Family Chocolate Cake Recipe

This Family Chocolate Cake recipe is not my family's -- it belongs to the Wenzel family whose son Ryan worked for me a few years ago. It was passed down from Ryan's paternal grandmother and the go-to cake for all family birthdays. After he shared the recipe, I baked one for his farewell party. Although it was delicious, and a big hit, I never got around to blogging about it. Until now.

We celebrated my niece Jessica's birthday last weekend because it happened to fall on Honeyball Day, our family tradition where we make strufoli, an Italian confection from my husband's childhood. I'm not a fan, but it's a fun day. However, I am a big fan of this old-fashioned chocolate cake with white frosting, also called "gravy" frosting. You'll see why below.

Start by melting the butter and chocolate in water.

When it's smooth, remove from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.  Because chocolate is the star, it's better to use good quality (i.e., not a supermarket brand) chocolate. I used Scharffen Berger, one of my favorites. 

Next, start the batter.  It really couldn't be easier.

Add the chocolate mixture to the batter and incorporate.

After adding the dry ingredients and sour cream, pour the batter into greased and floured pans.

Remove from the oven, cool on a rack for about ten minutes, then turn the cakes out from the pan to completely cool. Ryan once skipped this important step, and frosted a warm cake, with rather unfortunate consequences.

While the cake is cooling, begin the frosting. It uses flour (!)) which is why it is often referred to as gravy icing. It's a very old recipe and one that should be returned to the American frosting repertoire. I screwed this up the first time by overcooking the flour and water mixture. You want it to be thickened, but not so much that it congeals, as below. Lesson learned.

Cream the butter and sugar, then add the cooled "gravy" mixture and continue beating until light and fluffy.

Frost the cake. As you can see at the top, this didn't make quite enough frosting to completely cover two nine-inch layers, so I made a naked cake, all the rage these days. However, if you plan to do so, even off the cakes completely (cut the domes flat) so the side frosting doesn't gather in the gap.

Wenzel Family Chocolate Cake and White Icing

Production notes: I followed this recipe exactly, except I substituted butter for the margarine.  I baked it in two nine-inch round pans -- but didn't have enough frosting. If you want to fully frost a two-layer cake, increase the frosting amounts by 50 percent. I baked the cakes for 25 minutes. Check for doneness at 20 minutes by inserting a toothpick into the centers. (Also, Ryan just let me know that the original recipe calls for semisweet chocolate, though the unsweetened works fine.)

The birthday girl, Jessica, below. Not only was she elected to the Alpha Omega honor society in medical school, and matched to her first choice for residency, she is about to become chief resident in pediatrics (a specialty that will be very welcome in our family in a few months!), and plans to follow with a fellowship in pediatric intensive care.

Fruit Compote

Today's post is courtesy of A Cake Stews in Brooklyn, for that's how this old-fashioned fruit dessert is prepared.

Fruit compote (beautifully plated above with a dollop of whipped cream by head chef and danseur  extraordinaire Antonio Carmena) was served at last night's installment of The Ballet Dinner Cook Book Series, in which a group of us are cooking (and laughing and crying) our way through 1966 The Ballet Cook Book, a compendium of recipes of the biggest names in ballet, collected and published by Tanaquil LeClercq, a New York City Ballet dancer and George Balanchine's fourth wife. (Can that last sentence be any longer?)

Last night's meal featured the recipes of Canadian-born Melissa Hayden, "one of American ballet's greatest ballerinas," according to the The New York Times.  Hayden, who danced for both the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, contributed recipes that reflected her Eastern European heritage.  (You can read about the entire menu once the Series originator, Ryan Wenzel, and Carmena publish their blog posts.)

The pressure was on last night, as Hayden's son, Stuart Coleman, was one of our guests and had enjoyed many of these dishes while growing up.  But we needn't have worried, for Stuart's portrait hangs in our Hall of Fame under the heading:  "Most gracious and nicest guest."  His partner, Renaissance woman Meryl Rosofsky's portrait is right there next to his. (I got the feeling that even if we had served them something inedible, they would have been equally gracious.)  But one thing that came through loud and clear was the extraordinary love Stuart has for his mother, who passed away six years ago, and the opportunity to connect with her through her recipes.)

Now, on to the dessert, chosen because it was the only dessert in Hayden's chapter.  Fruit compote was served at every family holiday meal during my childhood, but I'd never made it.  It's very simple -- buy high quality dried fruit, soak overnight and simmer it for about 15 minutes.  It's quite delicious, even if it's not beautiful.  It helps to have Antonio in the kitchen, below, and not only for his ability to plate.

Start with all the fruit -- except the pears -- in water to cover.  Soak overnight. Hayden's recipe is much more gourmet than my family's on account of the pears and the addition of lemon peel.  (The recipe is at the end of this post.)

The dinner group, taken at the end of the meal.  From left, going clockwise: Antonio; Jeff Gageby, who has become quite the sous chef and whose all-around help is invaluable; Ryan, Meryl, Paul Epstein, a longtime family friend of Hayden's and Stuart's; Michael Pereira, Antonio's lovely partner who keeps us all honest and entertained in the kitchen; Garry Parton, Paul's partner; Stuart, and me.
(Photo taken by the long-suffering DH.  Thanks, Paul!)

And below, is Antonio's fabulous video of the event.  Be sure to watch until the very end to see the amusing outtakes.

Edward Villella's Mother's Wheat Germ Muffins

It's hard to get excited over baked goods with "wheat germ" in the title, but these miniature muffins have a lot going for them: Adorable appearance, big flavor, ballet-world provenance, and they are, I guess, somewhat healthy.  I was more than pleasantly surprised by these, and hope you will be too.

My readers who've been clamoring for "more Antonio" will be pleasantly surprised, too. Antonio Carmena, New York City Ballet soloist, prepared these muffins for our latest Ballet Cook Book Dinner, this one featuring the recipes of Edward Villella, former New York City Ballet principal and founder of the Miami City Ballet.  You can read all about Villella, the rest of the dinner (including an Italian Rice Cake) and see an exciting video (produced by Antonio) on BodiesNeverLie, Ryan Wenzel's wonderful blog.

Antonio, above, mixing the batter with a whisk -- I'm envious of his technique, and also his muscle tone, but that's another story -- and below, filling the greased tins.  He used an ice-cream scoop, but I used two spoons which worked just as well.

Be sure to spray the tins with Pam or grease with Crisco to ensure a smooth release.

These wheat germ muffins are very easy and have a lovely citrus note from the orange rind and natural sweetness from the raisins.  We made them in miniature muffin pans, so the yield was more than 18, but unfortunately I lost count of how many after my third glass of wine. You can substitute butter for the soft shortening, and we used toasted (not raw) wheat germ -- the kind that is sold in glass jars. I'm not sure what Mrs. Villella used, but I'm sure she would approve of our result.

The recipe, and a little note, from The Ballet Cook Book, is below.

Eddie's mother was a great health food enthusiast. In Long Island City, where they lived, he remembers her going

miles out of her way to shop at a special store that sold only organically grown vegetables, and these she cooked always in a pressure cooker. From his mother, then, Eddie learned to make these Wheat Germ Muffins, which though healthful are yet very, very tasty.

WHEAT GERM MUFFINS

1  cup sifted flour

1/2  tsp. salt

4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 cup soft shortening

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. grated orange rind

1 cup milk

1cup wheat germ

1/2 cup raisins, plumped in hot water

Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together. Cream shortening,gradually adding sugar. When light and fluffy beat in egg and orange rind. Stir in sifted ingredients alternately with the milk; add wheat germ and raisins, stirring to combine.Fill muffin tins half full and bake at 375° F. 25 minutes.  Yields 18 muffins.

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!

Banana Sweet: Dancing in the Kitchen

Last night, my house was the venue for the first in a series of dinners cooked from 1966 The Ballet Cook Book by Tanaquil  Le Clercq.  The four course meal -- all based on recipes contributed to the book by the legendary George Balanchine -- ended on a high note with a surprisingly wonderful dessert called Banana Sweet.  (More on that later.)

Ryan Wenzel, dance critic of The Brooklyn Rail, author of the blog Bodies Never Lie and, by day, online communications manager of Henry Street Settlement (he is busy!), scored a copy of the rare volume on eBay and conceived the idea of the dinner series.  I signed on immediately.  He enlisted the uber charming Antonio Carmena, soloist for the New York City Ballet and graduate of the French Culinary Institute (my alma mater) to chef this dinner (and hopefully all the others -- he is an amazing cook!)

Because Antonio had to perform in a matinee of Romeo and Juliet that afternoon, Ryan and his ever-helpful friend Jeff Gageby arrived early to help prep the menu (and to sample the evening's alcoholic beverages, which always makes kitchen work more pleasant), especially the tedious task of peeling potatoes, as Jeff (below) quickly discovered.  I doubt his stint in the kitchen will dissuade him from his chosen diet of take-out meals.

Prep we did, and then -- near disaster!  Upon careful reading of the blini recipe, we discovered the instruction: Let dough rise for five hours!  just an hour or so before we were set to serve. (This is why I always advise people to read a recipe through before starting, advice I obviously don't follow.)  Having little choice (and a lot of caviar for the blini on hand), we forged ahead.  And I'm happy to say the blini were, if not perfect, quite delicious and everyone's favorite.  Sadly, I neglected to photograph these beauties (let's just say we were all starving at that point and had eating, not photos, on our mind) but you can see some guests enjoying them, below.

I do have a picture of Antonio (who electrified the stage when I saw him perform on Wednesday night in Russian Seasons) preparing them.

And, below is a shot of Antonio and Ryan with the entree.

And a close up. Notice how Antonio sprinkled herbs, used citrus garnish and molded the kasha for an especially elegant presentation of this essentially "white plate" meal.  Antonio's partner, the very talented performer Michael Pereira, said the food was reminiscent of the boiled cuisine of northern Portugal, on which he was raised. But, being true to Balanchine, we followed the Russian-inspired recipe exactly.  (Blandness can transcend borders, I guess.)

And one more photo, and then -- dessert!
Pictured, left to right, are attendees of the first ever Ballet Cook Book dinner series: Jeff, Antonio, Ryan, Evan Namerow, a non-profit marketeer, a graduate student, former dancer and current author of the wonderful dance blog, DancingPerfectlyFree (she's as busy as Ryan!), me, and Michael, who also filmed part of the event. This was our dress rehearsal -- future dinners will feature a special guest of honor. And then, the pressure will be on!

Let's just say that we didn't have high hopes for Banana Sweet.  But it turned out to be the perfect ending to our meal.  It's quite simple to prepare and really delicious.

Banana Sweet
Bananas
Butter
Sugar
Lemon juice
White seedless grapes
Apricot jam
Sour cream
Slivered almonds

Peel and slice bananas.  Fry in butter, sprinkle with sugar and lemon juice.  Add grapes and heat through. Transfer to serving dish and spread with apricot jam.  Top with sour cream sprinkled with sugar and almonds.
Note: We roasted the almonds to bring out their flavor and decided to dispense with the sour cream (having had our fill of that ingredient with the blinis.)

Special thanks to the DH.  All the "good" pictures were taken by him, despite his being a bit under the weather.  Thanks, hon!