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Little Chocolate Cakes
1/4 cup butter 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup milk 2 eggs 2 squares melted chocolate 1 cup pastry flour 1 teaspoon baking-powder 1 teaspoon vanilla Cream butter, add the sugar slowly, then the beaten egg-yolks. Melt the chocolate and add. Add flour and baking-powder sifted together, alternating with milk, and add vanilla and fold in stiffly beaten egg-whites. Bake in greased muffin-pans.
A plain chocolate batter baked in muffin tins, lightened with beaten whites rather than extra leavening. The original gives no oven temperature or baking time, which is the main gap to fill.
- Oven and timeBake at 350F. Small cakes in standard muffin cups take about 18 to 20 minutes; they are done when the tops spring back and a pick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Squares of chocolateA square meant one ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate, so this calls for 2 oz. Semisweet or chips are not a substitute here without cutting the sugar.
- Pastry flourSofter and lower in protein than all-purpose, though not as low as cake flour. To approximate it, replace part of a cup of all-purpose flour with cornstarch or with cake flour; a spoonful or two of cornstarch per cup is the usual adjustment.
- Baking powderPeriod baking powder was commonly single-acting, and recipes of the era generally advised getting the batter into the oven without delay. Modern double-acting powder is more forgiving, but the folded whites still lose volume on standing -- fill the pans and bake immediately.
- Folding the whitesThe whites are the only real lift beyond the teaspoon of powder. Beat them until stiff but not dry and fold in three additions, stopping while a few streaks remain rather than stirring them smooth.
- Order of mixingAdd the melted chocolate while it is warm and fluid but not hot: too hot and it loosens the creamed butter, too cool and it sets into flecks. Add flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with flour.
- PansGreased tins were standard; paper liners work and release more cleanly. The batter is modest in volume -- expect roughly 8 to 12 cakes in standard cups, filled two-thirds.
- ServingThese are unfrosted as written and fairly plain. A thin chocolate or vanilla glaze, or a dusting of confectioners' sugar, suits them.