Advertised as a great holiday present, this Grandma notes anything chocolate is a great present. But anti-aging chocolate? I could not ask the family to spend $55 on “one small esthechoc a day helps to regain your skin health and slow down aging process. Esthechoc science based skin indulgence.”
This Grandma would rather eat the real thing and bake with chocolate with grandchildren, especially when the recipes are easy.
The first recipe making the rounds of the family this holiday season was from a great great grandmother handed down. You can tell how old the recipe is by the fact that measurement is in glasses, not measuring cups! Notice how our previous generations tested how baked goods were done. It is important to preserve old family recipes so here it is:
Great Great Grandmother Gussie’s Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
1/4 lb. Butter
1 glass sugar
2 eggs
½ pint sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 heaping tablespoon cocoa
2 glasses flour
Directions
Mix together first three ingredients. Add rest of ingredients and mix together. Put in a greased pan and bake at 325 degrees for about an hour. Stick in a wooden toothpick and when comes out clean, cake is done.
Of course, remember to add chocolate frosting!
Almost simultaneously, two recipes using lots of chocolate appeared that mentioned they were so easy a child could do it. That made the recipes worthwhile noting for this Grandma!
The first recipe was on Twitter from Bon Appetit and included dark chocolate chips, but grandchildren prefer milk chocolate so I changed the recipe to milk chocolate chips. Always buy an extra bag of chocolate chips as the grandchildren will always want to nibble while baking.
Milk Chocolate Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Unsalted butter, room temperature (for baking dish)
1 pound day-old loaf challah, sliced ½” thick
3 cups whole milk
10 ounces milk chocolate chips
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon kosher salt
6 large eggs
Whipped cream (for serving; optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 325°. Generously butter a 13×9″ baking dish; arrange bread in dish, overlapping as needed to fit.
Heat milk, chocolate, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of
simmering water (don’t let bowl touch water), stirring until chocolate is almost completely melted, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir until chocolate is completely melted (this method prevents chocolate from burning).
Alternatively, consider the microwave: Melt chocolate chips in uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on high (100%) power for 1 minute; stir. Chocolate chips may retain some of their original shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring just until chips are melted. Let cool.
Add eggs one at a time to chocolate mixture, whisking to blend after each addition. Pour over bread, pressing to help bread absorb liquid. Let sit at room temperature until bread is saturated, about 1 hour.
Bake uncovered until bread pudding is just set (it will jiggle slightly), 30-35 minutes. Let cool slightly on a wire rack. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.
DO AHEAD: Bread pudding can be assembled 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
The second chocolate cake recipe comes from the New York Times called The Silver Palate’s Chocolate Cake, adapted from “The Silver Palate Cookbook,” written by Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso.
The Silver Palate’s Chocolate Cake
Ingredients for the Cake
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing pan
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for flouring the pan
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking powder
They give the following frosting recipe, but this Grandma just buys good quality ready made chocolate frosting, and chocolate sprinkles of course. There cannot be too much chocolate.
Ingredients for the Frosting
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
_ cup semisweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
Cut the chocolate and butter into small pieces and place in a large bowl. Pour 1 cup boiling water over them; let stand until melted. Stir in the vanilla and sugar, then whisk in the egg yolks, one at a time.
In a small bowl, mix the baking soda and sour cream and whisk into the chocolate mixture. Sift the flour and baking powder and add to the batter, mixing thoroughly.
Beat the egg whites until stiff but not too dry. Stir a quarter of the egg whites thoroughly into the batter. Gently fold in the remaining whites.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Set on the center rack of the oven and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, unmold and cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting: Place all the ingredients in a heavy saucepan over low heat and whisk until smooth. Spread on the cake while the frosting is still warm.
Remember to cover the kitchen counters and floors with old towels for easy cleanup. Maybe even serve chocolate bread pudding for breakfast with chocolate cake for dessert!
If you noticed, the chocolate cake recipe from the past is not dissimilar to the chocolate cake recipe of today. There cannot be a bad chocolate cake recipe! What we Grandmas know is that chocolate is healthy for all of us. . . .as it makes us happy and now maybe can keep us younger.
Joy,
Mema
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