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Black Chocolate Cake (Two eggs one and one-half cups)
Two eggs, one and one-half cups of sugar, one-half cup of butter, one and one-half cups of flour, one-half cup of sour milk or cream (when cream is used, scant one-half cup of butter), a pinch of soda in the milk, a teaspoon of baking powder, two squares of chocolate dissolved in one-half cup of boiling water.
— Mrs. Walton Van Loan
A village layer cake written as a shopping list, with no method, pan size, temperature or time. Everything you need to fill in is standard for the period, but the chocolate step is the one to get right.
- Method, since none is givenCream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs, then add the flour alternately with the soured milk, and stir the chocolate-and-water mixture in last. The baking powder goes in with the flour, the soda dissolved in the milk as directed.
- Two squares of chocolateA square meant a 1-ounce block of unsweetened baking chocolate, so 2 oz total. Dissolving it in half a cup of boiling water blooms the chocolate and deepens the color, which may be what lies behind the name 'black' rather than merely brown. Cocoa powder is not a straight substitute here.
- Sour milkNot spoiled fresh milk. Use buttermilk, or stir a teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar into half a cup of whole milk and let it stand ten minutes. The acid is what the soda reacts with.
- A pinch of sodaRead this as 1/4 teaspoon; with only half a cup of acidic liquid there is little for more to work on, and excess soda tastes soapy and turns the crumb unpleasantly dark and slick.
- Salt and flavoringThe receipt has neither, which was common when butter came salted. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and, if you like, a teaspoon of vanilla.
- Batter consistencyHalf a cup of boiling water into a batter built on only a cup and a half of flour makes it noticeably thin. That is correct; do not add flour to thicken it.
- Oven and timeNone is given. A moderate oven, read today as about 350F, is the usual equivalent: two 8-inch layers roughly 25 to 30 minutes, a single 8-inch square about 35, until a tester comes out clean.
- Yield and finishingEnough for two thin layers or one modest square, serving eight to ten. A cake like this would likely have been filled and topped -- a boiled white icing or a plain chocolate frosting would both suit -- though the receipt says nothing about finishing.
Community cookbooks of this kind were typically compiled by church and civic groups, each contributor signing her name to a receipt she was known for locally. The shorthand tells you who it was written for: a neighbor who already knew that you cream butter and sugar, and that "two squares" meant the scored blocks of unsweetened chocolate sold by the half-pound cake. Chocolate cakes of this type spread through American home baking in the late nineteenth century, once ground chocolate and chemical leavening were both cheap and shelf-stable; the hot-water bloom for the chocolate recurs in recipes of the era, credited to nothing more than kitchen observation that it made a darker, moister crumb.