pease porridge

Choco-Bear Birthday Cake

Yesterday my daughter turned two, which was an excuse for me to make yet another silly birthday cake.  In the past I've made: a kitty, a Death Star, Thomas the Tank Engine, a sea turtle, a birthday train, and a flower pot with bug cupcakes.  I don't think I'd ever be confused with a professional cake decorator, but I have a lot of fun doing them, and my kids have a lot of fun eating them, and that's really good enough for me.

Actually, that's not quite good enough for me.  In my book, though presentation is important, a cake has got to taste good, really good, for me to be happy with it.  This particular cake was made using one of the easiest, tastiest chocolate cake recipes that I know of.

This is not an uber-dark, uber-chocolate-y cake; it's just very moist, simple, and uncomplicated.  Regan Daley writes of it, "the result is nothing short of your childhood memory of real chocolate cake," and I think she's right.  If you don't frost it, it has the added benefit of having no dairy ingredients, which means it's great for vegans and kids with milk allergies.

Although I referenced the recipe from In the Sweet Kitchen, I've also seen it many times in other cookbooks and cooking magazines. It's always credited to an older, female relative, and I think that it would be an interesting project to try to find out where all these women originally got the recipe, way back when.

Burning Question: My New Favorite Brownies

I wanted to start off by reminding you all that your questions and comments are more than welcome; I'd also love to see some of your favorite recipes and suggestions.

This post was inspired by a question from Lisa, who asked if I have a brownie recipe that I like, which was a bit difficult to answer, because I was sort of between brownie recipes at the time.  Fortunately, I had one that I was dying to try, and, even though I don't usually need an excuse to make brownies, her question provided me with the impetus to get baking.

I personally prefer fudgy brownies, because, the way I figure it, if you wanted cake-y, why not just make chocolate cake?  As I've mentioned before, I like my chocolate on the bitter side, so I don't like brownie recipes that are too sweet.  I also prefer them plain and unadulterated; even though I generally like nuts, I don't like 'em in my brownies.  Frosting?  No way!

My first brownie recipe was my mom's, which came to her by way of Bocca (who was my mom's mom's mom), and it's a bit, well, old school*.  I tried it a few times, but it's very vague, and really needs some updating.

My latest favorite brownie recipe was Nigella Lawson's, from her How to be a Domestic Goddess.  It makes very thick, gooey brownies, but after making them a few times I decided that they were just too eggy.  Do not ask me how brownies get too eggy, these just do, although it may have something to do with the six eggs the recipe calls for.

I'm pleased to report that my new favorite brownies are from In the Sweet Kitchen, by Regan Daley.  They are really fudgy, as the name suggests, and they totally fulfill all my brownie needs.

For a sneak peak at culinary history in action, check out the extreme ends of the spectrum that these recipes fall on; my great-grandmother assumes that you already know all the tricks and just need a basic reminder of the ingredients and procedure, whereas Daley assumes you know absolutely nothing about baking whatsoever.