Belated Birthday Cake

Plus, the flag of my new country.

The temperature is supposed to reach 70°F today! My garden is bursting with daffodils. My dog is snoozing loudly at my side. A robin is chirping at me from the oak tree near my window. I hit a 50-day streak on Duolingo! But law-abiding graduate students have been kidnapped off the street in broad daylight. And the Navy has started pulling books that support DEI initiatives, including biographies of Martin Luther King Jr and Jackie Robinson, along with Einstein on Race and Racism from its library. Law firms I was raised to revere, Skadden Arps, Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, have cowered and caved instead of standing up with, what is that? ah yes, the strength of the law.

I guess you can tell I stupidly browsed the news before I sat down to write you all today. I meant to be all rainbow sprinkles and tra-la-la! because it was my birthday earlier this week and I thought we could all celebrate with cake.

Cake won’t make any of the badness go away, I realize that. But for the last five years, it’s been my purpose to write about food, create recipes and talk about what’s going on in the world around us. And while I’ve rarely felt the need to justify my quirky combo of food and news in newsletter (and podcast-currently-on-hiatus) form, mebbe it’s the combo of my birthday and the headlines, but I realized this week that all my conversations with friends involve some combination of the ordinary (what’s for dinner, how’s the dog, a kid’s swim meet, do you know how to clean the gunge out of the laundry machine gasket) and the extraordinary, terrifying breakdown of democracy.

Norman recommends some deep breathing. While napping.

Luckily, I’ve a pretty good sense that y’all are with me. A lot of the readers that were horrified by my politics have stomped off. So, now that they’ve gone, LET’S EAT CAKE.

In keeping with my theme of the ordinary, my birthday cake of choice this year is a classic: golden cake, with an old-fashioned chocolate fudge frosting. And because it’s me making my birthday cake, it’s also a simple recipe. The cake is moist, but will not have a Rose Levy Beranbaum-approved delicate crumb. There is no time-consuming Swiss meringue buttercream. I wanted you to have a recipe that could be made with just basics in your pantry (no need to rush out and by buttermilk, etc.) And, it’s faster and wayyy better than any boxed cake mix. And I compel you not to wait until it’s your birthday to make it.

Cake. Now more than ever.

The flag of my country.

Okay, so I went a little bit fancy, in that I sliced the layers in half and spread them with apricot-raspberry jam, which I thinned with a little Cointreau. But you don’t have to! You can just spread on the frosting and tuck in.

Golden Chocolate Fudge Cake

81.8KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Printable recipe

Download

Golden Chocolate Fudge Cake

Makes 1 8” cake, serves up to 10 people.

What You’ll Need:

For the cake:

8 ounces (200 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 16 pieces

1 cup (200 grams) granulate white sugar

1 2/3 cups (200 grams) all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/4 teaspoon table salt)

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 tablespoons milk (alternative milks are fine)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the frosting:

8 ounces (200 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup (85 grams) cocoa powder

4 cups (456 grams) confectioner’s sugar, sifted

6 to 8 tablespoons coffee or milk, plus more if necessary

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

What You’ll Do:

Make the cakes:

1. Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Grease and flour 2 8” (20 cm) round cake pans. Line the bottom of each with a circle of parchment paper.

2. With a stand- or hand-mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, and mix, first on low, then raise to medium speed and blend until the mixture looks sandy.

3. Lightly beat together the eggs, vanilla and milk. With the stand mixer on low, pour in half the egg mixture and raise to medium speed until the mixture comes together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters. Add the rest of the egg mixture and beat on medium speed until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Raise to medium-high and blend for 30 seconds. The mixture may look slightly curdled. Don’t worry. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and bake for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. Let the cakes cool for 15 minutes, then remove the cakes from the pan and cool completely on a cooling rack.

Make the frosting:

1. With that trusty stand- or hand-mixer, cream together butter, cocoa, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla together, first on low speed so you don’t inhale a cloud of sugar, then raise the speed to medium-high and blend until the mixture looks sandy. With the mixer on low speed, add the 6 tablespoons of coffee/milk and blend until creamy. I usually end up adding 8 tablespoons of coffee in total and an additional 2 tablespoons of milk to ensure a creamy, spreadable texture. (If you aren’t using the frosting right away, you may need to thin it further with a tablespoon of milk or two before spreading.

2. Place the cake top side down on the plate you plan to serve it from. Spread with frosting. Place the next layer on, top side down, and spread the remaining frosting. Frost the sides. If you can, let the cake rest for 6 hours or overnight to improve the flavor.

Feel free to vent your best and worst of the week here.

And, because it’s my birthday, I’m offering a deep discount on an annual subscription, in the hopes it will be more affordable for many of you. I truly appreciate your support, it literally makes this possible.