Miracle "ShortCut" Devil's Food Cake

Life is full of miracles, big and small.  Unfortunately, this cake recipe is not among them.

Now, this is a perfectly fine chocolate cake recipe, but a miracle shortcut it ain't.  In fact the only shortcut I could see is that one need not wait for the butter to soften. Instead, the cold butter is "cut in" to the flour, similar to the method for making pie crust.

What I found most interesting -- and why I made this -- is the idea that even back in the day, housewives were searching out miracles, and shortcuts.  I imagine that this baker had a true eureka moment when boxed cake mixes debuted.

If you want try for a miracle, instructions are below.

These days, I use a food processor to cut the fat into the flour. It makes short work of a tedious process, which is kind of a miracle right there.

Add the liquid ingredients all at once.

Next, add the melted chocolate.

I frosted this with a mocha chocolate frosting, left over from another baking adventure.  You can make your own by making this recipe from the Magnolia Bakery, adding cocoa powder and brewed coffee to taste.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

If you're like me and can't resist buying armloads of the ruby red rhubarb now appearing at the farmer's market, you've also embarked on a recipe search to use it before the stalks wilt in the refrigerator, along with your ambitious springtime baking intentions.

A search of the vintage recipe cards in my collection revealed dozens of rhubarb recipes-- this was a popular dessert vegetable, indeed.  The creative desserts include everything from rhubarb bread to rhubarb tapioca -- both subjects of a future post.  But what captured my attention last week was one for rhubarb custard pie.

This is a delicious custard-y pie -- but you must delay gratification for its best flavor emerges the day after it has been baked.  Out of the oven, the egg-y custard flavor dominates.  I like this a lot, but it's not to everyone's taste.  The next day, however, the rhubarb forms a lovely layer and the custard is rich and smooth.

This is a very quick and easy recipe.  Simply beat the eggs, sugar, flour and butter together.  Be careful not to let the mixture sit without beating, as the sugar will "cook" the eggs.

Beat in the whole milk.

Meantime, place the diced rhubarb into an unbaked 9-inch pie crust. Actually, do this step first.

Pour the custard mixture over the rhubarb. Don't worry if it seems to liquid-y.  It will firm up in the oven.

And, voila!  Not a gorgeous pie, but a delicious one.

The Henry Street Cake Contest

The first-ever Lillian Wald* Birthday Cake competition was held on May 6th at Henry Street Settlement's lively Lower East Side block party.  What the competition lacked in quantity (though 20 people registered, only seven brought cakes) it made up for in creativity.  The judges faced some tough decisions but, like the cakes, rose beautifully to the occasion.

The winning cake, Lilies for Lillian (pictured above), a vanilla custard layer cake with chocolate mousse and fresh strawberries, was entered by bakers Jillian Besemer (a reader of ACakeBakes!) and Chris McKeever.  Second place went to Peggy Coon for her chocolate frosted banana cake, and taking third place was Kira Wizner (assisted by daughters Leilani and Cecily) for a lemon pound cake presented as a page from Lillian's journal.

Judges, from left: Traven Rice, Ed Litvak, Rozanne Gold, Arthur Schwartz and Tara Bench.

The only thing more exciting than the cakes was the esteemed panel of judges: Arthur Schwartz (a food writer and radio personality who The New York Times called a "walking Google of food and restaurant knowledge"), Rozanne Gold, (a renowned chef and author who began her career at age 23 as chef to New York City Mayor Ed Koch), Tara Bench, the talented food and entertaining director of the Ladies Home Journal, and enthusiastic eaters Ed Litvak and Traven Rice, founders of The Lo-Down, the Lower East Side blog and print magazine.

The three winners received a bag of aromatic Workforce Coffee (blended for Henry Street's Workforce Development Center by Plowshares Coffee Roasters; a portion of each sale is donated to Henry Street), a two-pound bag of Daisy Organic All-Purpose Flour (my favorite flour); and Henry Street mugs and tote bags. First prize winner also received a three-bottle gift pack of wine of Oriel Wine.

The decoration of  the third place cake was inspired by a page in Lillian Wald's book.

Peggy Coon's Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting took second place.

My vote for the most interesting birthday cake. This Rhubarb Custard Tea Cake was presented in baby food jars adorned with photographs of Lillian Wald.

The judges hard at work, assisted invaluable volunteer May Wong (standing at right).

David Garza, Executive Director of Henry Street Settlement, with first place winners
Jillian Besemer and Chris McKeever

Henry Street staffers Ellen Schneiderman and Ryan Wenzel sliced up the cakes and distributed them to party guests after the competition ended.

Here's an image of party goers voting for Henry Street in the Partners in Preservation competition.  If you've read this far, then you too can take 30 seconds to vote for Henry Street.  Just go to partnersinpreservation.com or Henry Street Settlement's Facebook page to help the agency win a $200,000 grant to make its historic buildings more energy efficient.

*Lillian Wald, whose 145th birthday the block party was celebrating, founded Henry Street Settlement in 1893.

The Ballet Cook Book Dinner, Part II

Check out the wonderful Antonio Carmena's latest performance, as he stars in this frenetic video of the second in our series of dinners from the 1966 Ballet Cook Book.   I know it's in fast motion, but the meal prep truly felt just as fast (over several hours, no less)!

Watch him roll out the pie crust!  And the way he formed the ice cream into quenelles -- how elegant is that!

The Pie Crust Games (Book One)

As many of you know, I've been playing a losing game with pie crust for years.  But all that changed on Saturday night when I learned the secret from -- of all people -- Antonio Carmena, soloist for the New York City Ballet.

Antonio was in my kitchen preparing the second in the series of Ballet Dinners -- meals created from the recipes of ballet dancers published in the 1966 Ballet Cook Book and conceived by Ryan Wenzel, dance editor of the Brooklyn Rail and author of the Bodies Never Lie blog.  For this dinner, we were cooking the recipes of Diana Adams, a native of Tennessee and so dessert, naturally, was pecan pie.

I won't lie -- I fretted about the pie crust from the beginning.  It was daunting to have to make a pie when there were so many other time-consuming dishes (shrimp bisque, fried chicken in cornmeal spoonbread, yam pudding and hush puppies, not to mention vodka lemonade) to prepare. I was going to make it myself in advance, but I'm glad I didn't.

The pecan pie recipe (below) simply said to place the filling in a pre-baked 8-inch crust.  When Antonio arrived, he knew a crust recipe by heart: Two cups flour, one stick cold butter cut into small pieces, and one teaspoon each of salt and  sugar.  He mixed the dry ingredients in the food processor and added the butter. Once the fat was incorporated, he added some ice water until the crust came together.  He formed the mixture into a ball, covered it with plastic wrap and placed it in the refrigerator.  (And then turned his attention to the rest of the meal.)

After an hour or so, the magic began.  Antonio rolled the pie crust out between two pieces of plastic wrap, eliminating the need for extra flour which, in addition to making a mess, can sometimes toughen the crust. Somehow, he formed a near perfect circle.  He removed the top layer of plastic wrap and carefully (and perfectly, I might add) placed the crust in the pie plate.  And then -- because we had to bake the crust first without the filling -- did something I couldn't imagine would work.   He kept the sheet of plastic wrap on top of the crust, using it to carefully press it into the pan. He then proceeded to fill it with dried beans (which prevents the crust from puffing up during baking). "Oh, no," I exclaimed, thinking the plastic wrap would melt on contact in the 400 degree oven, filling the kitchen with noxious smoke.  "I have parchment paper for that."

Antonio reassured me that he had done this many times, even using the same brand of plastic wrap that I had.  (Hello, Costco.) Let's just say that I was astonished this worked and his novel method is now mine. It is fool-proof, even for a timid game contestant like me.

The pecan pie was magnificent, even better than the one I've used for years.  As usual, dessert was the best part of the meal.  No need to wait until Thanksgiving to try this -- just pretend you're a ballet dancer from Tennessee.

Antonio holding his masterpiece, below.

PECAN PIE

1/3 cup butter

3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (we used light brown sugar)

3 eggs

l cup dark corn syrup

l cup broken pecans

l tsp. vanilla or sherry (we used sherry)

l tsp. salt

l 8-inch baked pie shell (we used a 9-inch pie shell)

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir

in corn syrup, pecans, flavoring, and salt. Fill pie shell and

bake at 375° F. 30-40 minutes or until a knife inserted in

pie comes out clean.

(A big shout out to Antonio who not only made the entire pie but saved it from burning after I had turned off the timer, lest the noise disturb out dinner conversation.  Even after a lot of scotch and vodka lemonade, he proved himself the real kitchen pro.)

Below, is the dinner's main course, fried chicken in buttermilk spoon bread.  Doesn't it look like the chicken is trying to claw its way out of the pan?

Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies

Yesterday was a big day for the DH -- not only was it his 39th birthday but it was the publication of his memoir, a wonderful book called Leaving Story Avenue about growing up in a New York City housing project and eventually landing a job as a reporter for the New York Daily News.

The DH does not care for cake; he's more of a cookie man and so he requested peanut butter cookies for his birthday.  I do not care for peanut butter cookies, but I like to make him happy.

I found a promising recipe in my collection -- it seemed simple and possible, a big bonus among all these handwritten cards whose results are by no means guaranteed.   Best of all, these cookies were fantastic. Instead of the sandy texture of many peanut butter cookies, these are melt-in-your-mouth delicious (so I was told).

If you want to try your hand, here's some instruction.  Recipe card at the end.

Make sure the butter is soft and place it in a mixer with the peanut butter.  I used some fancy schmancy organic peanut butter from the corner store, but any type will do.  Add the sugars and then the beaten egg.  Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt)  in a bowl and simply pour into the mixer.  Blend until incorporated but don't overdo it, lest your cookies become tough.

If you have time, refrigerate the batter.  If not simply roll into one-inch balls and place on the baking sheet.  Working with cold dough is a bit easier, as this is a bit sticky.

Press each ball down with the tines of a fork, making a criss-cross pattern.  Not essential, but a nice and traditional touch.

For shortening, I always use butter for its flavor.  Check out the original oven temperature instructions on the second card!

The DH enjoying his birthday cookies. And his gifts!

Titanic: The Cookie

Like many, I've held a longtime fascination with the Titanic and when the book, Last Dinner on the Titanic was published in 1997, I attended the opening dinner -- where we were served the April 14, 1912, first class menu that was to be the last meal of many of the passengers.  (And one of my favorite afternoons ever was spent in Walter Lord's apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side -- he wrote A Night to Remember, the best book about the Titanic -- where I interviewed him for a story and he signed a 1955 first edition of his book for me.)

And so, to commemorate the centennial of the ship's sinking, I baked a dessert on the second class dining saloon menu that last night, published in the Last Dinner book.  Coconut Sandwiches sounded great -- a creamy filling between two coconut cookies, like re-imagined homemade Oreo, using coconut instead of chocolate.

But like the ship, these sunk.  Not in flavor -- they are quite delicious -- but the process to make these was a bit frustrating.  (And the fact that my oven is barely working added to problem and explains why the cookies above look so different from one another.)

But before we get to baking, I'd like to encourage everyone to visit the South Street Seaport Museum's new exhibit about the Titanic.  The luggage tag, below, was printed at the Museum's Bowne & Co., Stationers, a letterpress shop where everything is done the old-fashioned way.  Bowne is also open -- do visit, watch printing at its best and buy some lovely gifts there to support the Museum.

So if you feel like throwing caution to the wind, and paying sweet tribute to the great ocean liner, you can make these unusual and wonderful (at the end) cookies.

Don't worry if the mixture looks like it's breaking (above).  Just keep combining and it will come together beautifully (below).

The dough is nearly impossible to roll out, as called for in the recipe.  You can just roll the chilled dough into balls and press them down with the heel of your hand.  And do make more filling than the recipe says, or you won't have enough.