The towering layer cake is a fixture on the Southern table, whether it be a simple one with filled layers and a frosted top for a family Sunday supper or an imposing one, swathed in a stately coating of elaborate icing and sitting center for a formal meal.
This cake is quick and easy to make, and lends itself well to a variety of fillings, icings and occasions.
Chocolate Buttermilk Cake
Preheat oven to 350*; prepare 2 8" pans or 1 9"x13" pan.
Sift together:
1 2/3 cup unbleached flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Stir in:
1 cup buttermilk (not non-fat; not low-fat if you can avoid it)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Spread batter evenly in prepared pans (batter will be stiff-ish), bake 20-25 minutes for 8" pans and 35-45 for 9x13 pan. Cool in the pan for five minutes, then fill and ice with whatever you like!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
The only cornbread recipe you'll ever need
Let me start by saying there is no sugar in this recipe, and where I come from, there never is any in cornbread. As my grandmother said, if cornbread were meant to be sweet it would have been called corncake instead. I recommend experimenting with as many variations as you like, save for making it sweet -- as my grandmother would also say, 'That's how they do it up North.' It was not meant as a compliment.
Cornbread
1 cup finely ground white cornmeal (I use Moss' cornmeal from Kittrell, North Carolina)
2 T. unbleached flour (plain or wholemeal)
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
scant 1 t. salt
2 eggs (large)
1 cup buttermilk (not non-fat; not even low-fat if you can avoid it)
Take a heavy, 8" square baking pan and line with foil. I do this myself, since my smallest cast iron pan is still too large to make cornbread for two. If you do have a suitable cast iron pan, by all means use it! Pour about a tablespoon of oil into the pan and place it in the oven -- heating the oil and pan makes for an excellent crust. Sesame oil makes a nice substitution for the traditional bacon grease.
Set the oven to 425*, but don't make the cornbread until the oven has reached temperature for at least five minutes. The hotter the pan, the better!
In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Whisk the eggs into the buttermilk in your measuring cup, and then stir into the dry ingredients. Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven, gently swirling the oil to coat the bottom and sides, then pour the batter into the pan (it may sizzle; this is good) and return to the oven. Let it bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Serve hot.
-For Jalapeno-Cheese cornbread (which I admit I had for breakfast today), dice one small jalapeno pepper and grate half a cup of good, sharp Cheddar cheese (I use Cabot). Toss these with the dry ingredients before adding the buttermilk, and bake as usual. More or less pepper and cheese can be used as you like.
Cornbread
1 cup finely ground white cornmeal (I use Moss' cornmeal from Kittrell, North Carolina)
2 T. unbleached flour (plain or wholemeal)
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
scant 1 t. salt
2 eggs (large)
1 cup buttermilk (not non-fat; not even low-fat if you can avoid it)
Take a heavy, 8" square baking pan and line with foil. I do this myself, since my smallest cast iron pan is still too large to make cornbread for two. If you do have a suitable cast iron pan, by all means use it! Pour about a tablespoon of oil into the pan and place it in the oven -- heating the oil and pan makes for an excellent crust. Sesame oil makes a nice substitution for the traditional bacon grease.
Set the oven to 425*, but don't make the cornbread until the oven has reached temperature for at least five minutes. The hotter the pan, the better!
In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Whisk the eggs into the buttermilk in your measuring cup, and then stir into the dry ingredients. Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven, gently swirling the oil to coat the bottom and sides, then pour the batter into the pan (it may sizzle; this is good) and return to the oven. Let it bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Serve hot.
-For Jalapeno-Cheese cornbread (which I admit I had for breakfast today), dice one small jalapeno pepper and grate half a cup of good, sharp Cheddar cheese (I use Cabot). Toss these with the dry ingredients before adding the buttermilk, and bake as usual. More or less pepper and cheese can be used as you like.
The first thing I tried to make on my own was a pie.
I was about five or six years old, in the kitchen of my grandparent's house and left to my own devices, so I decided to make a pie. I knew I needed eggs, sugar and something to give it a flavour, since I'd seen my grandmother, her mother and her sister make dozens upon dozens of pies before. I also knew I'd need a pie plate, and that the oven should be set where the marks on the little round dial were almost all the way to the left.
Because I'd rarely seen any of the cooks in my family use them I had almost no concept of what a 'recipe' was, much less any idea that I probably ought to use one. Sugar, eggs and chocolate syrup were poured into a bowl, whisked until foamy, deposited into a pie pan and placed in the undoubtedly under-heated oven, not that it had any bearing on the results.
As you can imagine, what I had about fifteen minutes later resembled sweet, chocolatey frittata -- and no, I don't remember if I tasted it or not, but given the rubbery texture that I do recall, I'd wager I didn't. My grandfather did, though, and recommended that I try a recipe next time.
Move ahead twenty-plus years, and I have plenty of recipes. Cookbooks, cooking booklets, recipe boxes stuffed with cards, notebooks filled with handwritten, clipped and taped-in recipes -- I have over 1,200 of them. The oldest dates to the mid-1800s and the most recent was published just this year. The majority of my collection is made up of community cookbooks and handwritten collections. Some came from my family but most have been found in secondhand shops and at yard sales, cast aside by their own families and forgotten. Inside them, the recipes are still as true, the notes in the margins still as useful and the voices of the women who created them still as clear as ever. The purpose of this is to share them with you and let them be heard again. Whether you try their recipes or just read about them -- enjoy!
Because I'd rarely seen any of the cooks in my family use them I had almost no concept of what a 'recipe' was, much less any idea that I probably ought to use one. Sugar, eggs and chocolate syrup were poured into a bowl, whisked until foamy, deposited into a pie pan and placed in the undoubtedly under-heated oven, not that it had any bearing on the results.
As you can imagine, what I had about fifteen minutes later resembled sweet, chocolatey frittata -- and no, I don't remember if I tasted it or not, but given the rubbery texture that I do recall, I'd wager I didn't. My grandfather did, though, and recommended that I try a recipe next time.
Move ahead twenty-plus years, and I have plenty of recipes. Cookbooks, cooking booklets, recipe boxes stuffed with cards, notebooks filled with handwritten, clipped and taped-in recipes -- I have over 1,200 of them. The oldest dates to the mid-1800s and the most recent was published just this year. The majority of my collection is made up of community cookbooks and handwritten collections. Some came from my family but most have been found in secondhand shops and at yard sales, cast aside by their own families and forgotten. Inside them, the recipes are still as true, the notes in the margins still as useful and the voices of the women who created them still as clear as ever. The purpose of this is to share them with you and let them be heard again. Whether you try their recipes or just read about them -- enjoy!
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