AARP The Magazine - January/February 2010

My Mother’s Chocolate Cake

Mistakes happen, but a little love—and a big dessert—always saves the day

WHEN I WAS A KID, my mother
would always ask what kind
of cake I wanted for my birthday.
My mother wasn’t just any mom,
mind you; she was a professional
caterer, so the possibilities of what
she could make were endless.
But I always answered the same
way: “Your chocolate cake!” Don’t
get me wrong, I liked her Boston
cream pie, her hot-milk sponge
cake, and her spicy applesauce
cake, yet it was that fabulous
chocolate cake with a hint of cof-
fee that I loved the most.

One year, when I was about eight, I insisted on making the cake by myself. As I was scooping the last little bit of the baking soda out of the box, I yelled, “You’d better put baking soda on the grocery list!” Mom said, “That’s funny—I thought I just bought a new box.”

MOM’S CAKE

Serves 10

Cake

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

½ cup unsalted butter 1 cup boiling water

2 eggs

1¾ cups granulated sugar 1§ teaspoons vanilla

2½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda § teaspoon salt

1 cup hot coffee

SWEET MEMORIES The author with her mom, Jean Tenanes, and at six, sampling that chocolate cake (with vanilla frosting ).

You can see where this is going: the cake rose quickly, then instantly fell flat. “How much baking soda did you use?” my mother asked. “Just what it said—two cups!” I replied. Oops. The recipe actually calls for two teaspoons.

As we scraped the last of the cake into the trash, my mom broke off a crumb and tasted it. “It still tastes good, honey,” she lied. Needless to say, the next year I made the cake with my mom. But I learned some lessons that day. Always check your ingredient list—twice. It’s okay to make mistakes, as long as you clean up the mess. And no one except Mom can make you feel good about a big pile of burned chocolate. ;

Chef Joanne Weir is the host of Joanne Weir’s Cooking Class on PBS.

Frosting

§ cup unsalted butter,
at room temperature
2 tablespoons milk
1ß cups powdered sugar
2 ounces unsweetened
chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

FROM TOP: ALEXANDRA GRABLEWSKI (FOOD STYLIST: JOYCE SANGIRARDI; PROP STYLIST: LYNDA WHITE; HAIR AND MAKEUP: HEIDI WELLS/ENNIS INC.; LOCATION: THE HOTEL NORTHAMPTON, NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS) ( 2); COURTESY OF JOANNE WEIR

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Melt the chocolate and butter in boiling water over medium heat, until smooth. Remove from the heat.

In a bowl, beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Add to chocolate mixture.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add dry mixture to chocolate mixture, then add coffee and stir. Pour into two 8-inch greased cake pans and bake 25 to 30 minutes.