See that little wicker recipe box back there? In my extended family, when a young woman gets married and leaves home (preferably right out of high school or college if necessary), my female relatives customarily put together a recipe box for her. Everybody writes a favorite recipe or two on cards, and the box is given to the bride-to-be at a wedding shower.
Except I didn't get married. I just left home.
Probably (and justifiably) feeling sorry for me as I set up housekeeping on the top floor of this awful bunglow...
...Mom and my sister copied about a dozen Eddington recipes and gave them to me in that wicker box, which I have kept for eighteen years.
Mom must have realized that single women sometimes require a fast and dirty, emergency chocolate cake from time to time, one made from cupboard staples only. No uptown ingredients such as eggs or buttermilk come into play here, you'll have it in the pan before the oven heats up, and best of all, the cake is really good!
Let's get this straight, though: it's not going to blow your mind. You will not double over in chocolate ecstasy like you did with these cupcakes or this Yule log or this flourless mousse cake. But those cakes take hours to make and use up stick after stick of butter. Sometimes you want your mama's cake, and you want it NOW. And sometimes you just want your mama.
(I cannot stop watching that. I sent it to Poof and she crystallized its appeal perfectly: "The more I watch this, the worse I feel for the dog, yet...the more I laugh!")
This cake is as close as it gets to seeing my mother materialize in my kitchen, whether I am single and living in squalor or married and very much in love. And my sister pops up with this recipe, too, as it is in her age-10 handwriting. I'm just going to use her card instead of re-typing it here.
Notes: that's vinegar, which I think makes the cake "crazy," along with 1/3 cup of vegetable oil, and 1 cup of water down there. I don't know what purpose the three holes serve, but they are kind of fun to make.
The timings were written by me in black, and I'd check all of those a couple of minutes early. Since we got our new oven, it seems like baking times are a bit faster. Regarding that last bit: I wouldn't recommend dividing the batter between two pans. I tried it once, and it was kind of a bust.
Oh--the frosting is a Pup original. I made it up a few weeks ago, and it is similarly fast and dirty.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups powdered sugar (eyeball it)
- 1/4 cup cocoa
- healthy pinch salt
- heavy cream--about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup
DIRECTIONS
Combine the powdered sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium-small bowl. Add heavy cream a bit at a time, stirring until you reach frosting consistency.
Too thick? Add more cream.
Too thin? Add more powdered sugar.
Not chocolatey enough? Add more cocoa.
Not salty enough? Add salt. :)
This is your Mom talking: "Strange to see this today, Kelly, cause I just made that cake today. I thought about you and Jeff and that maybe I'd bring you a few cupcakes, then thought better of it. Knowing what gourmets you were, I'm thinking it wouldn't be good enough. I know you have special chocolates, oils, and everything else that you use, but it was good to see that you had also made it, too! Hope you enjoy it. Look forward to seeing you Saturday."
Yer Mom Typed by Yer Dad
Posted by: Gary Eddington | June 09, 2011 at 08:22 PM
Aww! Thanks Mom, via Dad! Jeff and I have been eating this cake a lot lately. While I like to go into the kitchen and labor over a cake, it's nice to have a recipe like this ready to go at all times, especially in the summer.
Posted by: Kelly | June 09, 2011 at 08:26 PM
I'd have to get out the recipe to be sure, but this looks just like one of my family's recipes, except we call it soggy devil's food cake. And it is my favorite. cake. ever. But with vanilla buttercream frosting. Always gets rave reviews.
Posted by: Michelle | June 09, 2011 at 08:30 PM
Some people in IL also call it "wacky cake." Vanilla frosting would be awesome with this, absolutely.
Posted by: Kelly | June 09, 2011 at 08:33 PM