Stir Crazy?

Dear one,

Tomorrow I need to make a cake for a friend and thought it would be nice to share some tips about cake baking with you.  The recipe I am using is for Stir Crazy cake.  You can find the recipe here: (http://www.recipesource.com/desserts/cakes/10/rec1098.html)

One of the first things to remember is to gather your ingredients together before you begin so that you know that you have everything you will need for the recipe.... no last minute dashing to the neighbor for a cup of sugar, etc.  (The French term for this is "mise en place").  

This is a simple recipe and though it does not instruct you to sift your ingredients, please do so anyway.  You can find clumps in your flour, sugar, baking soda or cocoa.  And it is not fun to bite into a clump of any of these ingredients in the finished cake.  

I like to begin by placing the flour in the strainer, then the cocoa powder, then the sugar.  The sugar seems to push the flour and cocoa powder through.  Finally sift the salt and baking soda.  You can press any clumps through the strainer but some (such as the sugar chunk above) should be tossed.

Oh!  I wanted to remind you that on occasion it is a good idea to use your measuring spoon and then put the ingredient in the palm of your hand so that you can "see" what a teaspoon of salt looks like.  That way, when you don't have those measuring spoons handy you can still "measure" out your ingredients.

Now that you have all your dry ingredients together in one bowl, it is time to gather the wet ingredients.  The recipe calls for making wells in the dry ingredients.  I like to put them all in one container instead - preferably one that I can also use as my measuring device.  Since we need 2 cups of cold coffee and 2/3 cup oil I chose a 4 cup glass measuring cup.   If you start with your coffee (to the 2 cup mark) you can add your oil on top.  Then just add the vanilla and vinegar and you are ready to go.

Mix both wet and dry ingredients together.  To bake one layer that can easily be removed from the pan I use a 10 inch cake pan for this recipe!  Grease the pan and line it with parchment (and grease the parchment!).  In this way you can bake a cake that will become your palette - and you can add the filings and frosting of your choice.  I prefer this to 2 9" layers because the finished cake seems moister.  (I cut the finished layer into 3 layers using a long serrated knife.) It is very,very versatile!  And fun too!

Bake the cake at 350 and set a timer for 45 minutes and then check for doneness with a toothpick. Your  house will smell wonderful!  And your imagination will be running wild thinking of ways to "finish" your masterpiece.

Who can be stir crazy when you can be baking treats like this?

love you!

Mom