SCENES FROM A MIXED MARRIAGE, PART CCCIII:
SHE (Texan, joking): Well, it's time to paint the pumpkins silver and put some tinsel on them.
HE (Yankee, sweetly serious): Okay. [pause] Is that a regional tradition?
Thanksgiving was just wonderful, a fact I am reminded of every day because I still have out the fall books, baby's favorite pumpkins (she uses them as chairs), Indian corn, and turkey headdress (yeah, you heard me). Although the world has moved on, I really want to write about it. I also have a whole series of orange photos I wanted to share...back in October...so I will, I hope, someday write those posts and backdate them. Who knows, dear reader from the future, perhaps if you scroll down you will be able to see them in your present.
If that bit of time travel doesn't blow your mind, this cake will. I have really been enjoying Lucinda Scala Quinn's Mad Hungry, a gift from my mother. Her busy day chocolate cake intrigued me because I frequently get a plaintive request for dessert around 9pm. You mix it in the baking dish--no dirty bowls! And instead of butter and eggs, it uses vegetable oil and...vinegar? Yes, vinegar. I didn't even have the required white vinegar, so I used rice vinegar (figuring it was very mild) with excellent results. With a modified version of the chocolate buttercream in How to Cook Everything (my sister's go-to icing recipe), it was a hit with Andrew. As for me, I wouldn't rank it among the top five chocolate cakes I've ever baked, but it was much better than many of the dry disappointments you find out in the world. I had to freeze the end of it to keep myself from finishing it off while he was on call overnight, and I guess that's some kind of endorsement!
Here is the
recipe for the cake. As for the icing, put 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter out to soften when the cake comes out of the oven. When the cake is cool, melt about 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips. (I don't bother with best-quality chocolate or a double boiler for this recipe; I just do it in a small saucepan over low heat on the stove and keep a close eye on it. If I had a microwave, I might try that.) Take the chocolate off heat to cool. Have at the ready about 2 cups powdered sugar (rather less than more) and 3 tablespoons milk or cream. Cream the butter with a mixer or a wooden spoon. When it is soft (I can't call it fluffy...butter has never seemed fluffy to me), start to work in powdered sugar, alternating sugar and dribbles of milk. Add a tiny tiny pinch of salt. When about half of the sugar has been used, beat in the melted (and by now cooled) chocolate. Add a splash of vanilla, maybe 1/2 or 1 teaspoon. Now start to taste the icing as you continue to work in sugar and keep adding sugar and milk until it tastes and feels the way you want it to. For me, a little more than 1 cup powdered sugar is sufficient, and I use only about half of the milk. But perhaps you want it sweeter, or perhaps you used unsweetened chocolate instead of bittersweet.
