Licking the Beaters

There is nothing like the smell of a cake baking, especially if it is a chocolate cake.  That butter, sugar, flour and eggs and cocoa can combine into a fluffy confection that causes people to moan with pleasure is always a wonder to me.  Who first discovered the process of making a chocolate cake?  Who first got to taste the wonder of it?  As amazing as the cake is, the greater wonder is the icing.  Pure sugar and butter and perhaps a few nuts become an delight that can cause wars. 

At least when I was a child the icing caused war.  My sisters and I would hang around the kitchen waiting for Mother to finish the beating and the spreading of the icing for the cake.  It didn't really matter what kind of icing it was.  Chocolate was the favorite, but the 7minute white icing that hardened in a matter of minutes was good too.  There were three of us girls and only two beaters, so Mother decided that two girls would get the beaters and the third girl could have the spatula and the pan or bowl.  As the oldest, I quickly figured out that more times than not, there was more icing in the pan and on the spatula than on the beaters.  But my sisters figured it out too, and that was the cause of the icing wars.  Yes, curling your tongue around the wire beater and getting every last particle of icing was fun and good, but running the spatula around the bowl and coming up with a true bite or two of icing was even better.  War.  It got to the point that we had to keep track of who had had the spatula the last time, and we had to take turns.  Of course every girl thought she had been cheated at some point, and the ones who had the beaters to lick always eyed the one with the spatula with a certain amount of disgust.

So today I baked a chocolate cake and made the chocolate icing with a pound of confectioners sugar and nuts in it.  Grandpa was at work, so I was home alone.  The sugary icing was too tempting.  I have to confess, it didn't all get on the cake.  I left just a little too much in the pan.  And since I was alone, I licked the beaters AND scraped the pan and licked the spatula all by myself.  And without a bit of guilt.

Zucchini Cake

The zucchini is spilling out of the garden.  The big, luscious vines are providing beautiful dark green fruits everyday.  With zucchini if you miss picking one, in 24 hours it will be big and overgrown.  One of our favorite uses for the big fruits is to make cake.  I make the entire cake in the food processor, but you could also use a regular mixer.  Even folks who do not like zucchini will love this cake, and if you don't tell them the zucchini is in it, they will never guess that it is there!

Zucchini Cake

Grate 2 cups of zucchini and set aside

Cream together:  1/2 cup of butter, 1/2 cup of oil, 1 3/4 cups of sugar. 

Add 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup sour milk (add 1/2 Tbls of vinegar to the 1/2 cup of milk and stir).

Mix together 2 1/2 cups of flour, 4 Tbls cocoa. 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt.  Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture and stir until thoroughly incorporated. 

Stir in the grated zucchini.  Pour into a large jelly roll pan or a cookie sheet with a rim.  Sprinkle about 3/4 of a large bag of chocolate chips on top.  You may also want to add some pecans.

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.  Be careful not to over bake. (I find that 35-40 minutes works in my oven).  This is delicious plain, but is also good topped with ice cream.

Bunny Cake

I've been thinking about my maternal grandmother this week. We are planning the family Easter dinner, and my mind always returns to two things my grandmother made for Easter.  One is a banana nut salad, which will have to wait for another time, and the other is what we call bunny cake.  It used to be a unique tradition, but now I see small, sad knock-offs with plastic faces in the super market and discount food stores.  We still make our own.  The tradition has passed to my daughter who is in charge of making the bunny cake this year.  The odd thing is that no one eats much of it except the children, but the bunny cake had better be on the table when everyone arrives.  It is a presence in and of itself; a tradition that must go on even if it's little pink jelly bean eyes slowly side down his frosting face because no one eats it!  So I give you . . . Bunny Cake!

Bake an angle food cake. (Yes, you could use the store made ones, but your cake will be a small, sad bunny minus the plastic face.  Come on, it is not that difficult - use the box mix and you will have a self-respecting bunny.)

While you are waiting for the cake to cool, create two paper "ears" from a piece of computer paper.  I always make them a bit large and tall and then trim them to fit the cake later.

After the cake is cooled and out of the pan, cut it in half.  Trim up the "top side" so that it looks somewhat even.

Cut a small notch about 2 inches wide two or three inches from one end.  This creates a bunny "head" and neck. Take the piece from the notch and place it at the opposite end for the "tail."

Now make a 7-minute frosting(check your old Betty Crocker cookbook).  When the frosting is ready, cover the cake.  Make sure to build up the head and sides so the cake actually looks like a bunny.  Before the frosting sets, place the ears and use pick jelly beans for the eyes and nose.

Finally, using green food coloring and coconut, make green grass and place it around the cake.  Add some colorful jelly beans, and you are ready for Easter dinner!