How to bake (a not fake) quick cake - Iowa City Press Citizen

Michael Knock Cooking Class

Published 4:59 PM EST Jan 29, 2019

Nothing spoils a good story like a bunch of facts, especially when it comes to history. Take it from legendary Hollywood director John Ford.

In one of my all-time favorite westerns, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,“ Jimmy Stewart plays a U.S. Senator who has based his career on the “fact” that he shot and killed the notorious outlaw, Liberty Valance (played by a very mean and scary Lee Marvin). Toward the end of his career, Stewart’s character returns to his hometown to come clean. He tells a newspaper editor that he didn’t shoot Liberty Valance. John Wayne did.

I realize that I should have given readers a “spoiler alert” warning before revealing that plot twist, but seeing that the film came out in 1962, I didn’t think it necessary.

Near the end of the movie, the newspaper editor takes the story Stewart has told him, and throws it in the trash. When Stewart asks why he won’t run with the scoop, the editor says, “This is the West, Sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

That’s “Fake News” if I’ve ever heard it.

In reality, history is full of “Fake News.” Christopher Columbus did not set out to prove the earth was round. The Vikings did not have horns on their helmets. And the French queen Marie Antoinette never uttered the famous line, “Let them eat cake.”

That’s a pity. I like eating cake.

In fact, when I originally started thinking of this column, I never thought it was going to be about cake. Instead, with the recent cold snap I planned yet another story about comfort foods and casseroles.

But then I went to the library, and there, on the shelves were a number of cookbooks about cake. They seemed so warm and inviting that I was drawn to them. Without really knowing what I was doing I checked them out, and spent the next several days soothing my frozen synapses with photos of spongy crumbs and decadent frostings. I knew then that the next column had to be about cake.

The cakes to which I was most drawn were the ones with easy recipes that I knew I could easily make in an afternoon. After all, when you want cake, you don’t want to have to wait for it.

Marie Antoinette knew that…or she would have known it…if she had said it…which she didn’t…and so none of that matters.

Anyway, I’ve got three simple cake recipes for you that can be thrown together in an afternoon. Give them a try, and you’ll be able to tell your friends and family to “Let them eat cake!”

Try to keep your head, however. Marie had a little problem in that area.

Chocolate Chip Cake
The first cookbook I ever bought – or, got my parents to buy – was “Betty Crocker’s Cookbook” from 1980. I loved the photos of what I thought were “exotic” recipes that I simply had to try.

My mother still has the original, but I stumbled upon another copy at Houseworks a while back. I snatched it up, and I am glad that I did.

One of the first recipes I tried from this book way back when was one for a chocolate chip cake. What I like about it is that it really does taste like a chocolate chip cookie in cake form.

I bake mine in a Bundt pan, but you can use a 9x13 or two 9-inch round pans.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup shortening
1 ¼ cups milk
3 eggs
½ cup mini or regular sized semi-sweet chocolate chips

Grease and flour your pan (again, you may use a 9x13-inch pan, 2 round 9-inch pans or a Bundt pan).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together all ingredients except for the chocolate chips in a mixing bowl. Toss the chocolate chips in with a little (about half-a tablespoon) additional flour. This will help to prevent them from all sinking to the bottom of the pan. Stir in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Pour your batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool completely before frosting with Chocolate Butter Frosting (recipe follows).

Chocolate Butter Frosting
Ingredients
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
2 cups powdered sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
About 2 tablespoons milk (you may need more)

Mix together the butter and chocolate. Stir in the powdered sugar. Beat in the vanilla and milk until frosting is spreadable and smooth (I needed more than 2 tablespoons of milk).

Fills and frosts two 9-inch round layer cakes or one 9x13-inch cake (I had a lot left over from my Bundt version).

Wacky Cake
One of the books that inspired this column was “Cakes in America” by Anne Byrn. It is a wonderful trip through history and baking that I may need to add to my cookbook library (or keep checking out of the real library).

According to Anne, the wacky cake dates back to the 1940s. Nearly every church and community cookbook from the era has a version. That’s because it was the perfect dessert to make when company showed up unexpectedly.

You’ll see why when you read through the recipe. Everything is mixed in the same pan in which it’s baked. It’s pretty cool…and tasty.

Ingredients
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups warm water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Set aside an ungreased 9x13-inch metal pan.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt several times to combine well. Pour into the baking pan. With your fingers make three wells in the dry ingredients. Into one well pour the oil. Into another pour the vinegar. Into the third, pour the vanilla. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients loosely. Pour 1 cup of the warm water over the ingredients in the pan, and stir to combine. Pour the second cup of water into the pan, and stir to combine well.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Frost with Caramel Icing.

Caramel Icing
Ingredients
1 ½ cups brown sugar, lightly packed
6 tablespoons butter or shortening, cut into tablespoons
6 tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla

Place the brown sugar, butter, milk, salt and vanilla into a medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring. Let the mixture boil for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat. Place the pan in a large bowl filled with 2 cups of ice. Whisk the icing until it begins to thicken and is of spreading consistency.

Pour the caramel icing over the warm cake, spreading the icing to the edges and corners. Let rest for 30 minutes so the icing hardens a little.

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