Debbi Fields Great American Desserts

Book by Fields Debbi

Chapter 1

Chocolate Cakes and Layer Cakes

You cannot talk about great American desserts without talking about cakes because American cooks have created a remarkable number of great cakes since this country was founded. The variety is astonishing! There are layer cakes and pound cakes; butter cakes, sponge cakes, and angel food cakes.

Entire books have been devoted to great cakes. With a chapter, not a book, to work with, I've limited myself to five equally delicious but very different types. It begins with the classic devil's food, dark and rich and tempting. My variation is filled with chocolate cream and covered with an irresistible white chocolate frosting. Tempting doesn't really begin to describe it!

Southern bakers made coconut cake a country-wide favorite. It could be one of the most beautiful cakes ever baked, and so are my two variations on the theme. Carrot cake may be the easiest way I know to get your kids to eat their vegetables! Both my versions, classic and chocolate, share one very important element: a luscious cream cheese frosting.

Before store-bought cakes were common, birthday cakes were homemade, and what made the best birthday cake hands down was a wonderfully light, moist yellow butter cake that took to any icing. My daughters have always chosen their own birthday cakes. Jennifer and Jenessa are both yellow-cake-with-fudge-frosting fans. My version is covered with an irresistible fudge frosting. It's paired with a peaches-and-cream variation that just might be the all-time perfect summer garden party or summer dessert cake. Blended with the right amount of brown sugar, this makes one of my favorites.

I began this chapter with devil's food cake, and I'm ending it with its polar opposite -- angel food cake. I've also included a chocolate variation that's as light and airy as the original.

Serve one of these beauties to family and friends, and make any meal a special occasion.

Debbi's Devil's Food Cake

Makes 12 servings

Who doesn't love chocolate cake? And when it's the great American classic devil's food cake, I find it even harder to resist. I know it is in our house, especially for Randy. When we were first married, I created my own recipe for him and he was hooked! Now I make it not only every year for his birthday, but many times just to say "you're special."

This devil's food cake is rich and chocolatey and dark and moist. It's made with both cocoa and chocolate, and it has the most wonderful thick chocolate frosting, which I hope you'll use on other cakes as well. I always increase the frosting amounts on my cakes in self-defense! Randy eats his frosting first, then tries everyone else's. The girls keep "testing" while it's being made to be sure it still tastes the same -- so it really disappears!

This cake is so easy to make, I'll bet you have all the ingredients already on hand in your cupboard. So, don't wait!

Equipment Needed:

* TWO 9-INCH CAKE PANS

* ELECTRIC MIXER

* PASTRY BAG WITH TIP

Cake:

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 3/4 cups boiling water

1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising, see Tip: Self-rising Flour, page 35)

par2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

20 tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Frosting:

22 tablespoons (2 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

4 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter both cake pans. Line the bottom of each with a circle of wax paper cut to fit, and butter and flour the paper.

Make the cake layers:

2. Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Set aside to melt for 5 minutes. Add the cocoa, stir until smooth, and set aside to cool to room temperature.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

4. Put the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl and cream together until fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes, using an electric mixer on medium speed. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the bowl. Beat in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and half of the chocolate mixture and beat to combine. Add the remaining chocolate mixture and beat on low speed until smooth. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

5. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centers comes out clean. Remove the cake pans to wire racks and let cool for 10 minutes. Invert the pans onto the racks and let cool completely.

Make the frosting:

6. Put the butter in a large bowl and cream until fluffy using an electric mixer on medium speed.

7. In another large bowl, whisk together the sugar and cocoa; beat one-third of the mixture into the butter. Beat in the vanilla. Add the remaining sugar-cocoa mixture and the milk, beating until the frosting is smooth.

Assemble the cake:

8. Place 1 layer of the cake, rounded side up, on a cake plate and slip strips of wax paper under the edge of the cake to cover the plate. With a metal spatula, generously frost the top. Arrange the remaining layer on top, rounded side up, and frost the sides and finally the top. Remove the wax-paper strips.

9. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip with some of the remaining frosting and pipe a border or rosettes or both on the top of the cake.

General Tips for Successful Baking

* When you soften your butter, don't let it turn to liquid; this produces a denser cake.

* The more you blend between adding each egg, the more air you add, creating a lighter, moister cake.

* Never forget to preheat your oven!

* Buy an oven thermometer and use it!

* Always bake cakes on the middle rack of the oven unless otherwise specified.

Copyright © 1996 by Debra J. Fields and Reid/Land Productions