Last month my dear Aunt Lena passed away after 91 years of being on God’s Great Earth. Aunt Lena was my father’s younger sister in a family of nine siblings, some from an earlier marriage of my grandfather’s. There is only one sister here among us, Aunt Mary, the Matriarch of the family – 102 years old.
Besides being my Aunt, Aunt Lena was my Confirmation Godmother (Sponsor). I have so many wonderful memories of this great lady. One of the things that Aunt Lena will always be remembered for was her awesome cooking and exceptional baking. I often wondered if she had the opportunity would she have had a bakery. Of course, things like that weren’t done in those days.
When you walked into Aunt’s home the aromas wafting through the air were always sweet with a hint of anise. These aromas would linger in the air and if you closed your eyes you would feel as if you had been transported to an Italian bakery. Aunt Lena was always baking up storm, mostly for our large family gatherings: Baptisms, First Holy Communions, Confirmations, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Bridal and Baby Showers, Weddings and just any occasion where baked goods were called for. I remember the Sweet Tables at those occasions loaded with Italian Pizzelles, Deep Fried Choffa, Chocolate and Vanilla Filled Cream Puffs, Chocolate Chip-Coconut Cookies, Biscotti ( we call them Slices), Cobblers, Cakes, Breads and the list goes on and on.
The recipe that is dearest to me is Aunt’s Dark Chocolate Cake. This is the chocolate cake I baked for almost all of my years in the catering business. Not only is it fabulous but so simple to make. I am the quintessential recipe changer but I would never think of changing any of her recipes.
At the celebration of Aunt Lena’s life last month, I decided to write this blog as a tribute to her by gathering recipes, making them and sharing with you. I really did not know where to start to get the recipes but several of my cousins and my Aunt sent me what they had. I have my mother’s recipe box and in it were at least six of Aunt Lena’s recipes. While I was looking through my Mom’s recipe box I remembered how I acquired Aunt Lena’s Dark Chocolate Cake recipe. I needed to make a chocolate cake for a party I was catering and asked my mother if she had a good recipe. She gave me her copy of Aunt Lena’s. That was over 30 years ago and I am still using that recipe.
Today I made Aunt’s Almond Slices and, OMG!!, they are the best slices I have ever made or eaten. I’ve been making slices for years using various recipes but never have I made slices this good. No, not good, GREAT!!! The recipe is a bit deceiving as it seems like it won’t work because the dough is more like a stiff batter. It is difficult to work with and as I was making the logs the dough has to be shaped into for the first baking I kept thinking over and over “this is not going to work”. But, low and behold, it did. I am going to give you Aunt Lena’s recipes exactly as they are written. At the end of each recipe I will give you the hints and tips that work. Almost every recipe I have of Aunt Lena’s is very vague but be assured that I did not change any of the ingredients or amounts in any of the recipes.
Today I am going to share those two recipes, Dark Chocolate Cake and Almond Slices. I will do more in the coming weeks. I wanted to do several more recipes for this blog but guess who gets to eat all of these delicious sweets? So to keep things in shape (our shapes) I decided to do a couple at a time. I am looking forward to doing more of her scrumptious sweets in the next few weeks. I am thinking about doing the Banana Cake with Sour Cream Frosting and the Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies next time. I’ll give our waists a little time to shrink before I bake again.
Dark Chocolate Cake – A Little Slice of Heaven
Aunt Lena’s Dark Chocolate Cake
Makes 1 – 9” Double Layer Cake
½ Cup Cocoa Powder
½ Cup Cold Water
½ Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
2/3 Cup Margarine
1 2/3 Cups Granulated Sugar
2 Large Eggs
2 Cups Sifted All-Purpose Flour
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
Several Drops Red Food Coloring (Optional)
Preheat oven to 375º.
Grease and flour two 9” round cake pans and line with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper, also.
In a small bowl mix the cocoa, cold water, salt and baking soda until smooth. Set aside (Aunt Lena’s recipe says “Let Stand”).
In the bowl of a mixer beat margarine to soften. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time and, when completely incorporated, add the cocoa mixture. Beat until blended. Add the flour and buttermilk alternately in thirds, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat in the vanilla and food coloring.
Divide evenly between the prepared pans and bake for 25 – 30 minutes. Test for doneness with a wooden skewer. When the skewer is inserted into the middle of the cake and comes out clean the cake is done.
Remove from the oven and cool on a wire cooling rack for 20 minutes. Remove the layers from the pans by inverting onto a wire cooling rack. Let cool completely before icing.
Use your favorite Chocolate Frosting and if you don’t have one use mine.
Hints and Tips: For greasing and flouring the pans I use Pam spray for baking.
One of the things that is so interesting in this recipe is that you use cold water instead of hot water when mixing the cocoa with the water. Every recipe uses hot water except this one. So use the cold water because it works.
If you have a mixer with a paddle attachment, use it.
Chocolate Frosting
1 Lb. Unsalted Butter at Room Temperature
2 Lbs. Powdered Sugar
1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
12 Ounces Good Quality Dark Chocolate Chips
Melt chocolate in a double boiler over slowly simmering water. Stir once or twice to blend. Once chocolate is melted remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
Place butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until light and fluffy on medium high speed. Lower speed and gradually add powdered sugar adding cream a little at a time. Beat until perfectly smooth. Add melted and cooled chocolate in a slow and steady stream. Once again beat until well combined and perfectly smooth.
Makes enough frosting to generously cover and fill a 9 inch, two-layered cake.
Hint: Hershey makes the best Special Dark Chocolate Chips and work great in this recipe. One bag is 12 ounces.
Biscotti – Aunt Lena’s Almond Slices
Makes 2 Dozen Slices
4 Ounces (1 Stick) Margarine or Butter (I used Butter)
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
3 Large Eggs
1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/8 Teaspoon Salt
½ Cup Chopped Almonds
Preheat oven to 375 Degrees F (350 if using a convection oven).
In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and the salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment if you have a mixer that comes with the paddle) cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next. Add vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients. Mix well and add the chopped almonds. Mix well.
Transfer the dough to a parchment lined cookie sheet pan and make two long loaves, spacing several inches apart.
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes. Slice the loaves into ½ inch to ¾ inch slices and lay cut side down onto a unlined cookie sheet pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Flip slices over onto the other cut side and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the slices have firmed up and are toasted. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
Cookies will keep in an airtight container for at least a month. (These slices are so good that they most likely will be eaten in a day or two).
Hints and Tips: I have two copies of this recipe both with Aunt Lena’s name as the author but one has 15 drops of anise. If you like anise flavor go ahead and give it a try.
The dough is extremely soft, a lot like a stiff batter. I suggest you flour your hands when making the logs. This will help a lot. Making the logs was the most difficult part of this recipe.
When I baked the logs side by side with a few inches of separation, they spread out and touched each other. At first I thought this was a problem but it turned out to be exactly what should happen. When I took them out of the oven after the first baking I ran a knife down the middle to separate the two loaves. When I cut the loaves into slices the fact that they were touching did not matter. Cutting into slices was very easy. In fact, these slices cut better than any other Biscotti I’ve made in the past.
Making these recipes puts me in quite a nostalgic mood and that’s a good thing. It brings me back to my childhood and growing up among strong, wonderful, talented Italian women. I can only try to emulate them as I am getting older. To our Mothers and Aunts and all the people we love, we toast you with an Almond Slice.
camille@camillecookforyou.com E-mail me. I love hearing from you.