Avery’s Favorite Chocolate Cake and Crazy Frosting
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups “Sugar in the Raw“
pinch salt
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted (they stay a bit grainy, don’t worry)
2 eggs
2 tsps vanilla extract
3/4 cup evaporated milk
3/4 cup sour cream, plus 1/2 cup more for frosting
1 packet Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate mix
Now, in Connecticut I don’t have a hand blender, and guess what? You don’t need one. I also do not have a sifter, and as far as I can tell, I don’t need one of those, either. I just mixed all the dry ingredients together, beat them about 300 times with the milk, sour cream and vanilla. Then I added the egg and beat about 150 times more, then stirred in the chocolate chips which were grainy and not liquidy at all, so the resulting batter is a sort of golden color with brown flecks. Bake at 325 degrees for about 35–40 minutes.
Now, the crazy frosting. Not feeling confident about what frosting involved in the way of ingredients, I looked up many recipes in my trusty and venerable New York Times Cookbook. The link I’ve given you here is to the fabulous, quirky, intelligent and delightful Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington Depot, Connecticut, our “local” bookstore. It is always a favorite (and extremely expensive) afternoon there, as we all find things we had no idea existed but then feel like things we can’t live without. But I digress.
About frosting. So all the recipes I read called for confectioner’s sugar and light corn syrup, neither of which I had. Also, I knew the chocolate chips wouldn’t melt enough for frosting. So I had an inspiration: why not hot chocolate mix? Listed on its ingredient label were both confectioner’s sugar AND light corn syrup! Further inspiration: sour cream? And sure, enough, the extra half cup of sour cream made the mix absolutely creamy, spreadable, and it melted right over the top of the cake, and into the holes I made with the tines of a fork. Delicious!
And if you want this cake to be lemony instead of chocolate, substitute the grated rind of three lemons, plus 2 teaspoons of lemon extract, for the chocolate. Then, I did acquire some confectioner’s sugar by the time I tried the lemon version of the cake, and a little lemon juice plus sour cream plus confectioner’s sugar makes a DIVINE glaze.
Never say I’m not sweet…
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Perfect Bolognese Sauce
(serves 6 with spaghetti)
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 white onion, minced
3 stalks celery, minced
3 medium carrots, minced
8 large mushrooms, minced
1 1/2 pounds home-ground pork loin (or beef, lamb or bison)
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup whole milk
1 large can peeled plum tomatoes
pinch ground nutmeg
1/2 cup grated parmesan or Romano
fresh black pepper and sea salt to taste
Heat the oil in a large saucepan with a heavy bottom and add the vegetables, cook until softened. Add meat. Cook until just cooked through, stirring frequently to break up the meat. Add the white wine and turn up the heat. Stir and cook for five minutes. Add the milk, still with heat high. Stir and cook for five minutes. Add the tomatoes, breaking them up with your hands as you do so. Turn down the heat and cook for at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Shortly before serving, add nutmeg and cheese and stir thoroughly. Season to taste. Serve with spaghetti or mashed potatoes, with plenty of extra grated cheese to sprinkle.
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