes. Which resulted in devoted listeners sending in dozens of such recipes -- this is by far the best of them.

Geometric cake art.

Start by sifting the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

Mix the liquid ingredients together, pour into the the dry ingredients and blend for about one minute.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured pan.

Bake for about 25 minutes.

When slightly cool, run a butter knife along the edge and turn out. As you can see below, some of the cake remained in the pan. I just patched it up, flipped the cake over, frosted it and no one was the wiser.

Frosted cake.

Production notes: I followed this recipe exactly as written.

Now, for the frosting, which is decidedly non-vegan, and from a fantastic new recipe collection I just got from eBay. Measure (or weigh) two ounces of unsweetened chocolate. (Or use two squares of Baker's unsweetened chocolate.)

Chop and combine with the sugar and other ingredients.

Stir until it comes to a rolling boil and let it rip for one minute. Let cool, add vanilla and beat.

Production notes: I followed this exactly, except I used butter for the Spry and Oleo (6 T in total). Pet milk is any brand of evaporated milk. If you prefer to keep your cake vegan, just top it with a dusting of confectioner's sugar. If you prefer an easier frosting (one that requires only beating, and not cooking and beating, you can use this frosting from the Magnolia Bakery.)

Jordana, with cake.

Grandma's Chocolate Cake

For the last cake of 2013, I bring you an old-fashioned (think 1945) three-layer chocolate cake, attributed to "Grandma" on the vintage recipe card. And a little lesson on living in the moment, just added to my growing list of New Year's resolutions.  For in the midst of mixing the batter, I glanced at the recipe card title, Chocolate Cake, and then at the very vanilla batter in the bowl.  Holy cow! I forgot to add the chocolate!  Luckily, it wasn't too late and I spooned it in, several steps behind the instructions.

Speaking of the chocolate, it should always be melted in a double boiler, but not to worry if you don't have one, as I don't.  Simply create your own by placing a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

This cake batter is quite thick, so...

using an offset spatula, or even the back of a spoon, smooth it out before placing the pans in the oven.

Pull the cakes from the oven and let them cool on a rack for about ten minutes before turning them out.

Like many cakes, these formed a dome.  You don't want a dome when stacking cakes so, using a serrated knife place horizontally, just slice off the dome.  Then, the baker can have a taste or two, for quality control purposes.

The layers, frosted.

The cake had a soft crumb, wasn't overly sweet and a rather delicate flavor (for a chocolate cake, that is).  My tasters, Allen and his wife Racine, preferred the frosting to the cake.  (Racine thoughtfully selected her clothing that evening so she would match the upholstery in our parlor.)

Production notes:  I used unsalted butter in place of the shortening, and did not add the 1/2 cup of water, since the instructions didn't say how or when to add it. I used sweet (regular) milk and not sour (buttermilk). For the frosting, I used 8 tablespoons of butter and increased the cocoa powder and hot water a bit, but you'll have enough frosting if you following the amounts listed on the card.

Master Recipe Cake and Chocolate Butter Frosting

Oh, how I wanted to love this cake.
The idea of having a go-to recipe for a versatile white cake -- one that could be whipped up in minutes for a frosted layer cake or used as a base for, say, an upside down cake -- is the holy grail for some of us.  Yes, this had the potential to be the cake of my dreams.  But, like a lot of relationships that seem to have promise, this one suffered from bad timing.  I overbaked it not once, but twice.  So, it was a tad dry and a tad disappointing, but still the flavor was lovely. The question is: Do I give this another go in hopes that things will improve or throw in the towel and yell "next"?

I was thrilled to find this recipe, handwritten on a page of a 1920 children's cookbook, The Junior Cook Book, I bought last weekend at The Bookseller, a lovely antiquarian and used bookstore in a strip mall in Akron.  (Just when I was bemoaning the fact that these kinds of recipes cannot be found anymore, I discovered this treasure -- and the book was only $4 and is filled with the handwritten recipes of one Marie Bevenetto.)

This is a very easy "instant gratification" recipe because one melts the butter instead of waiting for it to soften to room temperature, an exercise much like watching paint dry.  The cake is sturdy; hence the suggestion by the recipe author that it can be used as the base for many desserts.

Because I was making this cake for my mother, lover of all things chocolate, I paired this with a chocolate butter frosting that I found in one of her old cookbooks, the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, as in "new" in 1968.  The frosting saved the cake, at least according to my cousin Debbie, who stopped over for a slice and "styled" the photo above.

The frosting mixture is below and, yes, there's a raw egg in it.  It made for an extra creamy frosting and we all survived.

I tried this cake with all purpose flour and cake flour, but didn't see much difference. In Akron, I used vanilla only for the flavoring, but back in my well-stocked Brooklyn kitchen, I also added lemon extract and it lent a wonderful flavor.  You could also try grating some lemon zest into the batter.  Do not use pans larger than 8" round, as the layers will be too thin otherwise.

So will I work on the relationship, i.e., make this cake again?  I think I'll be moving on. Just as there are a lot of fish in the sea, there are a lot of cakes to be baked, a lot of recipes calling my name.  (However, if you're looking for a softer cake with a finer crumb, do try this one. I promise it will not disappoint.)